I hate spam (not the food)

Hate is a strong word, but I think it fits for this occassion. Ok, I only use Gmail now, since I receive so much spam in my Hotmail account. However, I am starting to get some spam in one of my Gmail accounts. What's funny is that these particular spam seem to be the same format, so it's probably one idiot/spammer (I'll post the beginning of the spam for your reading pleasure below). Of course, I use that email to sign up for this and that, so I don't know who sold my information. I've signed up for a spam email, something like spam [at] smhyla [dot] com. There's a helpful blog, called Quick Online Tips, telling how to disguise your email address. Check out my new email icon in the right panel, cool.

Email from the idiot/spammer:
Hi There, My name is Bernie. I am sorry for the unusual approach but I have acquired your email address ________@gmail.com as a person who is actively involved or is looking for an online `Business `Opportunity. If this is the case I would be grateful if you would allow me to send you details of an opportunity that I am currently involved in at the moment. I did not want to send you any details until I had mailed you to seek your permission first, as experience has taught me that not all leads that we acquire are genuine `BusinessOpportunity Seekers, If this is the case for you then please ignore this email as you have already been excluded from future mailing from me...

Anyhow, I decide to check my Hotmail account today. You know how your computer "remembers" your last username or something?? Well, eric_adams@hotmail.com popped up on my Hotmail page. I don't know an Eric Adams. And no one else should be using my laptop computer from work. This has happened once before with a different random email address that I did not recognize, but I let it go the first time- now I am perturbed. Perhaps it's spyware on my computer, but this makes me feel uneasy. Has anyone else in the blogosphere experienced this??? This won't necessarily drive me insane, but I question the security of my computer. Yesterday, I opened up a random blog site when I was trying to find something through Google, which tried to install viruses onto my computer. Thank goodness, Norton's Anti-virus picked it up. I'm going to run all the checks right now- is there anything else I can do? Eek.