email virus help!

[nicename]

I received an email from a friend and it looked ok. There was a link and I opened it (in my defense, she is planning a wedding and has been sending me links to various things). Of course it was a flippin' virus and it has sent out rubbishy emails to my contacts book!

I went into hotmail and when I signed in got the message :

'It looks like someone else might be using your account
To help you – and only you – get back into [email protected], we need to verify that it's yours.' Wih a 'next, button.

Is this also a virus? Is it safe to assume it is a rewal 'fix'?

Hard to know. If hotmail is what you usually use to send messages then they may well have detected that you sent more than usual and that they were all similar, so trigged anti-spam protection.

Run virus scanner on your computer.
Run anti-malware (if not part of your virus scanner).

Do not follow any links to login to hotmail. Instead type directly into the browser bar.

No that is not a virus. That is the message Hotmail gives when Microsoft think your account has been hacked. If you click on Next it should say that it wants to send you a security code and ask you how you want to receive it. It should not attempt to install any software or ask you for your password.

Thanks! I did that and its ok now. The sodding thing sent spam out to every person I'd even sent an email to (not just on my contacts list) so I had a zillion bouncebacks! It also messed up my phome, so that took ages to fix.