Trojan Alert

[ContraryMary]

I have just been frightened out of my wits by a message suddenly appearing whilst I was in an out of a few websites, telling me my computer had been infected by a Trojan worm or something like that. I panicked and clicked on something that told me I needed to get rid of the virus. Then I got a pop up on my computer which had the words Fake Trojan Alert. I closed all the programmes down, but wonder if someone can tell me if my computer is safe. Nothing drastic seems to have happened so far. I would be glad of some advice, I am not very brilliant at this!

[Stephen_G]

I'd suggest you go into your anti-virus and run an update to make sure you've got up-to-the-minute protection, disconnect your computer from the t'internet and then run a full scan.

[Huderon]

While you are about it, download and install Lavasoft Adaware (the free edition) from here, then download and install Malwarebytes AntiMalware (the trial edition) from here (the second one will redirect you to the download site).

Reboot your PC, then start AdAware and get the latest updates, then run a scan and when it has finished, delete everything AdAware finds. Start Malwarebytes AntiMalware, get the latest updates, run a scan and tell it to delete everything it finds (you may need to restart your PC for this to complete).

Your anti-virus program may not detect trojans and the like, but these two programs should clear out other nasties. If you want to, you could also try downloading, installing and running SuperAntiSpyware in case that finds any that Adaware and Malwarebytes miss.

[Huderon]

Oh yes, the scans may take a while to run so be patient.

And in the future remember that there is nothing which can instantly scan your PC and tell you there are trojans or viruses on it. If you get pop-ups like that again, don't panic, just close the windows and don't click on anything inside those pop-up windows - some of them will install some really nasty stuff on your PC which may only be fixable with a disk re-format and reinstall of Windows.

[ContraryMary]

Thanks a lot to everyone who answered my question, I really apreciate it.

[ContraryMary]

Thanks Huderson for telling me that nothing can instantly scan my PC and tell me there are trojans on it. I didn't click on anything, thank goodness.

[VHG]

What you got with that fake virus warning was some Malware / Spyware.

This is software that installs itself on your PC when you visit certain web sites and pretends you have a virus to encourage you to buy their piece of software to "fix" it.

NEVER NEVER buy any software that pops up like this to tell you that you have a virus.

The fact you got a "Fake Trojan Alert" message means your anti virus software was working which was good.

You did all the right things, but these "fake virus alerts" are becoming more common so make sure your anti virus is always up to date and runs regularly.

Also make sure you run adaware and malwarebytes on a regular basis to hunt for spyware.

[lexie..]

do not click this link ^^^^^

[ContraryMary]

Thanks again to those who answered my query re Trojans. Do seem to conflicting opinions here though. VHG's advice sems to go along the lines that I am OK, and what he says is exactly what happened, I was encouraged to open something, whereas johnpol78 says that I am actually now infected by the trojan virus. Bit confused here! I don't seem to have any further problems, but I am now getting a pop up about prevalance, which I didn't get before. Having looked it up it seems to be part of my AVG. thanks again to all.

[#beau#]

I should take VHG's advice Mary, he is very knowledgeable about technical stuff. Sound advice from Huderon too.I can never understand johnpol78's posts. I noticed his all too frequent link to iyogi in most of his posts is coming up red on Web Of Trust toolbar. You don't have a Trojan, some Malaware/adaware perhaps. As suggested Malwarebytes AntiMalware free download,will get rid, if you have.

[ContraryMary]

Thanks beau. Sounds sensible to me.

[ajmmac]

disregard anything johnpol78 says--Trojans died out a long time ago--iyogi is a scam site to get you to buy stuff u don't need, doesn't work or worse still creates the problem IT says u have--johnpol posts always look to me like they have been created in some language other than english and then translated using an online translator--seems also it is a kinda "backdoor" advert--johnpol78 and others post the link regularly--cheers

[ContraryMary]

thanks ajmmac. Seems like you have to have your wits about you all the time these days. It's difficult to know who to trust when you're not sure what your are doing - like me!