URGENT HELP!

[Eric]

While this doesn't have to with hardware, it does have to do with the Internet. You see, I was watching a trailer for a new movie coming out and a pop-up appeared. It was for a porno site, so I closed it. Then another and another appeared. Eventually my screen was so clogged with pop-ups for porn sites that I just restarted my computer. I came back a few minutes later and opened Internet Explorer. It said:

Your Internet Privacy is being Compromised

and then listed words. Words like gay, incest, pervert, illegal, porn, etc. Saying that those things had been found in my system records. When in fact i've done none such thing. This message also said I needed to download privacy protection software. Evidence Eliminator or something.

I don't know what i'm going to do! Could any of you techies give me some advice!

[LoZz]

hahaha

you my friend simply have ether spywear or a virus.

run some spywear and anti virus stuff, problem solved.

[Eric]

Okay, I ran Norton Anti-Virus. Then I deleted my cookies and several other things just to be safe. It's running okay now. I'm a little bit unsure about how it'll run later. But i'll talk to you guys if something goes wrong.

[fatsheep]

First off, don't panick, these things can be fixed with the right tools. What you most likely have is some pesky adware and spyware. Second off, go download Spybot: Search in Destroy and do a full scan with it. You can find the links to Spybot and many other spyware scanners here. Now, just to make sure viruses aren't a factor, get a good Anti-virus program and do a full scan with that. Links to Anti-virus programs are here. I've had good experience with Anti-Vir but AVG and AVAST are good as well. I see you already have Norton, that works as well.

Now make sure this doesn't happen again. You use Internet Explorer don't you? I'm assuming you do because I've had this happen to me with IE before. Internet Explorer's security is terrible, I know this from personal experience. Download Firefox and use it as your main browser:

www.getfirefox.com

Just remember to:

• Use Firefox or another browser with good security (not IE!!!) to browse the internet.
• Update your Anti-virus and anti-spyware/anti-adware software regularly.
• Scan regularly with a good Anti-virus program and anti-spyware program.
• Don't download or install anything suspicious.
• It can be helpful to make use of an Anti-Virus program with an active agent that constantly scans. It will prevent you from opening any files with viruses should you happen to come across them. It saved me once.
• This won't help with your current problem but using a firewall is a good idea. You can find links here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...p?t=56295#fire. I recommend Zone Alarm. If you decide to get a 3rd party firewall program such as Zone Alarm, remember to turn off the Windows firewall. Never have two firewalls running at the same time, they will interfere with each other and consume a lot of system resources.
• If you really want an operating with good security, consider Linux. All of the above information is from my past experience with Windows. I am typing from an Ubuntu Linux operating system and I don't need to use any security programs at all. I've port scanned it, using a firewall wouldn't make it any safer and I don't have any problems with viruses or spyware. So if you really want an operating system with good security there's always Linux. If you're a gamer it probably won't appeal to you since right now all the commercial games run on Windows but that's going to start changing.

Good luck with your spyware problems and if you don't mind trying something new and different, consider a dual boot setup with Ubuntu Linux (you get to choose to boot to either Windows or Ubuntu when your computer boots up).

EDIT: I'm glad you found a solution. However, if you have security problems in the future remember this ^^^

[Erik]

This message also said I needed to download privacy protection software. Evidence Eliminator or something.

Whatever you do, DO NOT download that program it tells you to download.
It's a scam: the program they want you to install is almost certainly a virus, no real security program gets advertised like that.

Just do what fatsheep recommended above.

[Steistas]

Whatever you do, DO NOT download that program it tells you to download.
It's a scam: the program they want you to install is almost certainly a virus, no real security program gets advertised like that.

Just do what fatsheep recommended above.

I totally agree with Erik, only I will add, that it's not necessary a virus, but some companies are trying to sell they're product this way:
The icon in the trey or windows popping up and screaming that your pc is full of viruses, etc. and if you want to get rid of them go to they site and pay for full version, blah blah blah. never believe this !!! Fastsheep gave you good tips.