This is the 2nd time now I've suddenly gotten a popup screen that says it's from Windows Security and that I'm infected with trojans and must download stuff immediately to take care of it. I always quickly get rid of the pop-ups - the first time this happened I quickly did a full McAfee scan and it showed no problems at all. It would catch it, right? I'm usually pretty skeptical of messages like that, but I do wonder... actually I don't even know what a trojan is. But McAfee total protection should've blocked them anyway, right?

often, that kind of unsolicited warning, coming from a security program not your own, comes from a company trying to sell you their own security. i used to get those a lot when i had windows. my son used to clean out my computer somehow every once in a while. or run a check for buggies. liseann might be able to help you there.

Yes your AV should take care of them as long as it it updated. A trojan refers to the trojan horse where it comes in looking like somthing innocent and there is something bad inside. The something here is a virus most likely. The popup you are getting are trying to get you to pay for software to get rid of things on your computer that may or may not be there. You have spyware on your computer. You should get a cleaner for it. Lavasoft has one called Ad-Aware. It is free and will clean these things off of your computer. I would get someone who knows about these things to help you though. It is not complicated but things can go wrong.

Don't pay any attention to it. It is a virus that will attach itself to your hard drive and maybe your address book. It could make it hard to use google or any other search sites. If you have McAffee and it said it is ok, it should be fine. It is just a way to get you to download their software. It happened to me last year, everytime I tried to use a search engine, it would redirect me to their virus download site. I had to clean my computer and reload a lot of things.

Oh that's so irritating! I'm running another full-scan now anyway. It is probably time to have my computer guy check things out anyway. Thanks!

that is a virus - teenagers are prone to get excited and think they are doing a good deed by downloading something to get rid of a virus when in actuality they are installing the virus itself - has happened to a few teenagers I know...

don't click on ANYTHING except to close the window

Technically, a trojan is not a virus, but like a virus it's a form a malware, meaning it can do something harmful to your computer.

I get those pop-ups now and then, too. If they don't come from your anti-virus program, it's as everyone else is saying - it's probably some company trying to sell you protection or something. IMO, any company trying to sell malware protection by scaring you into thinking you have a trojan is not legit.

I agree, you should run a scan if you're ever in doubt about whether your security has been breached.

Now, there may come a time when your anti-virus program pops up a window saying you have a trojan. If that happens, get the name/number of the trojan, go to the McAfee website, look it up, and follow instructions there for getting rid of it. You may need to download a fix to get rid of it, or reset something. Or your existing software might be able to take care of it, but always check.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, butterflywing!

Just a reminder, if your anti-virus software doesn't update itself automatically, now's a good time to check for updates and even run a full system scan.

I have to confess my eyes popped a bit at first. I thought you were asking about a brand of contraceptives!! :shock:

I get really irritated when I am surfing quilting sites and get one of these same type of pop up... Never click on any kind of a pop up...somehow some of these have a way of sneaking past pop up blockers. They work really hard to make them look legit, and alarming too. Grrrr :evil:

If it really was from Microsoft, it would come to you as a update in the normal manner, to take care of a problem/virus/etc.

It's about halfway through the scan and it has found and quarantined something. Hope it wasn't anything too scary....

My Husband clicked on the same Pop up, thought it was our AVG paid antivirus program and it wasn't, of course. What a mess.
I had to go to a Computer message board and get help from an expert to get rid of it.