Why does yahoo automatically send mail to my contacts?

Why would my yahoo mail send spam by itself to contacts of mine?

• I have found that yesterday or overnight my contacts starting with A, B & C have received an email from me directing them to a web page....but I did not send the message. What has happened, and how can I prevent it in future? I do run virus protection.

• Answer:

  (Sorry it's a long answer, but it's complicated question/solution.) This has been happening to both Yahoo and Hotmail accounts, but even more so recently. You may have opened an infected mail or an attachment. Some new malware can install itself just by opening it, without even clicking a link! (It only takes a few hours to crack an 8-character password!) If the mail goes to your Contacts list or you receive Mailer Daemon bounce-backs, you have had your account hacked temporarily - all they wanted was your address list. The mails will stop when they move on to spam other victims. Deleting your account or Contacts List will NOT stop this spam - once the spammers have the address, they will continue to use it for a while. Spam sent to your Contacts will also stop in a while, but it is annoying. 1. Check that the alternate e-mail address is still yours (Change it first!), and then change both your password AND your secret questions and answers. Make them unique and strong ones! If you have a Yahoo! account, you can change your password at https://edit.yahoo.com/config/change_pw. If you can no longer access your account, you can get a new password at https://edit.yahoo.com/forgotroot/. If you still can’t access your account after going through the “Forgot Your Password” process, you may contact the Customer Care team for assistance. Click Help, then Customer Care, then Live Chat - it make take a while, but a human answers! If you used this password for other accounts, change them too. Make the password longer than 8 characters, with mixed symbols. *** 2. Apologize, and notify all your contacts NOT to open short e-mails, especially those with no subject, and definitely not to click any links. Warn them to scan for malware too, just in case. Set up an alternate 'alias' account to use instead. This allows you to use a different address for sending, but still keep all saved mails and contacts and the first address active too for incoming mail. Your friends can trust this new address. (There is a choice of address in an arrow in the From: box.) http://edit.yahoo..com/config/list_alias (alternate address) 3. To be sure your computer is not infected, run both an anti-virus and spyware/malware scans, updated and separately - even more than one malware scan, or Trend Micro's Housecall for an online a-v scan. (in 'Safe Mode with Networking' is the only truly effective method - click F8 repeatedly when the screen first lights on boot-up, then arrow keys and Enter to navigate.) Re-boot into Safe Mode for each separate scan. http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free http://www.superantispyware.com/ 4. Delete all System Restore points from Control Panel > Recovery (or System Restore in XP), Once clean, re-boot and create a new restore point. 5. Then delete cookies, cache and history in case the malware can 'self- reproduce'. Next, use its cautious safe registry cleaner in case malware left behind some 'clues'. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard