My wife's hotmail account sent 3 emails to her entire contact list in her hotmail account. Is this a virus?

The text of the email was:

"Dear friend:
We are wholesale company which can offer you laptops,Digital cameras,videos,GPS , cellphone,mp4,game console and many other electronic products with international guarrantee all over the world.
We can offer you both high quality products and good price. with the new beginning of 2008, we want to have a long term business with you/your company If you want to buy something ,please feel free contact us at:
our website : <>http://www..com>
MSN : <x@hotmail.com>
E-mail : <x@hotmail.com>
Welcome to x.com!銆€MSN: x@hotmail.com"

Any idea how this could happen? How can a Hotmail account be compromised? I find it very hard to believe that they hacked her password. It was a strong password (> 8 characters) with no words. It was comprised of numbers, letters (in upper and lower case). At first I thought it was a spoof of her email address, but I actually see the 3 sent messages in her sent message box.

But if it is on the computer can it send to the Hotmail contact list?

You may want to try these freeware programs that have and currently are working well for me.
Antivirus : Avira antivir
Spyware : Spywareterminator
Browser : Avant

Google them for your own research.
Install them and you shouldn't have anymore problems. Good Luck!!

The virus is on your wife's computer. A common one is to use a persons contact list for emails. No hacking needed.