Do I have a virus or something on my computer?

Question

I keep getting pop-ups and when the web pages pop up, they say "cannot find website" or something, however, its that screen that makes you refresh when the page doesnt load.

Answer 1

Not really a virus, but a spyware. A script is running as a Service in your system that redirects you to a website. To remove spyware, try this, its free: www.auditmypc.com/free-spyware-removal.asp.

Or if you dont like anti-spyware softwares, try the manual thing. First, try to kill the service from the taskmanager(Click START, RUN, type: TASKMGR, Press ENTER). Then, Remove the start-up script from the Registry(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/MICROSOFT/WINDOWS/CURRENTVERSION/RUN). Remove any unncessary start-up script here.

Hope it helps.

Answer 2

Before installing extra things onto your computer... I strongly suggest you ensure you have a complete security suite installed on your computer (antivirus, firewall, antispyware, etc...) from a RELIABLE vendor (such as a McAfee, Norton, etc... ) and make sure it is properly configured, completely enabled, completely up-to-date.. and if so, close out of all programs, force an update of the program, and run a complete scan of your system.

Also, run Windows Update and ensure you have the latest security patches for your OS and that it too is automatically updating itself with them.

If you do not have a proper reliable security suite... yesterday was time to get one... you can perform a web based scan/removal from http://housecall65.trendmicro.com
It will install a small active x plugin and you can uninstall it later if you want... it's trendmicro so it's a reliable vendor's site.

The only problem with that is that if your browser is infected.. a web based scan may not be the way to go.. you see?

Also, make sure your pop-up blocker in Internet Explorer is enabled. With open browser, simply click on Tools >> Pop-up blocker >> make sure it gives the option to turn it OFF (which is how you will know it is ON).

You may also want to go into your Tools>> Internet Options
and delete browsing history files, cookies, etc... (ie, clear the cache) which will not help much if you are infected but will clear some crap out... and you can ensure your homepage is set to something safe like google.com too.

Good Luck

Answer 3

The first place to check is your security settings. Go tools-->options-->security and make sure your setting is at default or lower.
Then I suggest that you turn off windows firewall and use a third party, like norton, kaspersky etc.

If none of that works, I would check your internet connection, it may be timing out too soon, or just cant find the website.

One problem I have had is that the "cannot find" screen looks exactly like the "not recommended" screen. In one it is a 404 error, in the other it is a choice to go ahead and go to the site, or not.

Contact me if I can help,
TLC

Answer 4

Sure sounds like you have spyware. You can get a free anti-spyware program from http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-spyware/us/frt/0. There's also Ad-Aware from Lavasoft. Both of those are free and would help you get rid of mst spyware.

I also suggest doing a system scan using your anti-virus scanner (update it to achieve best results). If you don't have an anti-virus scanner, use an online one such as Kaspersky which you can find here http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner