Seem to have had a Hotmail virus. Assuming it's just Hotmail as I don't have an email client using Hotmail on any of my machines. Does the usual sorts of things: sends email to all contacts then deletes Sent folder completely.

Any advice?

Change your password

And any that were the same.

OK - done that.

My hosting provider (who was emailed by "me") wonders if it's a precursor to the "attack" on the net on March 31.

Don't use hotmail, they are always the prime target.

I know - I should ween myself off Hotmail - just that I've had the account for more years than I care to remember

Same here, isn't any attachment sent to hotmail vetted by my Kaspersky anti-virus stuff?

Dunno. I'm super-careful about what I open (from the days when I ran my own web business - our computers were our livelihoods) so I'm pretty certain the account didn't get "infected" through anything I did. More likely it was hijacked somehow (hacked?)

basically, as long as you have a contacts list on the website this is going to happen. Can you delete it and create a replacement list on your desktop application?