Something strange has happened!

[carolinec]

Not sure if this has anything to do with this site - but since both times it's happened I've been on the forum I thought I'd mention it here, in case anyone can put my mind at rest.

A few days ago, I was on the forum when I got a very alarming pop-up message about "adult content" and "illegal porn" on my computer! It suggested I use some "clean up" thing that it was offering to me. My immediate reaction (after the panic of expecting the police to knock on my door any minute) was to shut everything down. When ever I get a message (which doesn't happen very often with my current ISP, but used to happen a lot with my old one) telling me that I MUST use something it's offering immediately, I assume it must be some kind of spoof, and that if I use it I probably WILL end up with something decidedly dodgy on my computer.

Anyway, it's just happened again - when I was on this site. Anybody else had this happen? Have I got anything to worry about? (I definitely don't have any illegal porn on my computer, in case anyone was wondering!) Is it something to do with this site? I'm not very computer-savvy, so help would be appreciated.
;D

[Craig Herbertson]

Someone clever will help shortly but while you are waiting Carolinec I would suggest you immediately install spybot search and destroy - a must in todays naughty world. It has several advantages.
1. free
2. designed by some one clever for thickos
3. works


www.spybot.info/en/index.html

Then wait for the zombie computer team to come to the rescue

ps. we've all heard that one about no illegal porn.

[pulphack]

yes! that happened to me when i was logged on this morning. i've had this bastard cleaner thing happen to me before, as well - that time i was on the LOFC forum and it popped up out of nowhere. the adult content thing suggests it's a spy thing you pick up when porn surfing, but then why does it hit here and on a football board? it doesn't seem to be a virus, but maybe it plants spyware? a quick whizz with your AVG/Norton/whatever may be in order.

no sign of any problems since i turned the pc on again, so i don't think it does much damage.

[sean]

Nothing here...but my popup stopper thing is set to kill.

Anyway, I can't see why anyone would want to watch sick birds of prey have sex...

[Steve]

carolinec said:

When ever I get a message telling me that I MUST use something it's offering immediately, I assume it must be some kind of spoof, and that if I use it I probably WILL end up with something decidedly dodgy on my computer.

I think that's a fairly safe assumption, Caroline, I certainly wouldn't download anything suggested by a dodgy pop-up.

I wouldn't panic if I was you, but it definitely sounds like it'd be worth giving your computer a thorough scan just to eliminate the possibility of any little unwelcome guests. At the moment I'm using something called avast! antivirus, which is free to download and has an integrated Cleaner which will sweep your computer and detect and remove any nasty 'malware'. I've also used Spybot - Search & Destroy, as suggested by Craig, in the past with good results.

I used to have similar problems when I used Internet Explorer but since I've switched to Firefox as my internet browser I've had no trouble at all. Again it's free and has a built-in pop-up blocker. I also use the Adblock plus extension which even allows you to filter out adverts on web pages.

[dem bones]

I'm using firefox with several plug-ins and search & destroy, and have never had a problem - until just now when I first attempted to type this! the intruder seems to be a product of something called 'malwarescan' and i can only echo steve's advice - don't touch it. Just close the window, make sure all your anti-virus/ anti-spy/ anti-malware, etc. software is up to date, then give your computer a scan. The bride tells me that she's also encountered it browsing MSN forums so the porn-site surfing bit is doubtless a fiendish come-on to cause panic.

some other freebie products i've had great results from (sorry, no addresses to hand; just look 'em up in google):

McAfee Stinger
Spyware Blaster
A-squared free

[Steve]

admin said:

the intruder seems to be a product of something called 'malwarescan'

It's worth remembering that a lot of malicious stuff masquerades as 'anti-virus' software, so I wouldn't download or install anything that hasn't been recommended or vouched for by someone you know.

[carolinec]

Thanks for the advice, folks, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who's had this problem - it's obviously something nasty trying to get into my computer, rather than something which HAS actually detected all the illegal porn I have here! (only kidding!! .

I use Firefox as my browser with it's pop-up blocker too, but it doesn't seem to block this one. I also have McAfee anti-virus, etc. and it does regular weekly scans and seems to do a good job.

I'll just keep an eye on it, and keep deleting it straight away if it does appear.
Thanks! ;D

[Craig Herbertson]

Did you try spybot C?

[Steve]

Something else to bear in mind when closing dodgy pop-ups is that it's possible, by clicking on 'no' or 'close' in the window - or if they're particularly sneaky bastards, even an innocent-looking little red cross in the top right-hand corner - to actually download something unknowingly.
If you're in any doubt, and to be on the safe side, right click on the offending window in your taskbar at the bottom of the screen and select 'close' there.

[carolinec]

steve said:

If you're in any doubt, and to be on the safe side, right click on the offending window in your taskbar at the bottom of the screen and select 'close' there.

Ooo, thanks for that. I normally just click on the red cross. I didn't know you could close it any other way.

No, Craig, I haven't tried Spybot. I'm always a bit worried about putting anything new onto my computer in case it slows things down or messes things up completely (I'm a complete computer dumbo). So I'll wait and see what happens first - may not be the best policy, but I'll risk it I think. Thanks for the info though - you've all been very helpful.

[troo]

*repeats the advice everyone else already gave*

There, that made for a short post