Internet issues

The internet is pissing me off recently. Lately, I've been getting random pop-ups, a lot of which have been from some WinAntiVirus Pro thing and random ringtone downloads. Also, every time I try to load a new webpage, it seems to freeze up the screen. I can move the mouse cursor around, but can't click anything for a time. And just about 30 minutes before I made this post, I was talking with my sister, whom is at home (I'm at college), and she said that the exact same thing has been happening to her. Its the same with a few of my friends here at school. Then I had a theory. Maybe, and this is a stretch, it has something to do with Myspace. What I would like to ask is who else has had issues like this and if so, what do you think of my theory?

macadamia wrote:

what do you think of my theory?

I think I'm not joining your Myspace. O ther than that stupid joke... I don't have an idea.

FodderFigure wrote:

macadamia wrote:

what do you think of my theory?

I think I'm not joining your Myspace. O ther than that stupid joke... I don't have an idea.

Hasn't happened to you then?

I would invest in a good anti-virus/malware/spyware/adware ( you get the idea) software package.

Most anything that goes wrong with a PC in regards to files and apps, has some type of info out there. I put your WinAntiVirus Pro into Google and found that is not that nice. But there is hope. Seek and ye shall find.

If you want to just see what may have infected you go to trend micro housecall . It is a free online virus/malware scanner that I have found to be very good. But, for times sake, use this only if you have a high speed connection as it takes a while even then.
Also, AdAware by LavaSoft (free personal edition) is one I use about once per week to sweep up adware and other such little annoyances (sry spelling).

Sounds like spyware to me, possibly from myspace. Their ads are pretty sketch.

I use spybot for my dad's computer (friends as well). I've had better luck with spybot than adware. Not sure about free anti-virus software out there. My dad usually buys Norton and I have no use for anti-virus software.

Your computer is infected by the WinFixer malware/trojan.

1) Follow Em's advice with TrendMicro Housecall
2) Download and run Lavasoft Adaware SE Personal
3) Download and run Spybot Search and Destroy
4) Download, install, and begin using Firefox to browse the Web, and never ever ever ever open Internet Explorer ever again. Seriously.

May want to look through these but I'd recommend using avast, norton, macafe ect before *downloading* a *fix*

http://www.xp-vista.com/spyware-removal/winantivirus-pro-2007-removal-instructions
http://www.winantivirus-removal.com.removal-instructions.com/removeWinAntiVirusPro2007.html

Moof wrote:

Your computer is infected by the WinFixer malware/trojan.

1) Follow Em's advice with TrendMicro Housecall
2) Download and run Lavasoft Adaware SE Personal
3) Download and run Spybot Search and Destroy
4) Download, install, and begin using Firefox to browse the Web, and never ever ever ever open Internet Explorer ever again. Seriously.

Well I'm already running that Housecall thing, and after that I was planning on downloading AdAware. I already have Spybot also. What I want to know is why not run Internet Explorer and whats the difference (if any) between it and FireFox?

::EDIT:: I've also seen a thing that contains "securityworm" in the url. As well as ErrorSafe. Any clue if that is part of WinAntiVirus Pro?

MySpace is notorious for spyware and freeware. That's why I do not allow anyone using my pc to download/review MySpace. In addition, I use both Adaware and Spybot along with McAfee suite to keep my pc clean as possible

Ok, I've run that Household scan like 3 times, and when it finishes, or comes close to finishing (I can't tell which it is), the window automatically closes. Is that supposed to happen? Cause I expected that it would give me the results and ask me if I wanted to remove what it found lol

Mac, I got infected a while back with an spyware that would not let the programs do the virus/spyware scan it or allow a download that would find it. If you are having problems with the scanner window closing without giving you results, try downloading a shareware/freeware anti-virus from major geeks first and scan your pc. Then update spybot and adaware and run them. Last, but not least, run your regular anti-virus. What I normally do is go in and delete all cookies and do disk clean prior to scanning.

Double check household first to see if the "close this window when done" box is checked..............

macadamia wrote:

What I want to know is why not run Internet Explorer and whats the difference (if any) between it and FireFox?

::EDIT:: I've also seen a thing that contains "securityworm" in the url. As well as ErrorSafe. Any clue if that is part of WinAntiVirus Pro?

To answer your second question first: ErrorSafe is another name for WinFixer, which is another name for WinAntiVirus.

Now, Firefox:
IE is inherently insecure. The worm that's giving you so much trouble forcibly installed itself onto your computer via a security hole in IE, using Microsoft's special IE-only software used to "enhance web sites," called ActiveX.

Firefox does not have the same security hole, because it does not support ActiveX. Intentionally. Not only that, but IE is integrated into Windows itself. When it is compromised, your entire computer is compromised. If and when Firefox is compromised, your computer is not.

The only catch is that there are still some websites out there that require ActiveX. One notable site is Yahoo Music, last I checked. In those cases, simply start up IE to view them and then go back to Firefox.

Aside from security, Firefox is far more customizable than IE. Check out addons.mozilla.org - there's stuff there to do almost anything you want!

Maybe it would be better to just reboot the entire system without trying any of the other stuff. That a good idea?

Have you tried running any of the suggested programs in safe mode? Not sure if that would help, but worth a try in my opinion.