Weird embedded image in e-mail problem

[stevebass]

First, an admission: I use a PC. In fact, I write for PC World.

Despite that, I'm facing a tough Mac problem. I'm hoping the experts here can figure it out.

1. A Mac friend, using the current OS and built-in e-mail client, is a subscriber to my Yahoogroup.

2. I sent a message through Yahoogroups with two embedded images which she received. The e-mail wasn't spoofed -- the headers substantiate that it's legitimately from me and had two embedded images.

Here's where it gets weird:

The e-mail contained an <<extra>> embedded image. The image was on her drive and I have no way of accessing her system -- or her images.

In your experience, is there a virus that could cause this type of behavior? Perhaps a bug in the e-mail client or Mac OS?

I'd appreciate any help, leads, or pointers.

Thanks,

--Steve
PC World, Home Office

 

[Doctor Q]

About the virus: Extremely unlikely.

If you are saying that you sent two images in an e-mail and your Mac friend received three, I suggest asking her to send all three back to you so you can compare and see what they look like. If you tell us what the name of the extra image was, maybe that will be a clue too.

 

[stevebass]

She did and the two were exactly what I sent. The other one was a picture of her and your family that was on her hard drive.

>>I suggest asking her to send all three back to you so you can compare and see what they look like. If you tell us what the name of the extra image was, maybe that will be a clue too.

 

[MisterMe]

She did and the two were exactly what I sent. The other one was a picture of her and your family that was on her hard drive.

>>I suggest asking her to send all three back to you so you can compare and see what they look like. If you tell us what the name of the extra image was, maybe that will be a clue too.

There can be little doubt about this one. Between you and your friend, someone is mistaken. What you say your friend told you is virtually impossible.

 

[stevebass]

LOL... I agree. It's the first time I've ever heard of something like this and I've been using computers (granted, PCs..) since 1985.

But I was hoping that somehow someway I could blame it on the Mac. I'll have to make a site visit and carefully examine the e-mail she received.

There can be little doubt about this one. Between you and your friend, someone is mistaken. What you say your friend told you is virtually impossible.

 

[Doctor Q]

It seems that she mistakenly thinks that a photo she already had on her hard drive came with that e-mail. Maybe it had a similar-sounding name?

If she uses the e-mail client provided by Apple, named Mail, she can select menu choice View -> Message -> Raw Source and see the raw message text, including boundary lines that identify attachments. From that you (or we) could tell for sure what she received.

Note: She can select and copy the entire raw source and paste it into e-mail back to you.