IP address

First thing I would do is contact the friend via telephone and ask if he did in fact send the email.

In response to Don, my pc has an IP address, but how do I find out if it is registered, where and how.  thank u for your response.  I tend to agree with your hypothesis that my friends may have received an email with a virus.  Also I always turn off my pc when not in use.  But I do surf the internet a lot.  But any suggestions on how make anyone hard to know my ip address, or can I create dynamic addresses whenever I am on the internet?, any ideas or suggestions.  Ihad Zone Alarm which did an excellent job of preventing Trojans from sending data out, but Microsoft technician said it had downloaded piggy back Apps, and thus uninstalled it.  But I will reinstall once MS have completed their work on my pc.  Thank u again.

In response to Jon, u mentioned about prevention.  How do I do that?  If it is by software, what is the name of it, I am thinking of Zone Alarm, but await your response, for suggestions to make my pc safe from hackers and plunderers.  Thank u.

Zone Alarm is a firewall/anti-virus solution.  I haven't used them in years.  Personally, I like separate solutions (windows firewall for a firewall, AVG for anti-virus and MalwareBytes for malware protections).

But that's just my preference.  I'm sure Zone Alarm is a good product.

I would start by changing all your passwords (emails, bank account access, credit cards, website logins for anything important, paypal etc.) on a different computer from the one you think might be infected.

It is soothing to note that I have NOT been hacked.  Thank u for all your inputs,which is very helpful. Thank u and a Very Happy and Prosperous, and a safe computing New Year.  thank u.