Computer help required please

[1999judy]

I've posted this in chat chat as I'm not really sure that you can class it as site assistance, it's more pc assistance. I followed Laylas instructions a couple of weeks ago and installed some things to make my computer safe.
Step 1: Right firstly you need to do what they call an external examination.
You need to go to this website: http://housecall.antivirus.com and do what
they call a 'housecall'. Click on where it says 'Scan Now, its Free!'.

Then on the next page press 'Scan Now, it’s Free!'
Then follow the on screen instructions, if it asks you to pick a kernel go with the recommended one. You don’t need to know what it means, just that it will do the job.
You will need to let it run in the background but you can carry on using the
net whilst it is running. However for total satisfaction.. go find a thick
book.. maybe Harry potter or summing and read it.. or
watch a film. Once you have done this then simply check in regularly until it
has completed. Follow the guidelines to remove things.. and you should be
sailing…. But wait, there's more!

Step 2: Install an antiviral program… most people like Norton… and think "wicked!"… but to be honest… its bunk! Uless you have the corporate edition! So I recommend, unless you got something you're happy with, AVG or Avast. Both are free and both work well. (no need to install both!)
Avast can be got from http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html (link is on right hand side looks like a disk)
AVG can be got from http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5 (links near
bottom of page under orange title)

For Avast you do need to register but its free and they don’t bother you and you
don’t have to do it straight away, AVG has no registration that I am aware
of but it may do, not sure.

Step 3: Spyware… After you have done the above things and cleaned, scanned,
rebooted and installed and whatever else it asks you to do, you may want to
look into cleaning Spyware and protecting your self from Spyware. So if you
think you can handle a medium tech program that would do the job I recommend
Spybot Search and Destroy: www.safer-networking.org/en/download/ so
yeah install that there’s plenty of guides and support on the website. If
you want something simpler go to
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...e/default.mspx
download, install and follow the instructions. There is no reason you
can’t have both as they don’t conflict. However if you use 'msgplus' for msn
then the windows one may flag it up as a problem… it’s really not though!

Step 4: Windows updates! Make sure your windows is up-to-date! Go to
Internet Explorer, go to Tools, go to Windows Update. This will take you to
the website where you can do express updates and make sure all loop holes on your pc are coolio!

First off thanks Layla. Now as you may have gathered I'm not very good with all this computer jargon but I'm trying to learn. I've done the above so hopefully my pc is as safe and up to date as possible.
Now here's the daft question, the one that I feel a bit embarressed about:
When I switch the computer on and do the scan I keep finding these parasites and quarantining them (I hope this is the correct terminology). Am I right to do this? Should I be worried that they are there at all?
Sorry for the long post but I have to learn more about this pc as I spend a lot of my time on here. ANY computer help will be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for sounding thick but we only had pencils when I was at school:lol:

 

[marie111]

I'm no computer whizz either Judy but I think by quarinting them you are putting them to one side so they are not harming your computer but I think rather than deleting them straightaway by quarintining them just incase you have deleted something by accident it is still ther if you realise.
Thats not making much sense is it?
When I run a scan it comes up with things and I quarintine the whole lot then next time I log onto my computer sometimes the nail geek site doesn't recognise me and I have to log in etc. because I have put that info into quarintine.
Hopefully someone will be along to explain it a bit more clearly in a minute LOL.

 

[michelle16]

I'm no computer whizz either Judy but I think by quarinting them you are putting them to one side so they are not harming your computer but I think rather than deleting them straightaway by quarintining them just incase you have deleted something by accident it is still ther if you realise.
Thats not making much sense is it?
When I run a scan it comes up with things and I quarintine the whole lot then next time I log onto my computer sometimes the nail geek site doesn't recognise me and I have to log in etc. because I have put that info into quarintine.
Hopefully someone will be along to explain it a bit more clearly in a minute LOL.

