Question:
Ok. So I was trying to watch Greek episodes from surfthechannel.com and I clicked on one of the sites for an episode, and my computer freaked out.

I have an HP Pavilion laptop with Windows Vista.

It opened up some Virus Protection program called Green AV Security? And it keeps having windows popping up, telling me I have a virus, when I haven't noticed anything different, except for the annoying pop-up windows saying I have a virus.


Is there a way to stop the annoying pop-ups from these programs? They go every five minutes, and it gets completely irritating.

One pop-up says:
"Green AV protection has detected Spyward program Win32.Monster.fx that is trying to attack your computer. Do you want to block the attack?"

Another says:
"Warning! 41 infections found. Unwanted software or tracking cookies have been found during the last scan."


Help? I'm hoping theymos sees this, but I wanted to post this to everyone because maybe someone else knows something, too?

My Answer:
That is NOT a virus, and THOSE ARE FALSE REPORTS send by (probably) the spyware or adware that you have on your computer. Ignore them and please do NOT download anything from those.

There are many types of malwares--adware, spyware, trojan, keylogger, rootkit, virus, etc. are all malwares. Among those, rootkits are the most difficult to detect and clean out.

I would say that you may have a type of spyware or adware on your computer.

The easiest would be to just run your anti-virus program, because most anti-virus programs come bundled with anti-spyware/adware/trojan,etc., too. But remember that anti-virus program does NOT give you 100% protection.

Besides that, you can also try SYSTEM RESTORE. If you have been creating at least one restore point on your computer each month (like you should), then this process should be a piece of cake. If you have never created a restore point, then . . . well, keep trying to remove the adware =)

Disconnect from the internet and uninstall suspicious programs are also a good start.

=================================================
If you don't have an anti-virus program installed on your computer and you don't want to spend money to buy one, then try one of these free anti-virus softwares:

****NOTE: Pick ONLY ONE because if more than one anti-virus software run at the same time, they might interfere with each other.

Avast! Home Edition: http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Avira AntiVir Personal Edition: http://www.free-av.com/en/products/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

Each has its own pros and cons. Just pick the one you like.

===============================================
An alternate program for anti-spyware only is SuperAntiSpyware (free version): http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html

===============================================
There are cases where the malware is HIDDEN by a rootkit. If this is the case, then you really are into some trouble. Even among advanced users, rootkits are still very hard to detect. You can try out Gmer and IceSword, but you will need to spend some time to learn how to read their reports.

Gmer: http://www.gmer.net/

IceSword: http://www.antirootkit.com/software/IceSword.htm
(This is not a rootkits detector or remover. It's more like a process viewer and a port enumerator. You will have to figure out where the problems are themselves, based on the results provided by IceSword. Here's a tip: try google search when you have no idea what something is, lol.)



************************************************

EDIT: Answer to Your Feedback

Your Question:
I have Avast, and I ran it, and it didn't find anything. My question now is: How do I stop the annoying pop-up warnings? If you respond to this question, please put: ***EDIT*** [Your answer here] At the bottom. Thanks =]


My Answer:
I suppose that this means your Avast unable to detect the ROUGE program? Hmm . . . I thought it could, but seem like I was wrong. Most antivirus programs couldn't detect rouges last year but they still can't this year? Anyway . . .

Try the following steps:

1. Download and install SmitFraudFix: http://siri.geekstogo.com/SmitfraudFix.php

2. Reboot into Safe Mode

3. Run SmitFraudFix's Clean (it's option #2, you can learn more about this at the website above, where you downloaded the file)

(also, the last time I run SmitFrauFix on my computer [which is a clean computer], my wallpaper is gone. I never understand why but . . . oh well, thought you might want to know)

4. Reboot to Normal Windows.

5. Download SuperAntiSpyware (free version): http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html (don't forget to update its definition)

6. Run SuperAntiSpyware and see if it detects anything at all.


By the way, SYSTEM RESTORE? Aren't you overlooking something easy? Don't worry, all of your files are safe =)


Worse comes to worst? Run HiJackThis and save the log file ( http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis ). Then either interpret it yourself or send it someone who can read it, and that person will tell you what to do next based on the log.

[view]