Strangers added to my contacts list in Skype

twanda

Hi all,

hope this is the right forum.
I regularly get spam messages from strangers in Skype, and then I find that their user IDs have been automatically added to my contact lists.
I have chosen the option to ''only allow people in my contact list to contact me'', but still I get messages from total strangers.
Am tired of having to kick unknown names out of my contacts list.

Is there any way to stop/control this?

Thanks

probe

twanda wrote: »

Hi all,

hope this is the right forum.
I regularly get spam messages from strangers in Skype, and then I find that their user IDs have been automatically added to my contact lists.
I have chosen the option to ''only allow people in my contact list to contact me'', but still I get messages from total strangers.
Am tired of having to kick unknown names out of my contacts list.

Is there any way to stop/control this?

Thanks

Perhaps there is malware (eg a virus) on your pc? Skype usually tries to grab your contacts from other mail and contact management applications and include them in Skype. If these people are strangers, there is perhaps a file of people somewhere on your system that was created by malware, perhaps as part of a spam distribution bot net.

Best solution - backup all your files (eg to a USB hard drive or similar) including your email files, browser favorites, docs, etc etc. You should have a backup of everything anyway on a continuous basis.

Wipe and reformat your hard drive(s) and re-install the operating system and applications. Be sure you have the original operating system and applications software disks to hand and the software keys before doing this.

It will take time to do, but you will end up with a faster computer (will feel like new!). Update your software immediately after installing it - eg Windowsupdate if you are using Windows. Go to http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/ and do a simple scan after installing everything to ensure that everything is patched and up to date.

When you install Skype the second time, don't click on any option to import contacts.

twanda

Thanks for the help!:)