subject line: honey

Has anyone any info on emails that are received with an attachment (don't know what tho) with "honey" in the subject line? I assume that it's another virus (why me????) but I cannot highlight the email (to check the properties) as when I do it prompts up with "your pc has perfomed an fatal and will shut down etc" and all I can do is close the program. I probably get this at least once a day, and often with a different subject line,. I never recognise the "from" and it never has anything in the body (I assume as I never really get to see it) I guess another reason to use the email washer program
Appreciate any info - thanks

 

Since you can't access the email to get rid of it, try deleting your Inbox. Just do a Windows search for Inbox and you should see something called INBOX.DBX pop up in the results field. That's your Outlook Express Inbox. Go ahead and delete the file and OE should create a new one w/o the offending email in it.

 

Sounds like Klez. "Honey" is one of the many variables which appear in the subject line:-

 

If the e-mail is infected with klez or other virus that exploits the Incorrect MIME Header vulnerability in UNpatched versions of Internet Explorer, than simply selecting the e-mail displays it in the preview pane and will launch the virus.

The F-Secure Virus Description of Klez.E at http://www.europe.f-secure.com/v-descs/klez_e.shtml does mention "honey" as one of the subject lines for klez.

This is from http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.klez.gen@mm.html

The worm exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express in an attempt to execute itself when you open or even preview the message. Information and a patch for the vulnerability can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-020.asp.

In the meantime you should disable the OE preview pane (in View Layout, UNcheck the "show preview pane" option). While you are at it, make sure you set Outlook Express to use the IE Restricted Sites zone (in OE, go to Tools, Options. Security) .

Also, it goes without saying that you should be using an updated antivirus program that runs in the background to prevent known viruses from infecting your system.