"My computer is infected"?

Question

i keep getting this pop up telling me my computer has been infected. when i click on the info button i get info on buying this software to clean away the problem. is this somekind of $50.00 come on sales pitch or do i have a real problem i need to address? now it's telling me critical system error! system has detected virus activity. and again i get another ad for anti virus software. i already have norton and what ever anti virus software that came with windows xp. shouldn't they have taken care of the problem if there is one?

Answer 1

This garbage has been around for a long time, trying to scare newbies out of money.

I would venture to say that you are not using security programs.

Before going online, activate the Windows XP firewall. Click Start, Control Panel. In Classic view, double-click Windows Firewall. On the General tab, select ON. Click OK. The Microsoft firewall will make your ports invisible to hackers, but it will not prevent information from going out the back door of your computer (this is why we do not recommend this firewall). Still this is better than no firewall at all.

Most computers come with an anti-virus in the form of shareware—a free trial period after which payment is required to continue the use of the product. There are perfectly good anti-virus programs that are free for personal use. AVG and Avast anti-virus software are two such programs (links to these sites can be found at a wonderful site http://komando.com/downloads/categories.aspx?cat=Security). You only want to have one anti-virus program so be sure to delete the anti-virus program that came with your new computer just before you download one of these free anti-viruses. Remember that viruses cannot attack your computer unless you open an infected e-mail and let the attacker in. Use common sense and go directly to the site and download the new anti-virus.

To delete the tryout anti-virus: click Start, Control Panel. In Classic view, double-click Add or Remove Programs. In the window pane, scroll down until you find the anti-virus program in the list and click the Remove (or Change/Remove) button.

When you download the new anti-virus, you are downloading the core of the program—not necessarily the updated version. Therefore, you need to start the program and check for updates immediately after installing the program.

Go online to http://update.microsoft.com/ and let Microsoft scan your computer for any updates. After you download any updates from Microsoft, go back to this site and have your computer scanned again—some updates require a prior update be installed before a more current update is installed.

Download a new firewall. There are free firewalls that do a good job of protecting your computer—ZoneAlarm and Outpost. Both of these are free for personal use. Once you have installed one of these, disable the XP firewall (two firewalls can conflict with one another). To disable the XP firewall: click Start, Control Panel. In Classic view, double-click Windows Firewall. Select Off and click OK. Ignore any warnings. (Also see Firewall, ZoneAlarm firewall)

Download anti-spyware programs (e.g., SpyBot Search and Destroy, Ad-aware, and the Microsoft Beta are all free for personal use). You can use more than one anti-spyware program on your computer. The anti-spyware program should be run at least once a week (I run Ad-aware every time I log off the Internet or if I become suspicious of something online). Update anti-spyware program at least once a week first, including the first time you run it.

Like viruses, spyware is an ever-evolving pest. You must keep the anti-spyware program’s database updated, so that it can find the latest threats. When updating Spybot, be sure that you check any Tea Timer downloads—this keeps programs from writing to your registry.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Sometimes I get pop ups that look like error messages and warnings, but all this is just a scam to get us to buy their product. I don't know if you really have a problem, or virus but sometimes Norton or other Anti Virus programms are not good enough.

Answer 4

Don't pay attention to that, as most of it are pop-up advertisements. Unless your computer is being slow and getting all sorts of other error messages, I wouldn't worry about it.

The way to tell the difference is when you go to a site and then such a window pops up, usually a different color than your standard error messages.

Answer 5

It's just plain spam/scam. When you are downloading things from the website that is supposendly a "Anti-Virus" software, you're more likely that you are downloading a virus/spyware.

So leave your fingers away from that, just close the popup and get a working popup blocker :) (I recommend the Firefox browser)

Answer 6

sounds like a virus. I had a odd one once that said illegal activity type stuff. For me it would start a scan that was part of the virus and then say all this illegal activity type crap. A computer place can fix a computer with a virus for like 60 bucks i think it was. Police will never warn you ahead of time.

Answer 7

Your computer has been infected with adware. Great way for businesses to attract clients, huh? :)
Download a good anti-adware and anti-spyware program, like AdAware (www.adaware.com). It's free.

Answer 8

Spyware
Download and both both Ad-Aware and Skybot Seek&Destroy. You can get them free from download.com. As they use different list of spyware, one will get something the other misses.

Then go to microsoft.com and install Micrsoft Defender to help prevent future infections.

Answer 9

You have spyware: you need some antispyware. Try Spybot Search & Destroy or Ewido to get rid of it. Both are free from here
- http://www.filehippo.com/software/antispyware/
It wouldn't do any harm to install Spywareblaster too
Another good free antispyware product is Superantispyware
- http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Super-Anti-Spyware/SuperAntiSpyware.html

Answer 10

I had such a problem and it scared me.I found spybot search and destroy and used it.It turned out to be a false alarm and the program took it out of my comp system.