Strange email addresses appear in Recently Used Address list

[JustSomeGuy]

Strange email addresses of unknown, possibly malicious entities are
appearing in my Entourage Recently Used Address list, mixed in with valid
email addresses I've actually used.

I don't know who those entities are. I've never emailed them. They are not
in my entourage address book. I never open junk mail nor do I ever click on
any links within emails. Also, I keep all viewing panes turned off to
prevent malicious code from auto-executing. I don't know how or why they are
appearing in my Recently Used List.

I can clear the list using Entourage Preferences, but within a day or so
more mystery entities appear in the list.

Are these (a) potentially harmful, (b) symptoms of a functioning macro
virus, (c) of no particular concern, or....what? Virex says my computer is
clean.

Examples:

Aleen Ewing <[email protected]>
Armand Burris <[email protected]>
Earnestine Siegel <[email protected]>

 

[William Smith]

My responses are inline:

Strange email addresses of unknown, possibly malicious entities are
appearing in my Entourage Recently Used Address list, mixed in with valid
email addresses I've actually used.

These are most likely from junk-mail you've received. Instead of
deleting junk-mail, use the "Junk Mail" button in Entourage to mark them
as junk mail and then delete them. Using the button will keep these
addresses from appearing in your recently used list.

I don't know who those entities are. I've never emailed them. They are not
in my entourage address book. I never open junk mail nor do I ever click on
any links within emails. Also, I keep all viewing panes turned off to
prevent malicious code from auto-executing. I don't know how or why they are
appearing in my Recently Used List.

Don't worry about Entourage launching any malicious code. Only the
attachments can cause you harm and Entourage won't automatically open
attachments unless they are pictures embedded in your mail message to
begin with.

I can clear the list using Entourage Preferences, but within a day or so
more mystery entities appear in the list.

Are these (a) potentially harmful, (b) symptoms of a functioning macro
virus, (c) of no particular concern, or....what? Virex says my computer is
clean.

Your Entourage application seems to be functioning normally from what
you've described. Try the "Junk Mail" button as I've suggested and you
should see these go away.

Hope this helps! bill