Expert: Carolyn Meinel - 5/25/2004

Question
Hello.

My computer seems to have picked up some horrible software from the internet. What happens is I sometimes get redirected to other websites, mostly advertisements,I get some pop ups as well, but the worst part is after a while using internet explorer, it just stops responding. I can't type anything onto the IE screen, I can even shut it down without using the windows task manager. I can still go on using other programs though. It also has a weird effect on my computer memory. The free memory went from 300MB to 200MB, and then 900MB. And its tracking my surfing activity as well. I got a lot of pop up ads for spyware removal software after an online search for them! And the first time this started, there was an icon on my desktop with a dog picture and labeled "lycos". I never had that before. I deleted it.

I ran SpyBot 5 times, and removed all the spyware, adware that it could find. But it didn't make any difference. What is this horrible thing, and how can i get rid of it?

I use windows XP Home, have Norton auto-protect on all the time (could it still be a virus?), the virus list is pretty up to date, about 3-4 weeks old, and my computer is a Dell Inspiron 500M.

Lots of thanks.

Answer
It sounds like you may have been infected with adware or spyware. Here is how those things infect your computer. When you install some kinds of free software, or download things from some web sites, and click on the user license, in the teeny tiny fine and very confusingly worded fine print, you end up agreeing to these nasty things.

For instant free help, try Ad-aware,
http://lavasoft.element5.com/software/adaware and Spybot, http://www.safer-networking.org If they don't work, email me at carolyn.meinel@techbroker.com and I'll give you further help