A friend tells me he received an email through Outlook Express that
mysteriously disappeared from his computer. Fortunately he had copied the
above text from the subject line to do a Google search before it
disappeared. Otherwise he would have had no record. An Outlook Express
internal "find" revealed nothing, no record whatsoever.

A week earlier, after purchasing a computer peripheral from Ecoolstore on
eBay from China, he also received an email stating that processing of their
PayPal payment had been "completed." When the item did not arrive from Hong
Kong within the allocated 14 business day limit he requested a refund but
the seller responded that his PayPal payment had not been "completed" so
when he went to look for the email it had also mysteriously vanished.

What is going on? Can email that has been received and displayed simply self
destruct like the mission assignment tapes from Mission Impossible, or did
my friend delete them by mistake without knowing what he had done?

Also is it possible for computer peripherals from China to have spyware
installed inside then on a read only memory and if so how can this be
determined?

Thanks in advance for any response.

Not enough information to even hazard a guess, I'm afraid.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.org/

x wrote:
> A friend tells me he received an email through Outlook Express that
> mysteriously disappeared from his computer. Fortunately he had copied the
> above text from the subject line to do a Google search before it
> disappeared. Otherwise he would have had no record. An Outlook Express
> internal "find" revealed nothing, no record whatsoever.
>
> A week earlier, after purchasing a computer peripheral from Ecoolstore on
> eBay from China, he also received an email stating that processing of
> their
> PayPal payment had been "completed." When the item did not arrive from
> Hong
> Kong within the allocated 14 business day limit he requested a refund but
> the seller responded that his PayPal payment had not been "completed" so
> when he went to look for the email it had also mysteriously vanished.
>
> What is going on? Can email that has been received and displayed simply
> self
> destruct like the mission assignment tapes from Mission Impossible, or did
> my friend delete them by mistake without knowing what he had done?
>
> Also is it possible for computer peripherals from China to have spyware
> installed inside then on a read only memory and if so how can this be
> determined?
>
> Thanks in advance for any response.

What additional information do you need?


"PA Bear" wrote:

> Not enough information to even hazard a guess, I'm afraid.
> --
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
> AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
> DTS-L http://dts-l.org/
>
> x wrote:
> > A friend tells me he received an email through Outlook Express that
> > mysteriously disappeared from his computer. Fortunately he had copied the
> > above text from the subject line to do a Google search before it
> > disappeared. Otherwise he would have had no record. An Outlook Express
> > internal "find" revealed nothing, no record whatsoever.
> >
> > A week earlier, after purchasing a computer peripheral from Ecoolstore on
> > eBay from China, he also received an email stating that processing of
> > their
> > PayPal payment had been "completed." When the item did not arrive from
> > Hong
> > Kong within the allocated 14 business day limit he requested a refund but
> > the seller responded that his PayPal payment had not been "completed" so
> > when he went to look for the email it had also mysteriously vanished.
> >
> > What is going on? Can email that has been received and displayed simply
> > self
> > destruct like the mission assignment tapes from Mission Impossible, or did
> > my friend delete them by mistake without knowing what he had done?
> >
> > Also is it possible for computer peripherals from China to have spyware
> > installed inside then on a read only memory and if so how can this be
> > determined?
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any response.
>
>

Windows version? Is it an MSN/Hotmail account? In what folder was the
message first displayed? Have all messages in this folder "disappeared"?
Have all messages in all folders disappeared? Is "Show all messages"
selected in View > Current view? Any anti-spam software installed?

>>> Also is it possible for computer peripherals from China to have spyware
>>> installed inside then on a read only memory and if so how can this be
>>> determined?

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.org/

rabidfoxcontrol@hotmail.com wrote:
> What additional information do you need?
>
> "PA Bear" wrote:
>> Not enough information to even hazard a guess, I'm afraid.
>> --
>> x wrote:
>>> A friend tells me he received an email through Outlook Express that
>>> mysteriously disappeared from his computer. Fortunately he had copied
>>> the
>>> above text from the subject line to do a Google search before it
>>> disappeared. Otherwise he would have had no record. An Outlook Express
>>> internal "find" revealed nothing, no record whatsoever.
>>>
>>> A week earlier, after purchasing a computer peripheral from Ecoolstore
>>> on
>>> eBay from China, he also received an email stating that processing of
>>> their
>>> PayPal payment had been "completed." When the item did not arrive from
>>> Hong
>>> Kong within the allocated 14 business day limit he requested a refund
>>> but
>>> the seller responded that his PayPal payment had not been "completed" so
>>> when he went to look for the email it had also mysteriously vanished.
>>>
>>> What is going on? Can email that has been received and displayed simply
>>> self
>>> destruct like the mission assignment tapes from Mission Impossible, or
>>> did
>>> my friend delete them by mistake without knowing what he had done?
>>>
>>> Also is it possible for computer peripherals from China to have spyware
>>> installed inside then on a read only memory and if so how can this be
>>> determined?
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for any response.

1. Windows XP, SP2
2. It was either a Verizon dot net or an Internet Junction dot net account.
3. The first folder displayed in was an inbox folder entitled " dot com"
4. No other messages in this folder have disappeared.
5. No other messages in any other folders have disappeared.
6. Show all messages is selected.
7. The IP was instructed to remove all filters since emails with picture
taken by the account owner were often blocked do to random "patterns" within
the picture file. There is no program dedicated to spam removal installed.
Some rules do send emails to the delete folder and some rules do delete
emails from the server but only prior to their being moved to the dot com
folder where they were viewed.
Other than Windows Defender and possibly Verizon's version of Norton anti
virus, AD Aware and Pest Patrol monitoring and possibly something else there
are no email spam filters running that I know of.

"PA Bear" wrote:

> Windows version? Is it an MSN/Hotmail account? In what folder was the
> message first displayed? Have all messages in this folder "disappeared"?
> Have all messages in all folders disappeared? Is "Show all messages"
> selected in View > Current view? Any anti-spam software installed?
>
> >>> Also is it possible for computer peripherals from China to have spyware
> >>> installed inside then on a read only memory and if so how can this be
> >>> determined?
>
> Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315
> --
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
> AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
> DTS-L http://dts-l.org/
>
> rabidfoxcontrol@hotmail.com wrote:
> > What additional information do you need?
> >
> > "PA Bear" wrote:
> >> Not enough information to even hazard a guess, I'm afraid.
> >> --
> >> x wrote:
> >>> A friend tells me he received an email through Outlook Express that
> >>> mysteriously disappeared from his computer. Fortunately he had copied
> >>> the
> >>> above text from the subject line to do a Google search before it
> >>> disappeared. Otherwise he would have had no record. An Outlook Express
> >>> internal "find" revealed nothing, no record whatsoever.
> >>>
> >>> A week earlier, after purchasing a computer peripheral from Ecoolstore
> >>> on
> >>> eBay from China, he also received an email stating that processing of
> >>> their
> >>> PayPal payment had been "completed." When the item did not arrive from
> >>> Hong
> >>> Kong within the allocated 14 business day limit he requested a refund
> >>> but
> >>> the seller responded that his PayPal payment had not been "completed" so
> >>> when he went to look for the email it had also mysteriously vanished.
> >>>
> >>> What is going on? Can email that has been received and displayed simply
> >>> self
> >>> destruct like the mission assignment tapes from Mission Impossible, or
> >>> did
> >>> my friend delete them by mistake without knowing what he had done?
> >>>
> >>> Also is it possible for computer peripherals from China to have spyware
> >>> installed inside then on a read only memory and if so how can this be
> >>> determined?
> >>>
> >>> Thanks in advance for any response.
>
>