Bouncing mail
In the past two weeks, I have been receiving attachments carrying the W32.Netsky.P virus, which Norton filters out. What's worrying is that I'm getting returned messages from people I don't know suggesting they've intercepted mail from me carrying a virus. I've run full scans and they have detected no virus. Peter McCutcheon

Jack Schofield replies: You don't have to worry about returned messages unless they are ones you have sent. W32.Netsky.P is a mass-mailing worm that exploits a bug in the way Microsoft's Internet Explorer used to interpret unusual forms of MIME header to execute an attachment automatically when the email is read or even viewed. The patch was published in March 2001 (see security bulletin MS01-020 at http://masl.to/?W29C22099) and should not affect anybody who has done even casual updating. However, it is also distributed via file-sharing systems under a large and impressive variety of names, such as Ringtones.mp3.exe, Harry Potter 1-6 book.txt.exe and Eminem Spears porn.jpg.exe.

W32.Netsky.P has its own SMTP mail software, so it can send out thousands of emails regardless of which email software you use. It forges the From: line using email addresses picked up locally, so your email address probably appears several times on the infected PC: perhaps one of your business contacts has recently downloaded Netsky.P as Adobe Photoshop 10 crack.exe or whatever. If you read some of the mail headers (see www.stopspam.org/email/headers.html) you may be able to find the sender's IP address and complain to their ISP. This is worthwhile if you have a persistent offender. You can also complain to the idiots who use software that bounces messages back to forged addresses, but it won't have any effect.

If you run anti-virus scans locally and online at sites such as Trend Micro's Housecall and Symantec, you can be sure you don't have Netsky.P. However, it is also worth keeping an eye on your internet connection. If you double-click the connection icon in Windows' system tray (next to the clock) it will tell you how many bytes of data you have sent and received. If you have sent 100K of email and the pop-up says you have sent 100MB of data, you can start worrying.

Wi-Fi phone
I am trying to find out which mobiles support Wi-Fi and/or WiMax. MA

JS: I don't know of any Wi-Fi phones available in the UK, unless you can get an HP iPaq h6315/h6340, which is really a Windows Pocket PC-based PDA - Expansys is taking pre-orders ( http://masl.to/?M2CC21099). However, the T-Mobile MDA III Pocket PC is on sale in Germany for €450 (http://masl.to/?F2DC14099) and is expected to arrive in the UK fairly soon. For a comparison of the early contenders, see www.msmobiles.com/news.php/2951.html. WiMax (IEEE 802.16) phones are probably still years away.

XP v NAV
I have installed XP2. The only problem is that it keeps saying my Norton Anti-Virus is switched off when it is on. Paul Kinlock

JS: Some viruses try to disable security products, so ignoring probes is a self-defence mechanism. Symantec's website says: "Your Norton security products contain tamper protection features that prevent malicious code from determining their status. This tamper protection also prevents the Windows Security Center from determining the status of your Norton security products." (www.symantec.com/techsupp/sp2/faq.html#9) A LiveUpdate has been provided to remove the problem. Reader David Peate also posed and helped answer this question.

Backchat
· Last week, Peter del Tufo complained he could not search for words in AOL 9's email software, and that AOL had suggested he search it in AOL 7. I suggested he switch to a better third-party email program using the standard IMAP protocol, which AOL now supports. Cass Stainton from the AOL Comms Team protests: "AOL 9.0 mail does allow full searches for specified keywords in emails, including the body of the email itself, via a dedicated tab within the mailbox." The instructions are to click Read on the toolbar, choose the Search Email tab (fifth from left), pick Search Options (in underscored blue text, to the right of that screen), then click the option that says: Search content of email messages saved on my PC. Cass adds: "We're checking our records to clarify why Member Services gave incorrect information to this member."

· Nigel Miller suggested del Tufo install "the excellent standalone free AOL Communicator Email software (Keyword: AOL Communicator) designed as complementary to AOL 9. This will give him every advanced email search option he needs, as well as allowing a more transparent and accessible backup feature." The main drawback is that "you cannot import existing saved emails into this long-trousered version from the bundled AOL 9 email program for unexplained reasons. However, this could be overcome by forwarding old emails to another personal account".