General Chat

During the past few days, has any other member had trouble with "pop-ups" and adverts please,
Liz

Hi Liz
Do you mean on this site or in general?

Both!!!
Liz

What sort of content are they?

Have you downloaded or installed anything in the past few days?

Everything you can think of - installed Skype in the week, now "uninstalled", but no difference. Have problems seeing the screen because of all the pop-ups - will be back on later this afternoon,
Liz

What security software are you running?

System Mechanic,
Thanks, Liz

ok - there are better (and free) security programmes/suites out there such as Avast or AVG and even Microsoft's own.

If it has only suddenly started happening I suspect you may have picked up a nasty.

Have you run a full system scan?

Yes, my husband did one yesterday, will try another.
Thanks, Liz

System Mechanic is poor stuff, will not protect any machine, and may well corrupt your registry. Some consider it to be malware.

As a first step start your machine in safe mode and remove system mechanic. Yes, I know you may have paid for it. Should have gone to specsavers.
Reboot.

It is probable that you are running Internet Explorer. Forget about that for now and install Chrome or Firefox. Then go here and follow directions:

http://http://www.malwarebytes.org/

The best fee antivirus/firewall right now is Microsoft Security Essentials (free) though the interface is very basic. Avast AVG are ok. AVG tends to slow the machine down more than it should.

Once you have it up and running again ( after Malware Bytes has done its stuff) run IE without any toolbars etc. Remove ALL that are not Microsoft. If you are running XP & IE ( as most people with this kind of problem are ) run at least IE8 and even better don't use IE at all.

Recommended : Firefox with AdBlock & NoScript.

good luck

Rollo I've always deemed it malware too.

Liz if you need help with any of that just shout.

Dear Errol,

System Mechanic is bundled with the machines of some well known OEMs or at least a built in button to install... Strange but true. These OEMs and S.M. have millions of Texas lawyers so be very careful what you say about such products ...

Another popular product, Lavasoft Adaware, has been bought by one of the biggest spamming companies.

baaaa

"System Mechanic is poor stuff, will not protect any machine, and may well corrupt your registry. Some consider it to be malware."

Careful !

Many thanks for all the advice, Liz