Help with Spyware

[lmroyea]

I'm having a major problem here! Ever since we got highspeed, I'm getting continuous pop ups for antispyware/antivirus software. They keep telling me my computer is infected. I already have a reliable security software I use. When I did a complete scan, it found nothing. I'm sure they're just trying to get me to buy something else, or they're not legit and they're trying to really infect my computer. I have a feeling DH has visited some "questionable" websites, and it came from this. How do I get rid of it? I've tried just about everything. I'll probably just end up calling tech support, but I know you guys know a lot about computer systems, so I thought I'd try here first. It's really bugging me cause I NEED to do some surveys and offers to make SM next quarter, I keep getting booted out of them!!! I could just scream right now!!! Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. PLEASE!!!

[m 'n c]

if you standard antivirus, spybot, adware programs aren't picking it up you probably will have to do a system restore to try and get it off of there. They are not fun to do but they are pretty easy if you have all of your original disks from when you first got the computer and if you don't have a lot of things stored on your hard drive that you would need to go in and burn to cds.

[faithhope]

I'm guessing you are probably right in that the pop ups that pop up are just trying to get you to buy something...
So the question is... how to stop the pop ups...
You say you have security software you are happy with...
I'm not sure what you mean by "security" software... I think there are several components to security...
one is an anti-virus
another is a anti-spyware

My suggestion is to run the anti-virus... run the anti-spyware
(make sure you have the latest updates of both programs)
maybe delete cookies and cookie type files from your browser.

Then shutdown your computer completely and restart ... every now and then a computer needs a real good reboot

I hope it helps...
There are plenty of GOOD free security programs out there...I wouldn't buy one that advertised by annoying pop ups.

[lmroyea]

I'm guessing you are probably right in that the pop ups that pop up are just trying to get you to buy something...
So the question is... how to stop the pop ups...
You say you have security software you are happy with...
I'm not sure what you mean by "security" software... I think there are several components to security...
one is an anti-virus
another is a anti-spyware

My suggestion is to run the anti-virus... run the anti-spyware
(make sure you have the latest updates of both programs)
maybe delete cookies and cookie type files from your browser.

Then shutdown your computer completely and restart ... every now and then a computer needs a real good reboot

I hope it helps...
There are plenty of GOOD free security programs out there...I wouldn't buy one that advertised by annoying pop ups.

I have Ultimate Defender, antivirus and antispyware right now. One that keeps popping up is WinSpyKiller and Malwarecore. Thanks for the advice, but I have been clearing cookies, history, rebooting....

[lmroyea]

And Catherine, I was afraid you were going to say that. I was keeping that as a last resort. I do have a backup hard drive I use (I have LOTS on my ipod, about 7500 songs) and of course all my pictures. I haven't backed up in awhile. If I back up my songs and pictures now will my external hard drive also be infected?

[faithhope]

It might be worth trying something else (I think you can find something for free) if what you have isn't solving the problem...

I would suggest you find another anti spyware to try...
(best to only have one anti-virus, so I'd go the spyware route first)

There are threads here with different suggestions for spyware
so I won't suggest any particular one... just that it might be useful to use more than one spyware tool...

I'm really sorry... I know how annoying it is to be trying to rid your computer of something stelth you didn't want on your computer in the first place.

I hope you find the answer soon.

[jnorth1007]

You might also check to see if your computer comes with the option to restore to a previous date. i dont have to use disks. I jsut go to the system restore function and it lets me choose a time to restore to. Pick one that occurred after your high speed but before you noticed the pop ups and see if that works. it doesn't get rid of documents or songs or anything but does get rid of other stuff. This has worked for me before. I would also go in and do a file search for those exact names and if you find them then manually delete them.

[lmroyea]

YES!!! I think it's fixed. Thank you guys for your help. I especially have to give Catherine a thank you for her Sticky on free software. I used Spybot (that was one of your recommended programs in the sticky) and so far everything is great and running smoothly. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! It never fails....SR is always there to save me. Thank God, now I can go on with my regular posts and offers. Thank you again.

[m 'n c]

Glad spybot worked for you. I love it and every techie recommends it. I thought you might have tried it already.

Janet - I was going to suggest that too but I wasn't sure how long this problem had been going on and if she knew an approximate date or not.

[cglaura]

Glad you got things worked out Lisa! Just a note, there is a component to SpyBot called Immunization. I'm not sure if it is a default setting or not, so it may have run when you setup/ran the program. What it does is create a list of sites to block to keep your computer safe.

If you start to notice you are not having pages display correctly (blank page) for things you usually did, check into that.

Can view/remove blocked files here:
Tools ---> Internet Options ---> Privacy Tab ---> Sites Button