email address corrupted

timmy23 · #1 Feb 1, 2005, 02:04 PM

I am no expert, but this is the craziest thing I have ever seen.
I recently switched from earthlink dial-up to Alltel dsl. After doing so, I contacted those in my address book of the change. One of those contacts came bouncing back as "undeliverable". Turns out it was a sibling who of course shares my last name. Well, the last name was changed somewhere after the SEND icon was clicked on. The last name which contains 5 letters was changed to "mcgdo". Since that did not match the proper address, it came bouncing back to me.
Now here is where it really gets weird......My first name is mcgdogm (T-i-m-o-t-h-y) and it turns out that when I use my full name it gets changed to "mcgdogm". Chances are it did it here just before I spelled it out.
So, my name is changed to "mcgdogm mcgdo".
Yesterday I ordered a product online and when I entered my name, credit card info and address, everything came out fine except my name was changed to this weird encrypted mess.
Please help me!!!!!
I have Spybot, Ad-Aware, Errornukker, Hijackthis, zone alert and a suit of armour lol What is this thing and can I kill it???
Thanks in advance to the genius that can help me!

psi42 · Feb 1, 2005, 03:03 PM

Well, possibly:

1) Some software is implementing a search-and-replace for your name. Somehow this configuration was made unintentionally. Can you think of any "odd" software you might be running (ESPECIALLY content-filtering censorware ("parental controls"))?

2) Someone is screwing with you. (Unlikely).

timmy23 · Feb 1, 2005, 06:42 PM

I'm not running anything that I know of that might have censoring tools.
I have tried outlook express, Gmail and a mail service called Thunderbird and they all have the same encryption problem.
Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tim
aka mcgdo

psi42 · Feb 1, 2005, 07:05 PM

Are you running McAfee Privacy Services?

The reason I ask is this: http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/viewtop...=14403&start=0

Scroll down to the first post by Pastor Frank. It's a bit towards the bottom, hard to find (that is why people aren't supposed to hijack threads)...

~psi42

timmy23 · Feb 1, 2005, 08:06 PM

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

McAfee came as a bonus? with my new isp!!

Okay, I suppose my next step is to uninstall McAfee?

Thanks,

Tim

timmy23 · Feb 1, 2005, 08:30 PM

Psi 42,

I owe you BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have uninstalled McAfee and it appears as though no damage was done.
I have tested my email and it seems to function perfectly!!

THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU

Timmy23

fredg · Feb 2, 2005, 03:54 AM

Hi, psi42,
Very, very, good. How in the world did you ever find this solution????
You need not answer.
Again, VERY good.
fredg

psi42 · Feb 2, 2005, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredg

Very, very, good. How in the world did you ever find this solution????
You need not answer.

Thanks...

Well, I took an educated guess that it had something to do with "privacy" software... so...this turned up something. The 9th result is from the McAfee support forum, which got me on the right track.

Glad I could help.

~psi42

timmy23 · Feb 2, 2005, 09:06 AM

Psi42,

I'm glad you could help too!!

I contacted my isp to let them know about the problem I was having due to the McAfee program and the tech told me they were aware of problems with McAfee and were working hard to correct them.
Funny they didn't offer any kind of solution or even hint at a possible problem with McAfee in order to resolve my problem during the hours I spent on the phone with them. Don't get me wrong, they were as baffled as I was and tried to help. But, why would the tech I talked with this morning say he was aware of problems with McAfee and none of the techs I talked with for hours over the last two weeks not even consider the problem I was having was related to the privacy software I downloaded at the time I began my new service.
Anyway........this has been an excellent learning experience and I now feel safe knowing I can come to this site and get help with any future problems I may encounter with my pc.

Again, thank you so much Psi42,

Timmy23



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