Just today I got a strange pop-up error with Norton logos. However, the pop-up window's X (close) button is ghosted out. When I try to close it in my taskbar, it doesn't close. The only option is to click "OK" in the pop-up window, which was a red flag for me, especially given the content. It changes every time, but the text in the pop up window is always something vaguely spammy. Here is a screen shot of the most recent one:
My solution the first few times was just to shut down the computer. However, I'm worried that this is a virus chiseling away at my precious data in the background. Has my Norton been hacked? Please help!
P.s. - I've already searched the 553 email error from Norton both on here and on ther internet at large and can't find anyone with the same problem.
Thanks for the response. What I should have said is that I don't use any email program - like Microsoft Outlook. I do have hotmail and gmail, but not yahoo or "mail.com" (the specific providers indicated in the message).
Also I noticed when I opened the real Norton via my taskbar, the tray icon for the real Norton has a green check over the top of it. Not sure if this is a status indicator for the program or if it's a sign that the error message is indeed a fake. (Like most people I haven't bothered to get to know my Norton until there is an issue!)
My suspicion is that some spammy program has hijacked an email program on my computer and is able to run in it the background using it to send spam emails? Conjectures from a computer engineering illiterate person are never wise, though, are they?
I'm getting the messages each time I shut down my computer. I will start taking screen shots of each one.
I don't think there is anything amiss with your Norton program. If you have email scanning enabled (which it is by default), then any notifications from your email service provider will display in a Norton window. Norton actually displays the message that would otherwise be presented by your email client were Norton not installed. The interesting thing is that you say you do not use an email client. If that is true and you have never set one up, then there would be no way for that rejection notice to be returned to your computer - for that to happen you would need an email client that has been configured to be able to communicate with the email servers used by your ISP. It is therefore possible, I think, that your machine may indeed be infected with malware that uses its own SMTP engine to send spam. This is a common method that this type of malware employs in order to bypass a user's own email programs and thus avoid detection. In your case, it may have been exposed by the combination of having used a blacklisted address that the server refused to accept, and the lucky circumstance that Norton is installed and set up to display the resulting notification that would otherwise have probably remained invisible. I think your suspicions may be correct that something spammy is running in the background. The Norton alert is likely legitimate, however.
Hi! Thanks again for the response. So, we're relatively sure it's a spam/hacker/virus/malware issue. Here's a screenshot of the most recent "fake" pop up:
Now my questions are
1) Why didn't my "Norton Internet Security" program catch this,
2) How can I get rid of it, and
3) Is it a ticking time bomb that is eventually going to take down my computer?
Just today I discovered a folder I did not create. Now, among my "Documents" the standard "My Documents" folder is revealed as well as a new one called "Public Documents" whose sub folders are Microsoft -> IdentityCRL -> Production -> empty (apparently). Just now when I tried to find it again, I couldn't see the "Public Documents", but rather the microsoft folder was nestled among my legit "Documents" folders. Make sense?
Just today I got a strange pop-up error with Norton logos. However, the pop-up window's X (close) button is ghosted out. When I try to close it in my taskbar, it doesn't close. The only option is to click "OK" in the pop-up window, which was a red flag for me, especially given the content. It changes every time, but the text in the pop up window is always something vaguely spammy. Here is a screen shot of the most recent one:
My solution the first few times was just to shut down the computer. However, I'm worried that this is a virus chiseling away at my precious data in the background. Has my Norton been hacked? Please help!
P.s. - I've already searched the 553 email error from Norton both on here and on ther internet at large and can't find anyone with the same problem.
