Mr Euro, not much you can do. They aren't actually sending from your account (well, you could change your password to make sure), they are just spoofing the sender address. I get it too.

Robb, Tools/Internet Options/Content tab/Autocomplete and press Clear Forms.

Hi Kayak, I think they are sending it from the account. They have sent over 100 mails each saying it is from me! This is confirmed if youlook in outbox and you see them their!

I'll change the password but I think it's a bit more than that, I have contacted AOL but wont hold my breath.

Hijacking of valid email addresses to bypass Spam checking of the "MAIL FROM" validation in MailServers is now very common. The spammers are being squeezed so are going to more extreme measures to get the junk through.

Unfortunately there is absolutely nothing you can do about it apart from completely bining the email address and never use it again.

They are not sending from your account at all. They are sending it from somewhere else using their own special software and just sticking your email address in because it is "valid".

BT, but if they are not sending from my account why/how does it appear in my outbox?

Do you sleepwalk Mr Euro? :-)

Mr Euro, if its in your outbox its probably been sent from there, as you suggest take it up with AOL but I doubt if they will do much. If its not in your inbox its spoofed, happens all the time, some ISPs will allow you to supress DSN messages which can be usefull if this is happeneing a lot, I donmt know if AOL let you do that but I doubt it as they are crap ;-)

Kayak, no I hardly sleep these days!

Spaceman, yes it is in my outbox not inbox, by inbox did you mean outbox?

Read this today, got me thinking! $24m for 9 years! Will be reduced to say 5 on appeal, of which he will serve 2.5. If I knew how I would give it a try!

US duo in first spam conviction


Jaynes sent more than 100,000 e-mails in a month
A brother and sister in the US have been convicted of sending hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mail messages to AOL subscribers.
It is the first criminal prosecution of internet spam distributors.

Jurors in Virginia recommended that the man, Jeremy Jaynes, serve nine years in prison and that his sister, Jessica DeGroot, be fined $7,500.

They were convicted under a state law that bars the sending of bulk e-mails using fake addresses.

'Snake oil salesman'

They will be formally sentenced next year. A third defendant, Richard Rutkowski, was acquitted.

Prosecutors said Jaynes was "a snake oil salesman in a new format", using the internet to peddle useless wares, news agency Associated Press reported.

A "Fed-Ex refund processor" was supposed to allow people to earn $75 an hour working from home. Another item on sale was an "internet history eraser".

His sister helped him process credit card payments.

Jaynes amassed a fortune of $24m from his sales, prosecutors said.

"He's been successful ripping people off all these years," AP quoted prosecutor Russell McGuire as saying.

Jaynes was also found guilty of breaking a state law which prohibits the sending of more than 100,000 e-mails in 30 days, Virginia State Attorney General Jerry Kilgore reportedly said.

Prosecutors had asked for 15 years in jail for Jaynes, and a jail term for his sister.

But Jaynes' lawyer David Oblon called the nine-year recommended term "outrageous" and said his client believed he was innocent.

He pointed out that all three of the accused lived in North Carolina and were unaware of the Virginia state law.

Spam messages are estimated to account for at least 60% of all e-mails sent.

Only other possibility is that your password has been cracked. I'm not an AOL person so don't know how you logon or whatever. If that is possible because you've used a "normal" word then try using passwords that include punctuation marks.

Apart from that I haven't a clue.

Mr E yes I meant outbox.

Kayak - thanks.

Can anyone suggest a good place to buy domain names and also host them? Are there any dangers/pitfalls I should be aware of?

Thanks.

PS - Found this place which seems very cheap, but I could being taken for a ride.

http://www.zyra.org.uk/123-reg.htm

Mr Euro - I use www.netsol.com - probably there are cheaper but it isn't expensive anywhere and they do an auto renew feature so you can't lapse by accident.

Thanks.When you have registered names can people trace the site to you? I mean joe bloggs not the police? I am also trying to learn about optimisation and everything that goes with websites! Any tips? anyone!?!>?

Mr E

Anyone can look up the Whois database and get the name and address of the sites owner. However, I believe that Network Solutions have an option to hide it. Some of the other providers will not.

Thanks, then I will probably give false information.

Agree with Kernow - I do all my domains through NetSol - they now have a service for everything. You can now also keep your registration details "ex-directory".

Mr.E - you're going into the realms of DNS servers etc etc - it's techy stuff, but once you've learnt it all you'll wish you did it all years ago.

I control all my domains,mailservers,websites completely online with no delay and no bods to talk to. It all happens in seconds. I use online services (USA based of course) to do it all and for peanut costs. All of this means I'm not locked to any ISP and can do what I want when I want to do it.

NetSol have "account" info and "domain registration" info. Account will have to be real because of credit card usage. There is also a legal requirement not to give false info on registrations, but I don't know who checks the millions of them every day.

BT the problem I found with NETSOL is I couldn't register .co.uk names, or at least not without messing around or talking to a live rep. I have been at this for a couple of days/nights and I am learning all the time but phew it's not as straight forward as one might think.

I haven't even got round to conditioning yet, only that one compnay wanted 2.2K for 5 sites. I think I might do it myself coupled with paying for some ad. space. On my list to do is call Bully to get some free AM advertising :-)

I am putting together complete buiness plans / operation bussiness in about 12 fields, not enough hours in the day!

I didn't bother with .co.uk - couldn't think of a good reason why. I stayed with .com for everything, and .net for some specialist stuff.