OMG Save me from my adware!
July 21, 2015 10:45 AM Subscribe
I seem to have some viruses or adware installed on my computer, help me get rid of them! Images inside!
I think they might be two seperate adwares but I'm not sure.
The first one pops up in a new tab every one in a while when I'm surfing the web in chrome and says for me to call them to fix the problem. click here to see the ad
Another I can click "uninstall" and it takes me to this page: http://www.offers4u.org/#!how-to-uninstall-offers4u/czco but I follow their advised steps, and I can't uninstall it, it doesn't exist in my "add/remove programs" window on my computer.
I think they might be two seperate adwares but I'm not sure.
The first one pops up in a new tab every one in a while when I'm surfing the web in chrome and says for me to call them to fix the problem. click here to see the ad
Another I can click "uninstall" and it takes me to this page: http://www.offers4u.org/#!how-to-uninstall-offers4u/czco but I follow their advised steps, and I can't uninstall it, it doesn't exist in my "add/remove programs" window on my computer.
Do you have any anti-virus software currently installed? You could start with the free MS Security Essentials and see what it says.
Is your computer up to date according to microsoft? Make sure you apply all the latest patches. You might also choose to uninstall all questionable add-ons, toolbars, etc. that you may have installed in the past.
posted by slacy at 11:00 AM on July 21, 2015
Is your computer up to date according to microsoft? Make sure you apply all the latest patches. You might also choose to uninstall all questionable add-ons, toolbars, etc. that you may have installed in the past.
posted by slacy at 11:00 AM on July 21, 2015
Response by poster: I have "malwarebytes anti-malware" installed. It didn't find any of these virii though.
posted by crawltopslow at 11:03 AM on July 21, 2015
posted by crawltopslow at 11:03 AM on July 21, 2015
Use the virus removal instructions that were formerly posted in deezil's profile - you can now find them here: http://www.deezil.us/wp/virus-fighting-toolkit/ Have used them myself successfully. It takes a while but it should work.
posted by Chairboy at 11:09 AM on July 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Chairboy at 11:09 AM on July 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
Wow. MalWare bytes usually finds and eliminates stuff like this. Try SpyBot Search and Destroy. from safer. https://www.safer-networking.org/
posted by Gungho at 12:24 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Gungho at 12:24 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Download and install Avast. You can't have a computer without an anti-virus. The free version of Malwarebytes is not an anti-virus program. Avast is free and it has worked well for me over the years. You need something like Avast running all the time. I like Spybot as a when-needed clean-up tool as well.
The viruses or whatever they are probably also changed the configuration of all your browsers. You may want to restore to default and wipe everything out, or at least go through all the settings and remove/change anything that takes you somewhere you don't want to go. That goes for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and whatever else you have installed.
posted by AppleTurnover at 12:28 PM on July 21, 2015
The viruses or whatever they are probably also changed the configuration of all your browsers. You may want to restore to default and wipe everything out, or at least go through all the settings and remove/change anything that takes you somewhere you don't want to go. That goes for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and whatever else you have installed.
posted by AppleTurnover at 12:28 PM on July 21, 2015
This appears to a ransomware trojan called Ransomlock. I cannot find any advice / support from Malwarebytes RE: removal, but Symantec does offer step-by-step instructions.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:35 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ryanshepard at 12:35 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I had this atrocious adware virus last year, which Avast couldn't deal with, but I swapped to BitDefender and that seemed to fix it.
posted by wilful at 6:32 PM on July 21, 2015
posted by wilful at 6:32 PM on July 21, 2015
I just had a very similar issue in Chrome - after some Googling, I saw a suggestion that it was caused by the otherwise-wonderful extension Ad Block Pro. I uninstalled that extension (and chose another ad-blocking one), and the pop-ups stopped immediately.
Note: I don't think that it was Ad Block Pro failing to block them, I think it was outright causing them.
posted by sarahsynonymous at 8:02 PM on July 21, 2015
Note: I don't think that it was Ad Block Pro failing to block them, I think it was outright causing them.
posted by sarahsynonymous at 8:02 PM on July 21, 2015
Some Chrome extensions secretly installs other extensions or includes ads. Truth is sometimes the adware companies buy out these small time authors so they can add ads to the extensions. And since the authors don't a penny otherwise, they sometimes ell out.
I use Ad Block, which is the real thing. I think Ad Block Plus is a clone / fake.
Any way, kill ALL extensions, then add them back ONE AT A TIME until you see the ads. That last one you put in is the culprit.
posted by kschang at 1:49 AM on July 22, 2015
I use Ad Block, which is the real thing. I think Ad Block Plus is a clone / fake.
Any way, kill ALL extensions, then add them back ONE AT A TIME until you see the ads. That last one you put in is the culprit.
posted by kschang at 1:49 AM on July 22, 2015
I had the same problem a few weeks ago. It was specific to Chrome. After running three different virus / malware scanners and uninstalling programs, browser extensions etc., it would regenerate itself under different names.
I finally said "enough" and uninstalled Chrome completely. Problem solved. Been using Firefox ever since.
Tonight I'm going to reinstall Chrome without any add-ons or extensions and see if the issue comes back. Not holding my breath, though!
posted by davidvanb at 9:39 AM on July 22, 2015
I finally said "enough" and uninstalled Chrome completely. Problem solved. Been using Firefox ever since.
Tonight I'm going to reinstall Chrome without any add-ons or extensions and see if the issue comes back. Not holding my breath, though!
posted by davidvanb at 9:39 AM on July 22, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:57 AM on July 21, 2015