puzzled

[mrbumblebee]

I have received a letter from my ISP stating they have found a problem with my broadband account.
"We received notification that unsolicited bulk email (spam)
is being sent from your computer.This would indicate that your computer has been compromised.
You are in breach of our acceptable use policy, we've regrettably had to suspend your broadband connection.
You'll need to back up data files then format computers hard drive and reinstall the operating system from scratch using the original CD ROMS. Please be advised that you'll have to do this to all computers connected to broadband."
My ISP is sky and i have been trying to terminate my contract for seven months, without success.
My broadband is still connected and my pc is working well. Can anyone advise please. Thanks.

[vehelpfulguy]

Here is an article which is a couple of years old but may help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3528810. stm

The two most important things you can do are:

INSTALL A FIREWALL (if not done so already)

INSTALL ANTI-VIRUS (if not done so already)

There are free versions of good firewall and antiivirus so if you dont have either let us know via this question and we will give you some advice on what products to use.

If you HAVE got a firewall and anti-virus then maybe you need to run a spyware checker, and again there are good free versions around. Ask for advice here.

[mrbumblebee]

Thanks for reply vehelpfulguy. When they installed broadband norton was installed.
Now i'm not all that clued up on computers, but i have run norton scan run ad-aware they come up clean.

[Mac70]

Download HijackThis
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/files/Merijn/H ijackThis.zip
Extract to its own folder, such as C:\HJT then run it. Click on "Scan and save a logfile" Then register here
http://forum.malwareremoval.com/index.php
Start a new thread in the Malware Removal room and let an expert look it over.
Explain what the problem is too.

[Ethel]

This doesn't ring right at all.

Have you phoned Sky? Did you receive a letter or an email?

[mrbumblebee]

thanks mac. sound too complicated for me.
Thanks Ethel. It was by mail.

[mrbumblebee]

I have been trying for 7 months to get mac code from them, they don't want to know. Costing a fortune in phone calls.
This is why i'm wary about letter as i'm trying to cancel contract.

[BenDToy]

Please don't do anything rash. This sounds very much like a hoax to me. Also, send them letters and emails. Don't phone them on their rip off 0870 telephone numbers. If you can live without a servicee for a couple of weeks, just stop paying them (warn them first by email) and forget about the MAC code.

[mrbumblebee]

How do i get the tag off my line if i do what you say.