I am no expert either, but..my avg anti virus chooses to quarantine for me, sometimes it deletes things, but i can always see the report at the end of the scan to see what its done. personally, i dont argue with the decision.

the reason you are having to log in sometimes to sites that u have saved your passwords, is because as Marie mentioned above, the memory to save your password has been cleared out by the scans..the computer just sees them as 'things' that are saving/storing from your pc...

lots of free downloads, music and games sites are full of nasties attached onto downloads (obviously not all), which sneak in behind the scenes of your pc... some 'monitor or watch' what sites you are looking on the net, then you may find emails(spam) that are slightly mis-spelt, ie sender: the nailgeek, where as, my legit email/updates from the is site are from The Nail Geek...the fake one, will amost certainly have a virus attached..DONT open or do anything with it, depending on who your Internet Provider (IP) is, there may be a spam button to choose instead of delete, which will register and remember the email address and not allow more to come in..

spammers send these emails to see what email addresses are live...they may send thousands at a time to similar email addresses to see what they 'get back' ie who opened it etc, they can use this information to build a database of names which they then sell to sales companies who then start spamming stuff out to you also.

 

[1999judy]

Thanks for your help. I assume then that it's the free downloads and games etc that are causing the problems which is why I'm going to ban the kids from using this computer. I have problems every time they touch it.

 

[michelle16]

Thanks for your help. I assume then that it's the free downloads and games etc that are causing the problems which is why I'm going to ban the kids from using this computer. I have problems every time they touch it.

yes it is highly likely that freeware will cause problems, make sure that your anti virus is on all the time, and u can set it to run say every half hour or hour, or whatever, more so if the kids are playing around on it...

 

[1999judy]

OK I switch the pc on tonight and there's a load of emails from names that I don't know with titles like "fraudulent" and "hideaway" and various other daft titles. Do I open them or just delete them?
Please give me advice as I sit at this computer a lot and would like to be sure someones not stealing my money or something whilst I sit here oblivious:o

 

[marie111]

i always delete if I don't recognise the sender.

 

[michelle16]

OK I switch the pc on tonight and there's a load of emails from names that I don't know with titles like "fraudulent" and "hideaway" and various other daft titles. Do I open them or just delete them?
Please give me advice as I sit at this computer a lot and would like to be sure someones not stealing my money or something whilst I sit here oblivious:o

Judy who is your internet provider? mine is bt broadband, so I have yahoo mail and there is a spam button..

dont open them or anything, if spam button, then use that as it deletes it and saves the address.... if not, delete. as long as u dont open them at all, they cant tell if your email address is active or not. they dont know who u are, they could be anywhere in the world, these sados just sit typing email address after email address, thousands of times, ie s.smith@xxx, ssmith@xxx, s_smith@xxx....

pm me if u want to look at the spam thingie..

 

[Seanny]

First off, dont use your regular email addy for joining online clubs, forums, etc, get a throwaway email addy ([email protected]) for all that crap. Once you use your email address to register on a new site, that email address is open to abuse. If the site you've just joined is an unscrupulous site, your email addy can and most probably will be sold on to these spam artists.


Never ever respond or reply to spam email.

Never ever click on a link in a spam email.

Make sure that your anti virus program is upto date. Avast updates itself everytime that you log on... and it is TOTALLY FREE!!!!! (Download it here)

Delete the spam emails on the server using Mailwasher, this means that you are in fact deleting them before you even see them on your pc. Imagine that.... no more crap in your inbox!! Check out this thread http://www.thenailgeek.com/chit-chat/12483-no-more-sp-m-your-email.html?highlight=mailwasher Download Mailwasher and rid your pc of spam for free, download here

 

[1999judy]

First off, dont use your regular email addy for joining online clubs, forums, etc, get a throwaway email addy ([email protected]) for all that crap. Once you use your email address to register on a new site, that email address is open to abuse. If the site you've just joined is an unscrupulous site, your email addy can and most probably will be sold on to these spam artists.


Never ever respond or reply to spam email.

Never ever click on a link in a spam email.

Make sure that your anti virus program is upto date. Avast updates itself everytime that you log on... and it is TOTALLY FREE!!!!! (Download it here)

Delete the spam emails on the server using Mailwasher, this means that you are in fact deleting them before you even see them on your pc. Imagine that.... no more crap in your inbox!! Check out this thread http://www.thenailgeek.com/chit-chat/12483-no-more-sp-m-your-email.html?highlight=mailwasher Download Mailwasher and rid your pc of spam for free, download here

Thanks so much for this. Needless to say my 15 year old is now banned from using my pc.:smack: