Quick question - hotmail account hacked or virally infected

[Chris71]

Hi,

'My' hotmail account has been sending people random spam (not the usual incoherant personal waffle, but somebody's commerical blurb). Will this be cured by a password change or could it be a virus or something on the PC? No sign of the offending emails in the sent folder if it is just a password hack?

Chris

[mechsympathy]

Change the password and check for linked accounts. If you click on the linked logins in the top right hand corner there may be a different account they're using to get access.

[Gold]

I had this problem, changed the password and think it's stopped now.

[cs02rm0]

Email addresses aren't password protected - anyone can send an email from any address.

Are you sure it's not just spam being sent from some entirely remote place?

[Chris71]

All I know is that the email I saw (having had it brought to my attention by someone on my contacts list) appeared to have been sent from my address.

Checked for linked accounts and it's clear. Also changed my password.

[hairykrishna]

Other possibility, if nothing shows up in 'sent', is that someone is just spoofing your address. In other words making it look like the emails come from your account. Not much you can do abut that unfortunately.

[TheEnd]

sounds like an MSN virus, it uses your MSN after accepting a file off someone, and then goes to other MSN convos will random people with similar stories, "Hey, is this really you? LOL!" and you have to download a pic, or click a link.

this then downloads the exe onto another PC, which is then free to use your hotmail contacts to send mail to or msn.

Sometimes, the virus is clever though, and it'll pick an email from the contact list, and spoof that one, so X gets a virus, sends crap to Y, but says the crap came from Z, so Z catches the flak

[JD]

Had the same thing happen to me last week

then all the contacts on my msn messenger list disappeared, great!

[oh feck]

JD said:

Had the same thing happen to me last week

then all the contacts on my msn messenger list disappeared, great!

same as me.

[TheEnd]

contacts are a funny one, there are stored on your PC in a list, i think .ctt extension, but also on an MSN server, so live MSN, or if you sign in on a different PC, it'll still have them.

[JD]

TheEnd said:

contacts are a funny one, there are stored on your PC in a list, i think .ctt extension, but also on an MSN server, so live MSN, or if you sign in on a different PC, it'll still have them.

not for me, tried both another computer, and via palringo on my phone, and there are none!

[TheEnd]

Try running a search on your PC for *.ctt but by the looks of it, i think you might need to actually make the ctt list by clicking a save contacts button.

Your contacts have been wiped on the MSN server.
go through your msn settings, and unclick a box in privacy or something that says "only allow people on my contact list to contct me" and change you sign in name to "contact list deleted, talk to me plz!!1"

the one at the end is quite significant, it makes you look like you and young and hip, and worth contacting, and random people from your past will send you messages, but also the ones you blocked too...

[Chris71]

I'll back up my contacts just in case.

I don't think I've downloaded anything untoward, but I got an email from a mate a while back with similar garbage and now it appears mine is doing the same thing.

Unfortunately I've also got some important work contacts in that list too, so I wasn't amused when it happened.