[BC] Bad Bad software update purported to come from Microsoft.

[Sid Schweiger]

>>Here is a screen-shot of some unsolicited mail that pretends to be from Microsoft. It shows a legitimate looking URL from Microsoft, but the real URL in the HTML code is somebodies server which will upload Virus that will turn your computer into a Virus-server.
...No NOT under any circumstances ever install anything that gets sent via unsolicited Email!<<

As those of us who are on Microsoft's updates mailing list are told repeatedly, Microsoft does not send updates via e-mail...period.

The tip-off to so many of these fraudulent e-mails is the grammar, or more precisely the lack of it.  Whoever writes for Microsoft has impeccable grammar, so it's easy to spot the fakes if you read them carefully.  For example, in the e-mail you received, it says "...and provides you with the latest version of the Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express."  That one is a bit subtle (there should be no "the" before "Microsoft..."), and fortunately some of them are so blatantly wrong that they're easy to find.

Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040