I have a friend who is having some trouble with spam and it has me stumped.
She is a VERY conscientious internet user. She surfs safely, has her browser history set at 0 days, does not use a toolbar, and clears out her personal data (cookies, temp internet files, etc) at least once a day.
We just about a month ago set her up with a Hotmail address to use to register for online shopping sites. She has placed one order from Amazon. That is the only thing she has used the address for.
She has noticed that soon after she does a web search using the MSN home page, or even clicks a link on the MSN home page, she will receive spam at her Hotmail address that is related to the subject of the web sites she has visited. For example, she searched for diets and she received an email about weight loss aids.
I have had a Hotmail account for years now, have my history set at two weeks, use a variety of search methods, use my Hotmail for MANY registrations, and almost never clear out my data and I have never had a problem with true spam in my Hotmail inbox. I get junk, but it is stuff that I am responsible for.
She does not have a problem with spam on her POP mail account, though it may be filtered at the server. I am unsure.
What is going on here? Today I ran an Ad-Aware scan, and as usual, it came up with very little - 4 "data miner" cookies, but were these enough to be the culprit, esp if she deletes them daily?
She says she has done regular routine virus scans, which come up with nothing. (I have not personally seen the results of recent scans)
Here are more stats: XP Home with SP2, using Windows Firewall, Avast Home antivirus, uses IE6 primarily.
PK
