What is PDF Spam?First there was email, then came spam - unsolicited commercial email - hawking pharmaceuticals, stock trades, sex, and more. Spam filtering became smarter with keyword and bayesian filtering, and the spam was minimized for awhile. Then image spam began, the emails with little more than a link to an image on a server. When the email is opened with an HTML email reader the spam appears a few seconds after viewing the email. Since there weren't keywords to analyze, most image spam slipped through spam filters with ease. However, now spam filtering tools have added OCR capabilities to "read" an image and search for keywords and phrases just like text emails. So what's next for the spammers to try...PDF Spam.
Spammers have now resorted to attaching PDFs to emails to entice users to open the PDFs and read their ads. Very annoying, since almost all spam including a PDF is much larger in size than a normal email. At first, I wondered if a virus writer had been able to inject a PDF file with a virus and was infecting computers. I received literally hundreds of these types of emails a few weeks ago. Luckily it does not appear that way. Although many of the newest viruses are hijacking computers and sending these PDF spams from these drone machines.
What Does a PDF Spam look like?
Most common PDF spam has very little in the body of the message, just a subject and the PDF file. You can see a copy of this type of spam below:
Can A PDF File Contain a Virus?
Well, yes and no. Back in 2001, a virus named Peachy was created that distributed via PDF. Fortunately, it could not be activated by someone viewing it with Acrobat Reader, only users with the full version of Adobe Acrobat were susceptible to this virus. Peachy exploited the fact that PDF files could contain executable files, in this case a VBScript file, that users of Adobe Acrobat could actually open. Virus scanners were updated and the virus didnt have a huge effect on the internet.
Luckily, up to this point there has not been a way for a virus writer to infect a PDF file so that a person viewing it with Adobe Reader would be harmed. Although its still best to scan ANY file including a PDF file with an up-to-date virus scanner before attempting to open it.
Can PDF Spam Be Stopped?
Although PDF Spam is a huge problem currently, spam filtering programs will catch up and start to filter this garbage email out. Unfortunately, the attachment spam will morph into other types of files, and I've already seen Excel files (.xls) being used for spam as well. Using a reliable spam filter from your ISP or business and being careful not to open ANY attachment you are not sure of will keep you the safest. Although PDF spam may not contain a virus, the best advice is to not open it and just delete it.
What About Greeting Card Spams?
A new round of electronic greeting cards contains viruses are making the rounds as well. These ecards want you to download a file called msdataaccess.exe to view the card. Click here to read more about these dangerous cards and how to remove the virus
What is PDF Spam Is it dangerous or does it contain viruses?
Hoaxes
Symantec Security Response uncovers hoaxes on a regular basis. These hoaxes usually arrive in the form of an email. Please disregard the hoax emails - they contain bogus warnings usually intent only on frightening or misleading users. The best course of action is to merely delete these hoax emails. Please refer to this page whenever you receive what appears to be a bogus message regarding a new virus, or promotion that sounds too good to be true.
| Name | Discovered |
Computer Virus Hoaxes and Myths
Is It A Virus or a Hoax?
It seems as if the minute a new person logs on to the Internet they get a flood of email warning of dire consequences if they open an email with a certain subject line. There are viruses that can be transmitted via email, however a lot of these so-called viruses are imaginary. They are myths, let's face it is it really believable that Disney would giveaway trips by simply responding to an email, or Bill Gates sending money to people who kept an email chain letter moving through cyberspace? There are many of these email hoaxes floating around the Internet at any given time.
Hoaxes become viruses simply by individuals forwarding the hoax across the Internet to other unsuspecting individuals, these individuals read the warning and forward it on to still more people. Thus the "virus" spreads throughout the Internet.
The next time you receive an email warning of potential hazard to your computer if you open an email. Go check out the following webpages in particular to see if there is any truth to the message. An email may in fact contain a virus, but please check out the following pages to verify its authenticity before forwarding it on to someone.
The first place to visit to determine if something is a hoax or not is the
U.S. Department of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Capability
Hoaxes described on this page: PKZ300, Irina, Good Times, Good Times Spoof, Deeyenda, Ghost PENPAL GREETINGS!, Make Money Fast, NaughtyRobot, AOL4FREE, Join the Crew, Death Ray, AOL V4.0 Cookie, A.I.D.S. Hoax, Internet Cleanup Day, Bill Gates Hoax, WIN A HOLIDAY, AOL Riot June 1, 1998, E-mail or get a Virus, Bud Frogs Screen Saver, Disney Giveaway Hoax.
Another place to visit is
If the email or file is listed on one of these two pages, it's probably a myth. If it is, please don't forward it to anyone. Internet chain letters just clog the Internet, slowing it down for everyone.
Stop Error 0x0000007E After SP3 is installed
I've had a few computers that will not boot correctly after I've installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 on them. The computer finishes the install and then prompts for a reboot. The computer will start to reboot then give a BSOD Stop Error for a second and reboot again. This process will continue unless the computer is started in Safe Mode. In Safe mode the computer boots correctly and everything seems fine.
This problem only appears on some systems after upgrading to SP3. This particular problem on systems that have been prepared with SysPrep. The sysprep image was created on an Intel based computer, and then the sysprep image is deployed on a Non-Intel system such as an AMD processor. In these cases, the registry entry for Intelppm is incorrectly set and causes the computer to go into a continuous reboot after the service pack has installed.
How Can I Solve This Problem?
Follow these steps to resolve this issue with the computer not booting correctly after SP3 is installed.
1) Start your computer in Safe Mode.
2) Click on Start, Run, and type REGEDIT and press Enter. This will open the Registry Editor.
3) Click the pluses(+) next to the following registry keys to navigate to the correct spot.
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- SYSTEM
- CurrentControlSet
- Services
- Intelppm
5) Change the number to 4 and click Ok
6) Close the Registry Editor
7) Shut down your computer and restart
This time the computer should restart normally and finish the installation of SP3.
Of course, it should be stated that if you are unsure of any of these procedures, please do not complete them and ask for assistance from a local computer tech, family friend, or other knowledgeable person.
