MSN Hotmail virus? How to stop?

Question

I noticed spam is being sent by my hotmail account, even to people NOT on my contact list. in my inbox i have dozens of "Delivery failure notifications" and in my sent box dozens of emails sent by my hotmail account that i never sent! Will changing my password solve the problem. I hear of others having the same problem. Is it a virus that affects hotmail only?

Answer 1

Most probably:



* Someone has your Password - Change it immediately and opt for a Strong One

* Your PC is having Malware - Scan with latest updates of KIS, SuperAntiSpyware etc.

Answer 2

Are you able to search or download anything? If so, I'd suggest downloading a small 'free' software called 'Malwarebytes AntiMalware' onto your desktop from the following link:



http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php



Install the program, run it and update the definition. Once installed, select quick scan, and let the software scan your system. Once the scan is finished, it will more than likely give you a list of the infections on your computer. Click on 'Show Results' and then make sure all items are selected, and then select 'Remove All'.



Depending on how badly infected the system is and also the type of infection, Malwarebytes may or may not ask or prompt you to reboot your system.



I'd definitely suggest starting with this step and then let me know what the end result was. Malwarebytes, will in most cases clear out such infections.



Finally, now that you have Malwarebytes on the laptop, I'd suggest keeping it and running a full scan once a week.



(If you can't download from the infected computer, then you need to download it from a clean computer and transfer it to the infected computer via flash/pen drive or cd, and follow the instructions above).



Hope this helps.

Good luck.

Let us know.



CookieRocks



Ask, if you need any more help.



EDIT: If it says mbam.exe is infected, change the name of mbam.exe to hls.exe and then try the install again. This sometimes happens because certain viruses/ malware are trained to avoid letting any known removers from executing.



If you can't do this in normal mode, then you may need to do it whilst in 'Safe Mode' which you can enter by pressing the F8 key when you boot up your system.

Answer 3

Interestingly when trying to tell a friend that their account had been hacked and was sending the PictureHostz messages (as well as random bits of spam) I discovered if you try and send the PictureHostz url as a link (I was copy and pasting the spam messages from history to prove they happened) it says "The following message could not be delivered to all recipients:". This was not the case yesterday when I had to tell a different friend about it (it's spreading fast :S). Maybe Microsoft have put in a block on sending that link so the problem is now gone :P

Answer 4

The first thing to do to speed up pc and get rid of malwares and viruses is cleaning the registry with a program like CCLeaner http://j.mp/UrAK7a

Very useful program!

Hope it helps.