I want to get rid of Hotmail

[TW]Sponge · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:04

Hi guys, my Hotmail keeps on sending random messages to my contacts (virus or something) I have scanned my whole pc several times with loads of software and they cannot find anything. I would like to cancel my account but I cannot find anywhere to do this.

Any ideas? Cheers.

Skillmister · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:05

Account > other options > close your account.

Wicksta · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:05

It's probably not anything to do with your Hotmail account and cancelling it won't stop this. One of your friends is probably infected with something and it is putting your address in the FROM: field. It's common for a virus to hijack someone's address book and send from someone else in there, as this helps to get around anti spam filters and people are more likely to read it. Unfortunately this is one downside of SMTP, you can spoof the sender easily.

Skillmister · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:09

Worked for my friend who i forced to close his account so the spams would stop

D.Roberts · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:11

Tell him to go away?......................

Oh Hotmail sorry

div0 · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:13

Have you tried changing your password since the problem started?

Does Hotmail allow you to see a list of recently used IP addresses that have been used to access your account (like Gmail let's you do)?

/edit - apparently Hotmail doesn't let you see a log of IP addresses used to access your account.

Do the spam messages show up in your Sent folder? If they do then that would indicate that someone has access to your account and is sending the messages from your account. In this case you will have to change your password. If they don't show in your Sent box, then the emails probably aren't coming from your account and instead are being sent from another email address, but made to look like you are sending them.

[TW]Sponge · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:14

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

Delivery to the following recipients failed.

[email protected][email]

This is what I'm getting.
I don't even know this person but it's saying I have tried to send a message to them.

I am an e-mail noob so please explain in noobish terms

Greebo · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:17

Doesn't mean it's come from your email or that your account is hacked or affected.

If you hotmail address is out there then people will use it to send spam to loads of people and fake the return address as being your email addy.

Jimz · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:17

All you have to do in this situation is CHANGE your password.

You must have clicked on a doggy link and its got your password details, its not a real person who sends those emails out its a computer program, once you change your password it will be fine.

div0 · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:22

[TW]Sponge;19518179 said:
This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

Delivery to the following recipients failed.

[email protected][email]

This is what I'm getting.
I don't even know this person but it's saying I have tried to send a message to them.

I am an e-mail noob so please explain in noobish terms[/QUOTE]

See my above edit - does anything show in your Sent folder? If it does then someone is accessing your account to send the emails and you need to change the password.

If not, then it's probably someone sending from elsewhere and randomly choosing to use your address, when they 'fake' who sent it. Even so, it might be worth changing your password anyway.

Oh and Gmail >> Hotmail

Wicksta · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:24

Jimz said:
All you have to do in this situation is CHANGE your password.

You must have clicked on a doggy link and its got your password details, its not a real person who sends those emails out its a computer program, once you change your password it will be fine.

It will not be fine if they aren't being sent from his actual Hotmail account. Changing passwords won't do anything as no one/anything is accessing his account. Sigh, why is this always so difficult to explain.

Fegruson · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:31

Wicksta said:
It will not be fine if they aren't being sent from his actual Hotmail account. Changing passwords won't do anything as no one/anything is accessing his account. Sigh, why is this always so difficult to explain.

What's the problem with advising someone to change their password and see what affect this has. It's the easiest thing he can try first. :rolleyes:

I had exactly the same problem. Changed my password and the issue has stopped.

And yes the spam was sent form my mailbox, as it was in the sent mail items.

Jimz · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:33

Wicksta said:
It will not be fine if they aren't being sent from his actual Hotmail account. Changing passwords won't do anything as no one/anything is accessing his account. Sigh, why is this always so difficult to explain.

No, your clearly so wrong.

If he is having the issue with his hotmail sending out all these emails to other people and hes not doing it the program what is doing this knows his password, if you change it that program wont access his account anymore.

[TW]Sponge · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:34

Hi,

What in life are you wanting, do you want to get it? I'll do it later, i'll finish it later. Both are sayings of someone who fails. change that. Nihil Obstat: Latin for "Nothing stands in the way". Live by this. Anything you do in life will have a positive result on you in some way, lets make a huge positive change. http.//bit.ly/fnVAG8 Become the one person in your group who actually succeeds.

This has been sent to everyone in my contacts lol. So is it just a case of changing password then?

Fegruson · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:35

[TW]Sponge;19518308 said:
Hi,

What in life are you wanting, do you want to get it? I'll do it later, i'll finish it later. Both are sayings of someone who fails. change that. Nihil Obstat: Latin for "Nothing stands in the way". Live by this. Anything you do in life will have a positive result on you in some way, lets make a huge positive change. http.//bit.ly/fnVAG8 Become the one person in your group who actually succeeds.

This has been sent to everyone in my contacts lol. So is it just a case of changing password then?

Try it, it's the easiest thing you can do.

Jimz · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:35

[TW]Sponge;19518308 said:
Hi,

What in life are you wanting, do you want to get it? I'll do it later, i'll finish it later. Both are sayings of someone who fails. change that. Nihil Obstat: Latin for "Nothing stands in the way". Live by this. Anything you do in life will have a positive result on you in some way, lets make a huge positive change. http.//bit.ly/fnVAG8 Become the one person in your group who actually succeeds.

This has been sent to everyone in my contacts lol. So is it just a case of changing password then?

If it was you who sent it to everyone then YES change your password

Haggisman · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:37

Jimz said:
No, your clearly so wrong.

If he is having the issue with his hotmail sending out all these emails to other people and hes not doing it the program what is doing this knows his password, if you change it that program wont access his account anymore.

Are you just guessing here, because it doesn't sound like you have any knowledge of how email systems work :rolleyes:

Yes, it is entirely possible his password has been compromised, however what Wicksta has said is just as possible, so before telling someone they are "clearly so wrong" you might want to do a little research into the technology you're arguing about.

[TW]Sponge · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:37

Password changed, hopefully that will solve it. Thanks guys!

Any more problems I will be sure to post again to prove some of you wrong/right

Wicksta · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:37

Fegruson said:
What's the problem with advising someone to change their password and see what affect this has. It's the easiest thing he can try first.

There is absolutely nothing wrong in suggesting it, but to suggest it would definitely fix the problem is patently false.

Jimz said:
No, your clearly so wrong.

If he is having the issue with his hotmail sending out all these emails to other people and hes not doing it the program what is doing this knows his password, if you change it that program wont access his account anymore.

Please, don't contribute to threads like this if you really don't have a clue about how SMTP works.

div0 · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:39

[TW]Sponge;19518308 said:
This has been sent to everyone in my contacts lol. So is it just a case of changing password then?

Yes, it is worth changing your password - especially if that email shows up in your Sent folder.

Also it is worth checking that nothing has been added/created in your Email Signature. Otherwise that Signature content will continue to be automatically added to any emails you send.