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....sending emails for handbags and Viagra etc to everyone in her address book.
I'm guessing its a link she clicked on or a site I visited 😉
Anyway, its probably a Trojan virus. Is there anything free online that doesn't attempt to then start up everytime you start your pc and try to rearrange your online life?
(I know you click on settings but some of them still restart) 🙄
Avast and leave it so start on start up then you it'll pretty much prevent you from getting Trojans.
I'd recommend a few things, using firefox, and Spybot s&d.
spybot sits about in your system tray, and takes few resources, and can be used on demand anytime you have some spare time away from your computer to update and scan, that plus peerblock are pretty much the first things I put on a fresh install of windows.
now for the bad news, if its got to your addressbook, it has your mail password, so, time to change that, also, that address is probably going to be used for spam as a fake header, so, you may want to get a new email adress. hope this is useful
AVG Free - install, update, then reboot into 'Safe Mode' (Press F8 when booting up, before the Windows logo appears). Do full scan with AVG.
( http://free.avg.com/gb-en/homepage )
Also, install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware ( http://majorgeeks.com/Malwarebytes_Anti-Malware_d5756.html ) and do the usual update & scan.
Finally, install, update and run the Sophos Anti-Rootkit application ( http://www.sophos.com/products/free-tools/sophos-anti-rootkit.html )
Thank you guys 
hora, is it a Hotmail account and is it definitely coming from the PC? My actual Hotmail account, and some others, got hacked recently with the same result. Resetting the password a couple of times seems to have sorted it
My missis had the hotmail issue too. I was getting 4 or 5 spams a day from her
Yep- her hotmail
Ah Hotmail account, then it really isn't on your PC but may have been initially to get your password.
1) Change your hotmail password.
2) Search for infections (run Malwarebytes as someone else suggested) and let us know if it finds anything so we can advise further.
3) Once cleaned post-infection, change your password again.
Do -not- install more than one anti-virus solution at once (Avast, AVG etc) as they will fight. (Malwarebytes, Spybot etc aren't AV and don't count here).