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.

http://www.techguy.org/

I have personally used the above link before and had much success in ridding my desktop of trojans and viruses that AVG just would not touch.

These people are great! It is a free site and you have to be patient if you decide to listen to them and let them help you get rid of the junk. They give great instructions and walk you through exactly what you need to do to get rid of the really stubborn stuff. They help so many people so somtimes it takes them a day or a few hours to get back to you. I did a lot of reading at the site on my own that helped me even further.

I give them kudos for cleaning my machine! I have kept HijackThis and MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (free software that they ask you to download to help and they tell you how to use) on my machine since and run them ever so often to make sure my machine stays clean. You need to know what you are doing though to run those programs, so I am not suggesting that anyone use them without the help from those tech guys.

Good luck!

Uck. That would be a lot cheaper than hiring our computer guy - but I am a wimp though. It scares me trying to deal with stuff. McAfee did quarantine a trojan. :P I'm assuming that since it's quarantined, it's ok for me to be online??

I ran this from techguy. It said I had 232 errors, but you had to buy something before it would correct the errors. I ran my McAfee and there were no errors. Just wanted to let you know what I experienced.

I appreciate that. At least I trust our guy - we'll be calling him today.


Thanks for all your input!

I got a message the other day from my security company that they had just interceded a virus heading my way.
Even though I have protection, it gives you the willies anyway!:shock:
I only email with board members, and go to quilting sites.
I actually believe the few bugs I have had came from looking at all those qu sites. sad that ppl can/do attach stuff to things like that.
Glad my company was on the j.o.b.! :-D

not to take away anything from your message, lfw045, but just be careful if you do click on these things.
Some of them will actually help you a lot, but at the same time, be adding extra cookies, bc their intention is to 'suck information' from your surfing habits.
I am on dial up and any extra cookies, slows my pc down.

sometimes your virus software will take care of those things if you shut down your computer. it did here at work anyway. i got pop up messages saying to download this to get rid of virus. not doing it here!!! my IT guy would have a fit!

Sorry if you misunderstood. I went to that site and joined it.....talked to a tech in the forum message board and read everything there and followed instructions before I ever downloaded either of the programs mentioned. I still use them to this day and have never paid them a cent and have never been asked to. I'm not sure what you downloaded and ran......sorry you had that experience.

Like I said in my first post. DO NOT RUN the two programs unless the techs from that site tell you to and give you the instructions for what they need to help you rid your machines for errors. I didn't nor did I have to click on anything. I read the message boards there and talked to the techs.

Sorry I confused everyone. It is easy to forget that everyone is not as computer literate and that is why I loved that site. They helped me when I had done everything I could to fix my computer.

My apologies. Lesson learned.

I clicked on the link you provided and followed their promts. No harm done. I usually rely on MCAfee

Just to clarify........there are no prompts to click, unless of course you clicked on the TIP link. I never said anything about clicking on anything. It is a tech message board, you have to read, ask them questions AFTER you join their tech message board to get help. I'm over this thread......lol!

good idea.

Ignore it and delete it. Often it's a virus and if you click on open it, it infects your computer.