Spam emails sent from my address using my contacts - how do I stop it?

It is most probable that the spammer has obtained your password through phishing spam. Change your password. Also check your account settings for other tampering. If the spammer has planted his email address as an alternate contact, he can obtain any new passwords.

The malicious webpage can run scripts that can tell logged-in webmail to spam the address book. So you should avoid opening the links in your spam.

Per Yahoo this is being caused by a virus. It spreads out through your email account and it sends spam emails to the contacts that are in your address book and to yourself if your address is in your contact list without your knowledge.

There are many viruses in existence today (often called "worms"), that propagate when an email attachment containing the virus is sent to an email address found in an infected user's computer (e.g., address book, local files, etc.).

To stop the sending out of spam please change your Yahoo! password.

The users that have encountered this before stopped the sending out of spam after changing their Yahoo! password.

You can use this link to change your password.

http://edit.yahoo.com/config/change_pw

you will be asked to enter your current password once and your new password twice. click "Save".

You might want to run a virus scan on your computer and it sometimes helps to run a virus scan in the SAFE MODE. This can be accomplished by restarting your computer and slowly clicking on the F8 button on your keyboard while the computer is starting up

You might also want to change your secret question/answer.

To change or update your secret question and answer you can use the form at http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/acct/in%E2%80%A6

NOTE; It is helpful if you sign out of your email account before you shut you computer off AND during the day when you are going to be away for any length of time.

This link will show you many ways to enhance your security. http://security.yahoo.com/

Also, Yahoo has advised when you receive an email that SEEMS to be from yourself it is possible for the sender to put your email address in the FROM section which will then show your email address in the in box prior to opening up the email....which, of course, you should NEVER open.

One last note....enter CNET SECURITY CENTER in your web browser. This site has a ton of info ref viruses, worms, etc