Pop-ups of Death

[frylock]

I was at a topic called ebay rip-offs here and they mentioned pokemon chaosdark and such, so then I dug deeper and went to GBXemu.com or something, because it had a summary of the game. So then all of a sudden computer freezes and I restart it. Then I run Spybot checks, and Then AVG has a little thing saying virus detected! I freaked out becuase the computer froze and then I restarted it again, and ran an ACG test and quickly quarantined the virus. but now my computer keeps freezing up and saying error and going to the blue screen with the ctrl+alt+delete thing! I'm not sure what to do, and I didn't download anything at GBXemu.com but I know that is what did it, since I just visited the site and then it froze up.... I also know the virus was a trojan, but all of its infected files are gone too, so what is going on?? Any help would be very much appreciated!!

[Chris]

Some more details would be really helpful, especially the version of Windows that you're currently using.

[Jeff]

What browser you have would be helpful as well if you say you picked this up off the Internet.

[frylock]

I'm using windows ME and using internet explorer.

[Chris]

A lot of emulation sites (and other sites that are of questionable legal standing) have to employ extreme measures to keep themselves in business - usually this involves affiliating with an advertising company that also has questionable standards. A lot of advertising companies will try to install malware on your computer using browser loopholes (ActiveX plugins, Firefox extensions etc) in order to target more ads at you. It looks like you picked one up just there. Reboot into Safe Mode - this will bypass any programs that are run on startup, which will probably include the malware that you've picked up - update AVG, and run a scan on all local drives.

Windows ME isn't particularly stable either. These days I usually refuse to support it in my regular job because it's so volatile. I would fully recommend an upgrade to XP Home - a license these days doesn't cost very much (£55 or $100) and if more than one person uses your computer, you could split the cost of the license between you if it was still too much. You'll notice immediate improvements, specifically when you realise that you've been using it for a few months and you haven't seen a single blue screen. It;'s not completely necessary, but I'd strongly recommend it.

Let us know how you get on

[frylock]

A lot of emulation sites (and other sites that are of questionable legal standing) have to employ extreme measures to keep themselves in business - usually this involves affiliating with an advertising company that also has questionable standards. A lot of advertising companies will try to install malware on your computer using browser loopholes (ActiveX plugins, Firefox extensions etc) in order to target more ads at you. It looks like you picked one up just there. Reboot into Safe Mode - this will bypass any programs that are run on startup, which will probably include the malware that you've picked up - update AVG, and run a scan on all local drives.

Windows ME isn't particularly stable either. These days I usually refuse to support it in my regular job because it's so volatile. I would fully recommend an upgrade to XP Home - a license these days doesn't cost very much (£55 or $100) and if more than one person uses your computer, you could split the cost of the license between you if it was still too much. You'll notice immediate improvements, specifically when you realise that you've been using it for a few months and you haven't seen a single blue screen. It;'s not completely necessary, but I'd strongly recommend it.

Let us know how you get on

Thanks, I got a new XP, thats why I have an ME in my room, but anyways, I haven't had to restart in safe mode in a long time, and I can't remember how...

[Chris]

When you boot, before the Windows boot screen appears, keep pressing F8.

[frylock]

Alright, my other computer has been freezing for a very long time, but then, I had the internet unplugged, and about the same time as when my computer would freeze a pop-up would appear, reading this page can't be displayed. Then I Xed the page out, and plugged the internet back in. Everything was fine... I have zero viruses, nothing of that sort, but I still get the deadly pop-up everytime I reboot. I could post a link to the popup if it could help. I am open to any suggestions...