My Hotmail hacked? please help?

[Hodge]

Hi I think my hotmail account has been hacked as its sending out spam mail to my contacts, and every now and then I get a message from MSN saying suspicious activity has been happening with my account and I have to give my mobile number to get an activation code to stop my account being band. I really have no idea what to do, I don't want to get rid of the account as I use it to send CV's for jobs and waiting to hear job offers from companies using this email. I have changed my password is there anything else to do? please help!

[Dylan]

Here are my suggestions:
(1) I don't think you should give your mobile number. Give them another e-mail account, if you have one. E.g., another Hotmail or a Yahoo e-mail.

(2) Make sure your password contains lower-case, upper-case, numbers and special characters. Changing your password regularly really helps with spam. My Facebook account was sending out spam. Once I have changed my password, everything stopped.

(3) Download and install an anti-virus program, and run a full system scan. If you don't have an anti-virus program, install "Microsoft Security Essentials" (MSE), which is a good, free security software. http://www.malwarebytes.org/ MBAM does not have real-time protection (i.e., it doesn't run in the background and protect your system constantly), so it'll not interfere with MSE or your main security software. Make sure to always update MBAM and MSE before running a scan.

(4) Update and change the secret question and answer used to recover your password.

(5) Update and change the alternative email address that you use on your account.

(6) Save your contact list, make note of any folders you have created on your Hotmail, make note of the last few e-mails you have received. This is because if your account is hacked, you can recover it if you provide all the information you know about your account. In the even that you cannot sign in anymore, you can request Hotmail staff to reset your account: https://windowslivehelp.com/PasswordReset.aspx

(7) Make sure you "spam filter" is on. Go to "Options" on the top, right corner. Under "Preventing junk email", click on "Filters and reporting". Select "Standard" (under "Choose a junk email filter") and "Report junk" (under "Report junk messages") and click "Save".

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Tips:
â–ª Do not keep your passwords and account information typed up on your computer. Make sure you write them down on paper and keep it at home. Otherwise, if your computer becomes compromised, you'll lose all your information together. Do not carry that paper around.
â–ª Look into password managing software, such as "Sticky Password" or RoboForm". http://www.roboform.com/
â–ª Always run virus scans regularily.
â–ª Do not download or install any software that you don't about. Make sure to research into it.
â–ª Keep your operating system updated.
â–ª There are a lot of "rogue" anti-virus software. These are not real security software. If you install one of these, it will not allow you to install any real security software and it'll disable the one you have. These normally popup and tell yous your computer is infected and you need to install this software to remove the viruses from your computer.
â–ª Install "CCleaner" and perform disk cleanup. While you are at it, run registry cleanup to keep your PC running smoothly. Make sure all the boxes under Internet Explorer and other browsers you may have checked. You don't need to backup your registry when it asks you to. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
â–ª Install "Internet Explorer 9" if you have Windows Vista or 7. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/inter...LMUS004274