URGENT: Is there a problem?

Question

My laptop has the latest Norton Antivirus protection, but i am getting LOADS of pop-ups saying that i have all these bugs and stuff. My Norton Antivirus doesnt pick it up, either the pop-ups are telling the truth, or they are the actual virus, either way, how can i get rid of the them??

Answer 1

those pop-ups saying that you are infected (or something similar) are clear signs of spyware.if you'd click on pop-up it would ask you to buy some software to clean pop-ups, but believe me the software that is sold in this way is malicious and it wouldn't help you.

you may wonder why doesn't norton catch those things. it's because norton is antivirus, and you need antispyware to fight spyware threats.

here's a list of 74 most popular anti-spyware downlaod and reviews:
http://www.2-spyware.com/anti-spyware

just pick the one that fits your needs.

Answer 2

I had the same problem. I had Norton 2006 installed with the latest patches and virus definitions and it kept going mad and popping up that it had caught viruses. When I did a full scan, it would find loads of things. Some it deleted (said it did anyway!) and some I deleted manually by finding the files and deleting them. Then, I would run another scan and the same thing would happen. It was a total nightmare. I think Norton must have been corrupted by a virus or something.

Anyway, I ditched Norton in the end for AVG. Totally happy now. It found and got rid of all the viruses. Plus AVG checks for updates every hour and most days it does 2-3 updated of virus definitions. Much better than an update every 2-3 days with Norton (sometimes more).

Basically, I think your machine (like mine) is screwed. Try AVG out. I think you can do an online scan and see what it picks up.

Hope this helps. I am not plugging AVG, but I got totally fed up with Norton in the end as I could not repair the issues. I even tried to uninstall and re-install Norton.

Let me know how it goes.

Cheers!

Answer 3

Try booting your machine from your Norton recovery CD and running a virus check that way. Perhaps your machine is misconfigured and that is what is causing the problem. When do you get the popups ? What do they say ? This information is very important for diagnosis purposes. Some spyware is not detected by Norton Antivirus. You need an Anti-spyware package (for example AdAware) to detect them. I would recommend an integrated Anti Everything like Norton Internet Security or Kaspersky Internet Security.

Answer 4

Pop Ups are usually a result of spyware or malware residing on your computer's hard drive, and spyware and malware can exist by themselves, or can exist in conjunction with a Virus program that is designed to introduce spyware and malware on your hard drive.

Pop Ups can look like advertisements, error messages from your computer, or free software. Most of the time they are malicious, but some are legitimate.

Just having the latest virus software is not enough all the time. Make sure you are doing "live update" before you scan for viruses, then scan in safe mode when logged into administrator.

With some discretion you may be able to look through add/remove programs and get rid of something malicious in there.

If nothing else works, run a System Restore to a time when you didn't have so many pop-ups.

Don't reinstall your OS unless you absolutely have to.

Answer 5

It looks like your PC has been compromised. It looks like your PC is infected of spyware and adware. The ads that you see are not telling you the truth. The ads are trying to get you to install more spyware. Norton Anti virus will not detect dangerous adware/spyware on your PC. I would recommend counterspy or spyware doctor. Do a through scan of your PC, then delete the files. I hope this has helped you. You should use firefox 2 because its way more secure then internet explorer, the pop up blocker is also way better.

Answer 6

You are infected with adware. Norton dows not detect them as it is an AV. You need an anti-adware program.
Download any of these for free and scan your system. Do not click on the links your pc shows.

ttp://www.safer-networking.org/
Uber powerful tool which can search and annhilate nasties that make it onto your system. Now with an Immunize section that will help prevent future infections.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Another very powerful tool which searches and kills nasties that infect your system. AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy compliment each other very well.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Great prevention tool to keep nasties from installing on your system.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html
Works as a Spyware "Shield" to protect your computer from getting malware in the first place.

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/resource.htm
puts over 5000 sites in your restricted zone so you'll be protected when you visit innocent-looking sites that aren't actually innocent at all.

http://cleanup.stevengould.org/
Cleans temporary files from IE and Windows, empties the recycle bin and more. Great tool to help speed up your computer and knock out those nasties that like to reside in the temp folders.

Windows Updates - It is very important to make sure that both Internet Explorer and Windows are kept current with the latest critical security patches from Microsoft. To do this just start Internet Explorer and select Tools > Windows Update, and follow the online instructions from there.

http://toolbar.google.com/
Free google toolbar that allows you to use the powerful Google search engine from the bar, but also blocks pop up windows.

http://www.trillian.cc/ or http://www.miranda-im.com/
These are Malware free Instant Messenger programs which allow you to connect to multiple IM services in one program! (AOL, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC, MSN)

Answer 7

Do you have any anti-adware programs like spybot S&D? Usually having one of those programs helps to successfully rid your computer of viruses and pop-ups/bugs. But the key is to just download ONE. Trend Micro is great, Hijack This! is helpful ONLY if you know the inner-workings of your pc very well. Flooding your computer with spyware programs can sometimes do more harm than good. So really, just pick one.

Also there is a *great* forum you can post your problems on and the admins and helpers will literally do everything they can to help you rid your computer of harmful viruses for free--

http://forums.techguy.org/ (they will give you a step-by-step guide on fixing your problems, after you've given them a thorough description of the problem your pc is having)


or....last resort, just get a mac. ;)

Answer 8

lol norton antivirus is a friggen virus get rid of it and install this

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

also install ewido should clean up any malware and spyware this software is 100 fold better than norton

Answer 9

Hi and welcome,
Here is what I would do:
Here are two links to free Antvirus software programs to download and install. Only intall one at any one time or they will fight each other. They are both great and used by Millions of people (me included).

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

Or you can always use this online Antivirus thats put out by Trend Micro:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

This will take care of the virus issue.
Next is the spyware issue.
First thing I want you to do is reboot into Windows after you have done the above.
Now download the next two utilities and install them.
Reboot and while rebooting tap F8 and go into safe mode. Now run each program.


http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,22262,00.asp

http://www.download.com/3405-8022-5153545.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5

Now when this is all done reboot into Windows and I believe all will be good with the world.

If this helps please click Best Answer.
Thanks
Andy

Answer 10

If you are running xp sp2 then go to tools in IE menu bar and then go to internet options > privacy and then make sure your pop up blocker is on. Or you could download a toolbar with a popup blocker such as yahoo or earthlink or several others.