To my bafflement, this message appeared in my inbox accompanied by heavy warnings DO NOT DELETE. I've never had a message like this before. Is it genuinely from my computer, and if so, what is it all about? Or is it something to do with spam and somebody trying to see what sites I visit or what?
This text is part of the internal format of your mail folder, and is not a real message. It is created automatically by the mail system software. If deleted, important folder data will be lost, and it will be
re-created with the data reset to initial values.
Bingley
While I don't know what mail program you're using, Bingley, I would delete the damned thing immediately. Sounds like a sucker trap for a virus ...
Best wait for others' comments, though. I'm used to the foibles of Outlook. Gawd only knows whatelse may use something like this.
What is your email client, Bingley? Here's the result of Googling it - it does NOT sound like a virus, going by these pages
http://snurl.com/1hos
I use Outlook Express with POP3 (I think). Thanks. It looks as if it's legit. There were no attachments so I didn't think it could be a virus -- or is that misplaced optimism?
Bingley
Well there you are, then. Don't delete it! I would have deleted it first and rued the consequences after as being better than rueing the consequences of harbouring a viral asp in my email bosom ...
When I get stuff I am unsure about I call the Guru where I bought my outfit, and ask. They have yet to disappoint. Have you a similar accommodating provider? Might be worth a call.
This may seem really simple to the cyber-smarties but I found it out recently. Ran my virus protection and it said I had an infected file so I called my Guru and gave him the "name" of the virus. I told him I hadn't opened any spam but rather immediately deleted any unknown mail. He asked if I had gone into the "deleted" file in OE and deleted them. I did at once and when the anti-virus software was re-run no problem!
In case there is one person out there who (like me) was afraid to ask : the deleted file is found by clicking on the tiny arrow next to where it says Inbox. It was just two years ago that I found that out! Duh! Everyone seems to presume you know that stuff and never tell you! Now whenever I see a tiny arrow next to a header-word I click it. Amazing!
I have a similar message permanently residing in the location where my mail is stored BEFORE I download it to my computer. Did you install a new version of your mail reader recently? I have mine set not to download that file from the server (which is where it's supposed to reside, and where it shouldn't be deleted from). That is, the do not delete message refers to deleting it from the mail server, not your computer. If it's downloaded, it just regenerates itself on the server with default values (as it told you). However, if your mail program isn't set up to leave that message behind when you check for new messages, it will download it again. Then it will regenerate again. Etc. You are OK to delete it from your computer but you need to set things up so your computer doesn't keep downloading it from the mail server. If that makes no sense to you, PM me, and I'll try to explain it better. Or ask your system person for help!
Bingley, I use Outlook Express with a POP3 server, too...never got that message. So beware. It's not from Microsoft or all OE users would've received one.
No, it's not from Microsoft, it's not from anyone at all, it's generated by your mail server itself. Since you guys have never seen one before I'm guessing only IMAP servers generate such a message. I bet y'all's internet providers use POP3. What exactly the difference is, I'm not sure. But I know mine is IMAP, and many others are POP3.
