Use a friend's computer to access your Yahoo account. Change the password to a "hard" password (Google for more information about such passwords). Also change all the security question answers that allow your account to be reset. For example,lie about your place of birth or use a different spelling (e.g., Lost Angels instead of Los Angeles)

Don't access the Yahoo account from your home computer until you've run full anti-virus and malware scans.

that is happening a lot to yahoo accounts I have seen reports of it on many of the help forums. Definitely do as mike suggested and change all your passwords to strong passwords, not a real word but a combo of numbers and letters that make no sense for example the last 4 digits of your phone number& the initials of your spouse or child& the numbers of someones birth date, use some capitol letters and lower case. Be sure you keep it in a safe location so you can find it if your forget it.

Create strong passwords

Thanks! Will do.

This was in today's paper.

Here is a link that might be useful: Yahoo Faces Privacy Test With New E-Mail Feature

that would make me walk away from yahoo, I want email not another social networking tool, I do not use any social networking, stay far from them, and now they are force feeding it through way too many things, my email will not be one of them. I am not big on trusting the opt out feature since as we have seen in facebook when they suddenly decide to change things it often resets our opt out to ins. The last thing I want is for everyone in my address book to know what I am doing.

Cajun,

I don't get the fascination with social networking. While certainly it's made things like finding old friends easier and creates an environment to facilitate communications with a large number of people, say during a family crisis, I don't get the need of some people to update the world with the status of their laundry. Nor the interest others exhibit in the status of a friend's laundry. Of course, I seem to be in the minority as hundreds of millions of people are using sites like Facebook and Twitter.

It seems that Yahoo is just joining the bandwagon and helping their users communicate with others. I think that any "broadcast" of personal communications should be opt-in not opt-out.

I recently had to present a presentation for a corporation that was considering building a facebook page for their businesses, suffice it to say that after I presented them with extensive info on the creator of facebook and his disgusting behavior regarding his business and his clients not to mention his illegal endeavors for which he has been and is going to court for. They followed my advice and stepped far away from facebook. Decided they really did not want to jump into bed with that kind of fellow nor let any of their business info be made available to them.
It is after all nothing more than a huge data mining business hidden behind a cute facade, (written with really crappy code).

I totally agree everything should be NO by default and each user would have to make an effort to actually turn ON any questionable feature such as these.

Bill P. creator of winpatrol recently wrote a good article
Can Facebook be Trusted?

Don't you feel it is vane for someone to think that they are so self important to believe that anyone really cares what they are currently doing? Communication between individuals is certainly noteworthy, but all the tripe that supposedly is shared is sad.

We do unfortunately live in an ever expanding world of self-centeredness and "look-at-me". You may disagree with me fine, but I ask you to look at the television. All you see are reality shows, and other supposed entertainment platforms which are nothing more than a stage to air personal dirty laundry, be mean-spirited, deceptive, rude, and conniving. Personally I watch less television and, more and more reruns when I do.

DA

I do a lot more reading these day! Books are my friends LOL

I have found in doing some investigating that in all of the big hotmail changes (whether we want them or not unfortunately) they are also making some very sneaky changes and putting some peoples info out there with out them knowing it. I have zero info about me on my hotmail info so nothing to share there but here are some interesting things pointed out in windows secrets article.
Hotmail's social networking busts your privacy

I never look at the new today page I have mine set to go directly to my inbox so I had no idea about all the stuff that is now shown on that page. I just looked at mine and I can see lists of several people that I know and in the lists it tells who they are new friends with! I am sure these people have no idea this info is being broadcast all over the place.

for those that use hotmail, windows live, messenger etc any of those you should definitely read the article and check out these settings.

Here is a link that might be useful: hotmail settings

Raven, thanks for the Hotmail info. I always go straight to my in box too. I have zero info posted there, but I'm heading over to check my settings.