Emails have been sending out without my knowledge

[Carmenchi]

I did the search already, but I'm not sure. Last Wednesday, July 13-14, 2011, my emails accounts; AOL and Gmail have been sending out mass emails at night (4:00 AM) to everyone in my contact list. I wouldn't have known about it if I didn't got some failure notices from contacts that have been de-activated. Nothing appears in the sent folder. I have run a complete scan from McAfee (my firewall and antivirus)and didn't found nothing. Also, I have Firewall and Virus protection from Windows Security Center. I have XP Professional 2002, service pack 3.

Do I have to close the emails accounts or change the passwords only? What to do?

Thanks

[Carmenchi]

How can I move this thread to Viruses, Spyware and other Nasties Forum? I'm not a guru.

[Ancient Dragon]

Hit the "Flag Bad Post" button and ask a moderator to move it for you.

[Carmenchi]

Sorry Ancient Dragon, maybe a moron but where is the "flag bad post"?

[~s.o.s~]

Moved the thread.

BTW, consider the possibility of your account being compromised and some third party entity already knowing your current user name and password. You should ASAP get your password changed and then think of finding out *how* exactly this happened.

[Carmenchi]

thanks SOS

[caperjack]

also you should't be using 2 firewalls and antivirus programs

[sgt_toasty]

Keep in mind that clearing viruses/spyware off your computer will not help with freeing your email. I would recommend reformatting your hard drive if possible, and if not ensuring your computer is free of viruses, spyware, and malware. After you can assure that (or access a seperate computer), change the passwords on the email accounts in question, and consider getting new ones.

Hope that works for you!

[jholland1964]

Keep in mind that clearing viruses/spyware off your computer will not help with freeing your email. I would recommend reformatting your hard drive if possible, and if not ensuring your computer is free of viruses, spyware, and malware. After you can assure that (or access a seperate computer), change the passwords on the email accounts in question, and consider getting new ones.

Hope that works for you!

Reformat is a rather drastic recommendation and generally would not be required unless there were infections which could not be cleaned or there has been severe damage to key system files, neither of which has been indicated here.

If the computer has been fully cleaned and deemed infection free then changing passwords would be the normal recommendation. Removing the extra virus program and firewall is a must.
Since the thread has been marked solved then we must assume the poster has solved his problem.