Expert: Carolyn Meinel - 2/8/2010

Question
Hi I recently had a problem with my laptop. On Friday out of nothing a window popped up and said that I had spyware on the system, I didnīt pay much notice to it but the window wouldnīt go away and then when I tried to open Internet Explorer the window saying about the spyware came up again and I couldnīt use the internet after that. I left it and on the Saturday when I switched on the laptop I couldnīt open Internet Explorer or anything else such as Sype or Windows Media Player. I then found out that the only way I could open them was by right clicking it and selecting "open as administrator". Iīm a little worried that I might have a virus on the laptop but then I started thinking that maybe it is something to do with the permission or user rights Iīm not sure. Can you think of anything? I would really appreciate your help.

Answer
You are correct in seeing this as a threat. That spyware notice is almost certainly an attempt by a criminal organization to make you pay them money to remove their spyware. They were able to bypass or corrupt your antivirus program, so we need to do something drastic to save your computer.

If you can get on the Internet by selecting "open as administrator," here is what will usually work:

1) Download either Kapersky Internet Security, which offers a free 30 day trial at http://kapersky.com or F-Secure's Complete Internet security suite, which offers a free thirty day trial: https://store.f-secure.com/cgi-bin/dlreg/ml=EN?ID=FSISTB&desid=TRIAL

2) Disconnect from the Internet.

3) Uninstall your current antivirus. This is absolutely essential because otherwise it and F-Secure or Kapersky will fight each other and might crash your computer. It isn't good enough to just turn off your old antivirus because it probably has been crippled by your virus infection.

4) Install your Internet Security product. Download any updates available.

5) Run a complete scan of your computer. Follow any instructions it might give you.

6) Reboot.

If this works, you can either keep your new Internet Security product or uninstall it and reinstall your old antivirus from either a download of the latest version from their website (if that's how they sell it) or from the disk it was on when you bought it. Be sure to get all the latest updates right away. Usually antivirus companies are pretty good about updating their programs whenever some new attack becomes able to evade or cripple their product.

If you weren't running an antivirus program that includes antispyware protection and a firewall, then I recommend that you not reinstall your old program. Nowadays we need total protection, and this includes antispyware and a firewall.

7) To prevent future infections, don't use Internet Explorer, as it is susceptible to introducing viruses, adware and spyware into your computer. Instead you could use Chrome, free from http://www.google.com/chrome Instead of using Outlook for email, you could use Thunderbird, free from Mozilla.org, or Eudora, free from Eudora.com .

If this doesn't work, let me know and we can explore more drastic solutions.