Have you been gotten by this computer virus yet?

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A couple months ago, one of my friends told me that her computer had gotten one of those Trojan worms or viruses that hacks into your email account and then sends spam and viruses out to everyone in your address book. Has this happened to anyone else or is it an isolated event? I don't think it's something that has ever happened to me. I don't use Outlook, so I'm not sure how it could do that to me. Currently, I'm only using the free email accounts from Gmail and Yahoo and think those sites are exempt from getting hacked. Does anyone know if this is true? Can this type of virus or Trojan horse still send junk emails or viruses to your friends if you are using a freebie email account? And, how would you know that it had happened? What are the signs to look for? And, how do you avoid it. Would love some advice on this.