I think I may have picked up some malware...

neural_jam · Aug 3, 2011

Hi,
Every now and then when I'm internet browsing, I find that there are links in what should be plain text, and when I mouseover them, it produces a pop-up ad that disappears when I move the cursor away. Does anyone know what causes this, and how I get rid of it?

Thanks in advance!

dr.moriarty · Aug 3, 2011

Welcome to MajorGeeks, neural_jam

This may be nothing more than online advertising embedded in the websites you are visiting. First, do you have installed any browser add-ons to block ads on web pages? That may solve your problem.

dr.m

neural_jam · Aug 4, 2011

Thanks for the reply.

It's not site-embedded ads, because when I'm looking at the same pages when I'm booted into windows 7, the ads aren't there. Also they've appeared in forum posts that I doubt would normally have embedded ads.

Which add-ons would you recommend?

dr.moriarty · Aug 5, 2011

These are two that I recommend-

ADBlock for IE

Adblock Plus for FireFox

At any time after installing these you wish me to check for malware, please follow these instructions:

Please follow the instructions in the below link:

READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide

and then attach the requested logs to your next reply when you finish these instructions.

**** If something does not run, write down the info to explain to us later but keep on going. ****

Do not assume that because one step does not work that they all will not. MGtools will frequently run even when all other tools will not.

After completing the READ & RUN ME and attaching your logs, make sure that you tell us what problems still remain ( if any still do )!

Helpful Notes:

If you run into problems trying to run the READ & RUN ME or any of the scans in normal boot mode, you can run the steps in safe boot mode but make sure you tell us what you did later when you post logs. See the below if you do not know how to boot in safe mode:

Starting your computer in Safe mode

If you have problems downloading on the problem PC, download the tools and the manual updates for SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes ( links are given in the READ & RUN ME) onto another PC and then burn to a CD. Then copy them to the problem PC. You will have to skip getting updates if (and only if) your internet connection does not work. Yes, you could use a flash drive too, but flash drives are writeable and infections can spread to them.

If you cannot seem to login to an infected user account, try using a different user account (if you have one) in either normal or safe boot mode and running only SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes while logged into this other user account. Then reboot and see if you can log into the problem user account. If you can then run SUPERAntiSpyware, Malwarebytes, ComboFix and MGtools on the infected account as requested in the instructions.

To avoid additional delay in getting a response, it is strongly advised that after completing the READ & RUN ME you also read this sticky:

Don't Bump! It Only Hurts You!!!

* Any additional post is a bump which will add more delay. Once you attach the logs, your thread will be in the work queue and as stated - our system works the oldest threads FIRST.

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I think I may have picked up some malware...

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I think I may have picked up some malware...

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