okay so it started when I was on msn messanger and someone sent me a picture and I accepted it. A little while after I accepted it I started gettng TONS of pop ups that not even a pop up blocker could block. It made my computer alot slower and every time I would pull a webpage up it would say "end program" because it had started freezing. I ran virus checks with Norton Anti Virus and nothing showed up. Then my computer just froze the screen went blue and it turned off. Finally I was so annoyed of this that I reformated my computer, and it was just like the day I bought it, with no pograms or anything. A day after I had reformated my computer I am still getting pop ups and I haven't accepted any files or downloaded anything harmful, and my computer is running slower. I am thinking the virus might be coming from facebook?. I really dont know what to do! can anyone help me out?
Thanks

1. you used an instant messanger (an invitation to viri)
2. You're using norton. Crapware and bloated.

1. turn off system restore.
2. get yourself spybot seach and destroy. (free) run it with updates
3. if you formatted without doing a low level format, you may not have gotten rid of the virus.

Hello, lonely_ones, and welcome to Techspot :wave:

Please take a moment to read the following threads to make your experience here as enjoyable as possible

Message for all newcomers

SNGX1275's Guide to making a good post/thread

The Techspot FAQ

If you could take a minute to fill in some of your profile information that would be helpful to all members of the forum
Knowing someone's location in the world can be extremely helpful, even if you just put a country.

Also remember to post any problems or questions that you have in the appropriate forums

It's good to meet you and I hope you enjoy it here


With regards to your problem, if Tedster's suggestions don't work (I can't see why they wouldn't but you never know), read this thread If your system is infected, read this before deciding whether to Clean or Format.

If you decide to clean your system, follow these instructions Virus/Spyware/Malware, preliminary removal instructions and post fresh HJT, Combofix, and AVG Antispyware logs as attachments to a new reply in this thread as well as the result of the Panda Antirootkit scan.


This thread is for the use of lonely_ones only. Please don't post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.

ok so when I downloaded spybot it is free and when I do scans it tells me how many files are infected but it says to clean my system of these files I have to register which costs money! is there a way that spybot can actually fix these files which is free?