Security issue with my email and PC

So, I’m running three different free email accounts, and this issue is only cropping up with one of them:

At certain times—even when I’m not logged in anywhere and my computer is completely powered down—this specific account starts automatically blasting out spam containing links to random websites. It targets addresses I’ve interacted with over the last few years, which is incredibly frustrating.

To make things even weirder, the outgoing messages show a different sender name paired with my actual email address, yet nothing shows up in my Sent folder.

I’ve reached out to the email provider’s support team three separate times asking for help, but I haven't received a single response. Today, I actually submitted a request to have the account deactivated entirely because I'm done waiting 100 days for a reply.

I can't wrap my head around why this is happening. Is it an issue with the provider's server, or am I dealing with some kind of virus or spyware on my PC? I’ve run both AVG and Norton antivirus a few times, but they didn't find a thing.

How can you even tell if they're actually being sent from your account if they don't show up in the "Sent" folder?

You should probably switch over to Gmail or something similar if you want actual encryption and the heavy-duty infrastructure that comes with it, because honestly, using free webmail feels a bit amateurish

ironcyclist58 said:How can you even tell if they're actually being sent from your account if they don't show up in the "Sent" folder?

I received an email at my other address that appeared to come from myself. 😁

Essentially, the sender name listed a female friend, but my own email was right there in parentheses.

I actually sent a message to a Gmail account just to try and get them to kill my account immediately, since I don't have the patience to wait 100 days for it to auto-deactivate.

Nathan Moore6 said:You should probably switch over to Gmail or something similar if you want actual encryption and the heavy-duty infrastructure that comes with it, because honestly, using free webmail feels a bit amateurish

I probably should. I honestly don't know why I'm still clinging to this free account. I set it up back in high school computer lab—about 12 or 13 years ago now—and it’s been reliable enough until today.

Scott Sanchez4 said:I received an email at my other address that appeared to come from myself. 😁

Essentially, the sender name listed a female friend, but my own email was right there in parentheses.

I actually sent a message to a Gmail account just to try and get them to kill my account immediately, since I don't have the patience to wait 100 days for it to auto-deactivate.

It's way more likely they just spoofed your address as the sender, while the actual mail originated somewhere else entirely. If that's the case, deleting your account won't do a damn thing to stop it...

I think you're right, but how do we actually fix this? I can't seem to get any response from anyone using Gmail accounts.

Look, it’s got nothing to do with your webmail provider or anything you did wrong. There isn't a single thing you—or anyone else, for that matter—can do to fix this. Some script kiddie or a virus just spoofed your address as the sender. You can set any random address as the "from" field without ever needing actual access to it.

Awesome. Thanks for clearing that up!