COMPUTER HAS BEEN HIJACKED?

I have Windows XP pro.

I guess someone hijacked my hotmail account. Someone turned on my vacation reply and put this in as the reply:

hi:
Heya, how are you doing recently ?
I would like to introduce you a very good company which I knew. Their company homepage is [removed] . They can offer you all kinds of electronical products which you need, such as motorcycles, laptops, mobile phones, digial cameras, TV LCD,xbox, ps3, gps, MP3/4, etc. Please take some time to have a look at it, there must be something you 'd like to purchase.
Their contact email: [removed]
MSN: [removed]
Hope you have a good mood in shopping from their company!
Regards.


Can someone tell me what to do about this? It happened just over an hour ago. I put out an email to all my contacts to ignore it.

The only other thing that may be pertinent is that this last week I have been getting a Windows alert that there are two names on my network. I am really ignorant about this. if you can tell me where to check and remove this other name.

I live alone, so no one else has access to my computer.

Thanks.

[advertising removed at Dias' request - Calum]

[Global Moderator]

Are you using wireless internet? (or do you have wireless internet?)

What Protection software do you have? (Antivirus and Firewall)

Yes, I am using a laptop.  We have cable in the house and I have a router.

I am not sure about the protection.  I think AVG free.  I am not too savvy on this.

Since when were motorcycles classed as "electronical products"? I think that barefaced advertisement should disqualify the OP from getting any help until it is removed. If the problem is a real one and not an excuse for spamming our lovely forum.

Dias de verano:

Are you kidding me?  I am the one who got spammed. Everyone in my contact list got contacted, and I got some undeliverable mail addressed to people who were not on my contact list.  If you have some good ideas on what to do, I would be happy to hear them.

So far I have changed my email password, turned my vacation reply off, and am in the process of running a scan.  I don't know what else to do, which is why I am turning to the forum for help.

You have the wrong idea about me.  Do you have any constructive suggestions?

I see you edited your post to make it clearer.

You wrote,

I guess someone hijacked my hotmail account.

Hotmail is a webmail service. It is relatively vulnerable to hijacking. If you provided an email address when you set up your account then you can request your password reset link be sent to that email or you can answer the secret question to change your password.

You should login and change your secret question as well.

Always use strong passwords.

When logging in use the https login page by clicking on 'Sign in using enhanced security'

It would be wise for you to run an antispyware scan to make sure you don't have trojans or keyloggers installed.

I always did sign in using enhanced security, but I did change my password.  I am running the AVG scan now.  But I am not sure of the difference in the word antispyware.  Do I need to run a different scan than AVG - it is antivirus?  I am not too savvy about things like that.  Maybe why I got hijacked.

I did not edit the post.  The moderator did that.  I did not know it would be volatile.

Also does anyone know about the Windows message "Duplicate name found on the network?"  How do I go in to find out about that?   It no longer comes up.

Thanks for replying.  I was beginning to think it was dias de invierno.

[Moderator]

I was beginning to think it was dias de invierno.

This would be a mistake...

I was beginning to think it was dias de invierno.

This would be a mistake...

Es la verdad - el invierno está aquí en el hemisferio del norte.

Without having an intimate knowledge of your machine and browsing habits, it is hard to say very much that is useful, but Hotmail accounts can get hijacked without your own PC being compromised. Possibly your password has been discovered because a keylogger got on your machine and sent the details back to the (clearly) mainland Chinese spammer, in which case I would do a thorough scan with a scanning program such as Ad-Aware 2008 or Hijack This! The latter program can produce a log which you can post on malware advice forums (including the one on this site) for experts to read and advise on.

I would also, if I used online banking or any service involving confidential or critical information, change passwords and watch carefully for signs of interference. However, panic may be inapppropriate - it may be merely that a spammer got access to your Hotmail account to send advertising spam for that "electronical" products website. That does happen a lot, and is one reason why many people do not use Hotmail for anything mission-critical. (Or at all, like me.)

In cases of suspected malware infection, it is the policy of this forum that only certain approved advisers give help, and I am not one of them, so I suggest you may want to post a query in the malware section of Computer Hope.

I was beginning to think it was dias de invierno.

Or maybe you meant the distinctly less flattering dias de infierno?

Very nice post with a ton of informative information. I really appreciate the fact that you approach these topics from a stand point of knowledge and information
instead of the typical “I think” mentality that you see so much on the internet these days.

Very nice post with a ton of informative information. I really appreciate the fact that you approach these topics from a stand point of knowledge and information
instead of the typical “I think” mentality that you see so much on the internet these days.

Why reply to a year old post.......?  And welcome to CH......

it has nothing to do with your pc. just your id has been hacked.