Recently my paypal account was hacked into and several purchases were made without my authorization. Prior to the incident, naturally, I was not too bright and had the same password for several different sites (I have since changed all of my psswds). But here's the problem, after the paypal incident, I did not change my hotmail account info. Today I was on msn Messenger and was informed that someone else had signed in as me so I was signed off. I promptly went to the hotmail page and changed my password and now I can't access my hotmail because there have been "too many unsuccessful attempts". What's going on? DOes whoever is out there using my password only have that one? How do they have it? I keep my virus software (norton) up to date and just ran spybot software from Microsoft, now what?

Your computer has been hijacked.
Go to:
http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html
And download/install/run the hijackthis program.
Then go to:
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/
And register to get professional help for free.
When registered, you should open a new thread in the forum (at virtualdr), talk about your problem and upload a hijackthis log. You will be fixed in no time.
Please take the time and read all information (particulary the FAQ) on that site (there is some etiquette to respect).
****
Abandon that hotmail address and when you're through with your problems, sign up for a new one.

Hi,
Before you go through the "hijack this" business and the forums, you might want to try scanning with 2 great free programs:

If you have the following programs; run them as below.
Spyware/Advertising ware removal

http://www.security-related.com/download2.htm
Download: SpyBot Search & Destroy; 1.3

AdAware at:
www.lavasoftusa.com
Download: AdAware_SE

Both the above programs run better and much faster when run in SafeMode.
It's best to run the AdAware scan first; 3 times; then re-boot.
Then, run the AdAware scan again 3 times; then run the SpyBot.
Re- Boot.
Reason for running so many times:
Some of these trojans' files can be deleted the first time; leaving some others; but on re-boot, they re-write the files that were deleted.
Running multiple times deletes most of it the first time.
Two Tips:
If you notice the little green computer lights that show your dial-up connection to the internet staying on when they shouldn't be, located on the bottom right of the system tray, disconnect immediately and run AdAware. These lights staying on means that some URL is sending or receiving spyware/advertising ware to or from your computer, most of the time.

Other Tip: After being on the net, if you have visited any sites you don't really trust, then run AdAware BEFORE you shut down or re-start the computer. This will delete any Spyware easier, before the computer can configure it, set it up, spread it throughout the Registry, and make it more difficult to remove after re-booting.

Best wishes,
fredg

For Spyware protection and general help cleaning up the computer and registry I recommend,

The following files, as I have found 1 or even 2 is not always enough as 1 may find

Something the others do not.

Spyware
Microsoft New SPyware program-Formerly Giant spyware, they bought it out.
Spysweeper
Spybot search and destroy
Adware SE
Aluria's Spyware Eliminator
Spyhunter
&
Spyware Blaster, this one prevents certain items, before they are even installed, it does

Not clean.

I would suggest at the very least 3 or more of the above programs.

Registry and Fix and Repair programs
Fix it Utilities 5 this one has an excellent Scandisk, better than the one with your OS
Advanced System Optimizer
Ace Utilities
System Mechanic 5

Any 2 or more of these.

And download the Google toolbar with built in pop up stopper for your browser is good.

And a good solid Anti Virus Program or 2, updated weekly.
PC-Cillin
AVG Anti Virus
Bitdefender
Etrust EZ Anti virus

I would suggest using 2 of these.

A good defragging Program or 2
Diskeeper Lite
Perfect Disk.

Also run from Start/run type in chkdsk then let that run then type in chkdsk /f to help fix

WinXP errors.

Also use the below website, that tests and reviews some for the best programs out for many

Different things, they give you side by side comparisons and rate each one in many

Categories.
http://www.toptenreviews.com/ :)