I am also having trouble with my computer - need help fast!
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive March 2007:
I am also having trouble with my computer - need help fast!
I keep getting a pop-up saying that I have a system alert and to click on the icon to download software. Well, I let my Norton run out a while ago and so I renewed the supscription and did a scan. It was not able to remove all the problems. So, desperate, I ordered different software and it too was not able to clean it all up so I yet again ordered another software that was "sure" to fix my problem and it too was not able to fix anything. What is going on?!?!?!
Going anonymous because i feel like a dork for being so computer illiterate. I think the problem had something to do with myspace but I don't know.
Whatever you do, DON'T click on that pop-up! It's probably some kind of spyware, and may be malicious. It will offer you a free scan and tell you that you have a virus (when you actually may not) and then tell you that in order to get rid of the virus you must purchase their software. It's just a scam.
I really like Norton, so if it were me, I would go ahead and renew it and do a clean sweep of your hard drive.
But, like some of the others here, I have heard good things about AVG and McCafee. Do stick with those well-known and trusted names.
Also, do you have a fire wall and anti-spyware? If not, you should. Zone Alarm is a free fire wall and Ad Aware and Spybot are free anti-spyware programs.
Zone Alarm free download. It's what we use at our house.
Free AVG
Ad Aware Personal
Spybot
Microsoft Defender (spyware finder, too)
If you did click on that popup, maybe Norton can tell you how to get rid of whatever it was you might have downloaded. In the meantime, ZoneAlarm, Spybot and AdAware are all very good, and all free. If you clicked on the popup and did NOT buy the software they were trying to sell, that popup may still have left spyware on your computer, so download Spybot & AdAware, use the function on each to download their updates, and then run each of them to get rid of any spyware.
In the future, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER click on popups that are suggesting you may have a problem with your computer. One of the companies that has popups like that does install spyware and is very hard to get rid of, and was the subject of lawsuits by the Attorneys General in several states.
Please don't feel like a dork. One major problem with the internet is that it offers nasty people so many anonymous opportunities to scam people and the perpetrators are very difficult (sometimes impossible) to trace - unlike face-to-face scammers. You would not be the first nor the last person to get taken in by something like that - especially when dear Microsoft uses popups to give you warnings sometimes, it is hard to know whether it is Microsoft or some scammer. And it is hard for the normal, honest person to become sufficiently paranoid to avoid falling for some of the scams. Think of the hundreds, maybe thousands of people who every day fall for the "you must update your account" emails that appear to come from a credit card or finance company or e-Bay or PayPal, only to give their personal invitation to an identity thief.
Here's the site for downloading free Ad-Aware and Spybot. Be sure to select the free Ad-Aware SE - you don't need the paid program. PCWorld
Another important thing to do is to stop sites from putting unwanted cookies on your computer. If you are using InternetExplorer, which most of us use as a browser, go to Tools \ Internet Options, and select the Privacy Tab. Click on the Advanced Button. In that window, click "override automatic cookie handling", and in the two lists, click Prompt. Also click "Allow session cookies" (this allows sites you use, like Momsview, to put a cookie on for just that session). For a while after you do this, when you go to a site you'll get a popup window telling you a site wants to put a cookie on your computer and asking if you want to allow or block - along with a place to click if your decision is permanent for that site. As you build a list of "always allow" for your favorite sites you'll see that window less and less. Sometimes I click Block and then find I need to allow a cookie for that site - for example, to make a purchase. If that happens, go back to Tools \ Internet Options \ Privacy, and click on the button "Sites". That will pull up all the sites for which you've made a decision. Type in the first few letters of the name of the site and when it comes into the top window you can click allow and then go back to that site.
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