Someone borrowed your email address to use for the return address of their spam. They have their own address list that they probably borrowed from someone else. If they sent these from your account the messages would be in your Sent folder. They will get bored with you soon and move on to the next address. Be protective of your personal info. Do not provide it to anyone or any site that does not need it.

hi no i got sent an email from someone i work with and share documents with that looked like the exact sign in page so i put my details in and they didn't work - i didn't have a clue why - these days a lot of simple things don't work anymore so i simply gave up and the next day opened my email to recieve hundreds of people asking me what the documents were cos they couldn't open them ...

people i didn't even no - and for 3 days i have been fileding these replies so i wanted to know where the address book was so i could delete all these email address that thunderbird wrongly automatically saves

what i wanted to know was where is the address book in thunderbird so i can see what email address are in there - it seems that it saves and stores every single communication i have ever had - so when i got hacked or scamed it sent to every single person on the planet i had ever sent an email to including just general enquires - why -

that is insane to keep all those address - why not let the actual physical person save -like a phone has the ability to ask - save contact -

i found the address book but it was only thanks to siting through google and then it was A HIDDEN file so i had to post in a code into terminal to get it -why is it like that - HIDDEN - how insane ...why not just put it in tools - what i discovered was thousands of adderess of people i didn't even remember crazy -about 4 years worth of email address automatically 'saved' ....

having been on the internet since the late 80's i see that upgrades are down grades, and things like this just don't make sense

re :Q where are all these email address stored and how do i delete them

It is the default for them to be in 'Collected Addresses' which is a default address book. If you want to empty the 'Collected Addresses' address book.

• click on 'Address Book'
• select 'Collected Addresses' address book to see all the Contacts.
• press 'Ctrl' + 'A' key to highlight all contacts.
• click on 'Delete' or right clickon highlighted contacts and choose 'Delete'.

RE: Address Book - 'Collected Addresses' - profile file name: 'history.mab' When you send an email Thunderbird can collect those address so that you can easilly reuse them. You can choose where those collected email address go - by default they are stored in 'Collected Addresses' address book. You can also choose NOT to collect any outgoing email address. This is done here: 'Tools' > 'Options' > 'Composition' > 'Addressing' tab or 'Menu icon' > 'Options' > 'Options' > 'Composition' > 'Addressing' tab

• uncheck 'Automatically add outgoing email addresses to my : ..'
• click on 'OK'

re :i found the address book but it was only thanks to siting through google and then it was A HIDDEN file

Every address book and it's contents should be clearly visible in Thunderbird when you click on the 'Address Book' button/icon located on the Mail Toolbar'. There are Two by default.

• 'Personal Address Book'
• 'Collected Addresses'

I do not understand how you are not aware of this. Q: Is there no 'Address Book' icon/button visible on your Mail Toolbar ? or Q: Are you saying that the 'Collected addresses' does not appear in the Address book list ?...please post image showing this missing.

You can export any address book via Thunderbird into eg: .csv file which can be opened using eg: MSExcel. Open 'Address Book' select an address book - not 'All Address Books' because that is not a real address book. Tools > Export choose where, give suitable name and save as .csv file type.

The OS expects all additional programs to create profiles and store data in the Appdata folder. The OS also makes this a hidden file/folder. This is not something new, it is standard and Thunderburd stores everything in a default location unless you specify otherwise.

So yes you may need to make hidden files and folders visible to access Profile folder files.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders

To access profile via Thunderbird is simple:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information
• click on 'show folders' button.

There are some good info either by using the search on this forum or mozillazine.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-tb
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird

Address books have a .mab extension and there are two by default plus any additional ones you may have imported or manually created. Although why you need to access them via the Profile to see contents is a complete mystery. Usually this is only required when moving profiles or restoring information etc.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_address_books_between_profiles

Airmails comment is correct. It's not funny to the person it effects and can cause a load of havoc.

However, as you were duped into what sounds like a false logon to get your details perhaps this gained them access, which means you have no idea what they have done. So, start computer in safe mode and run a scan to see if anything has been left on your system like keylogging etc. When you get a clean scan, change passwords to logons that you use and be wary of all emails that ask for any personal information. If you have a link, hover over the link to see the real link info in the bottom status bar and be wary of small typos that try to con you. eg: A number one can look like a lower case L.

thank you for your response - problem solved - thank you