A bit of a sensitive problem

[something vague]

Ok heres the problem. My 16 year old son decided to have a sneaky search for porno pics. I know its him cos he's dyslexic and mispelled girls on the browser

 

Anyway now we keep getting warnings that we have spyware and also sometimes when we click on the browser we get so pretty shocking porno pics appearing with the warning that they have been found in our browser cache and that they are in a dat file on our hard drive. The message informs us that the only sure way of removing them and protecting ourselves from spyware is to download the software that it gives us a link to.

 

When the porno pics appear we also get a window in centre of screen supposedly from microsoft explorer which tells us to read the message on screen carefully.

 

I'm very doubtful about these messages because we use AVAST! scanner and it has come up with no viruses, I did a thorough scan and got nothing yet we still keep getting the offensive pictures and the warnings.

 

Anyone know what I should do??

 

SV

[jb1964]

Hi Somethingvague,

 

Don't know much about computers but I'd never download anything from a prompt on a message pop up.

 

I have McAfee security but I'm sure before I had adware or spybot or something that would find these spyware programs.

 

I'm sure a techno expert will come along soon.

 

Take care,

Jb

[phasmid]

Don't follow the link on the window!

 

Do a google for 'Spybot' (it's free) and download it...run the 'check for updates and the run 'Search and destroy'. When you have done that google AVG free edition and do the same thing. See if that helps.

[TheNeil]

Might be worth clearing out your browser's cache and deleting any cookies. No idea what I'm talking about? In Internet Explorer, go to the Tools menu and select 'Internet Options'. Click the 'Delete Cookies' button and then the 'Delete Files' button

 

You could also click the Security tab (still in the Internet Options screen) and make sure that your Security Level is set to 'Medium' (or above) for 'Internet'

 

As Phas said though, running Spybot and AVG (and NOT clicking on the popup windows) should keep your machine safe

[mossgrove]

It's bit ironic that software that is supposed to save you from annoying popups is constantly annoying you with popups. Do not do what they say and download their program.

 

It's not a virus as such so AVG probably won't find it, but worth trying anyway.

 

Anither program to try is a spyware scanner called Adaware which you can download from download.com, that should deal with the problem.

 

Simon

[something vague]

Thanks for the advice everyone, someones playing a game on that pc (the type that lasts all day by the looks of it) so i hope that it will be ok 'till I find a quiet time to try out your suggestions.

 

Cheers

 

SV

[helenl53]

Hi SV

 

I am going to catch up with you soon - I promise!

 

The porno stuff is the 21st century version of the Playboy mags under the bed!

 

When my boy was the same age, we had the same problem and he denied it until he was blue in the face!

 

We have controls on the puters but J was looking up motorbike stuff the other day and typed in Triumph - he ended up with Google finding 'Triumph Lingerie' - so sometimes it is quite innocent!

 

Speak soon

 

Love

 

helen

[Guest flutter]

try also googling trend micro and run their scans

i have norton and all sorts of freebies on my puter but stil use this

good luck

C x

[something vague]

Thanks again everyone,

 

If I take all of the advice am I going to end up with lots of programs competing with each other - we had that problem before.

 

Henny,

 

Its lovely to hear from you. Get in touch when you're ready - you're much busier than I am.

You may notice I'm pretty active on here today thats cos I've just looked at my assignment title and cant make head no tail of it. Thought a few goes on 'name that tune' might count as research

 

Take care,

 

SV

[Bagpuss]

SV, same with our ds (12). Actually thought it was dh for a while, till dh mentioned he kept finding pics of a certain large chested glamour model and thought it was ds. We monitored it for a while, checking the laptop everytime he'd been on it to see what he'd been doing (we thought only runescape and messenger)...but, quickly realised it was alot more than that Had long "chat" with him, and now he can only go on supervised..ie , we are in same room. We installed anti virus software after this forum was hacked, and we got viruses, but we never had anything pop up from the piccies/sites our ds had been secretly viewing.

[baddad]

Hi SV -

 

Everyone else is right - DON'T follow that link.

What you've got is undoubtedly 'spyware/malaware' rather than a virus as such... have you noticed any new toolbars (like the google one) or anything like that on your screen?

I don't know 'AVAST' but AVG free is an excellent Freeware virus scanner - In a recent test it beat just about everything except Kapersky - including the two market leaders... The free version doesn't include spyware/malaware checks, though.

Two programmes that do work and don't trip over each other on a system: AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy if you go to somewhere reputable like CTNet or Tucows you should be able to find download sites for both...

Once you've downloaded/installed them both, use the 'update' features to search the web for the latest definitions files... That way, if the 'bug' you've got is a new one it'll be more likely to be picked up...

Sometimes it'll take two or three reboots to clear a system completely, but when both programmes and your antivirus are giveing you the all clear, chances are you are!!

 

Incidently, the other 'dangerous' sites are kids gaming ones, or cheatsforums - purely and simply, they attract kids who think they know everything about computers and haven't been bitten enough to have learnt the hardway yet, so they are a perfect 'target'... Again, try to find a few you know and stick with them...

 

HTH

 

L&P

 

BD

 

Oh - PS: If you are getting re-routed and pop-ups etc check your internet/email dial up settings VERY carefully... you could be getting routed to a premium rate server instead of the one you actually subscribe to

Nasty stuff... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr <'>

[something vague]

Thanks everyone,

 

I think that the problem is solved for now. Neil thanks for the advise about the browser. It was set to open on the offending page which sometimes had porn stuff on it and sometimes a virus warning. I've set it to 'About Blank' again. We also discovered an icon at the bottom of our screen for 'seekmo' which is an ad company that was latching onto whatever we were browsing. We managed to delete that. Spybot found lots of spyware too.

 

You've all been very helpful

 

 

SV

[Sojourned]

Aside from Spybot and AdAware, another relevant program is SpywareGuard. Blocks alot of spyware and downloads such as seekmo, also protects against browser hijacking (resetting your homepage, opening questionable sites automatically), which is useful. Free download at http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html.

 

 

Spyware Doctor is the omega in anti-Spyware, but you do have to pay for it. It has realtime protection and finds more spyware than Adaware and Spybot do. I think it's ?20-something for an annual subscription, well worth it if you can spare the money and use the internet alot.

[Paula]

Dont think anyone else has mentioned it but make sure you dont have a dialer either.We once had one of these everythime we launched the internett some sort of dodgey dialer dialed a porno site.

 

Managed to clear it once we got the pc dr out.We then phoned BT and asked that a stop was put on all premium rate numbers on our phone line this stopped you acidently or the kids acess ing premium sites that use expensive dialers by accident.

 

It were something like that any way.Dont know all the techno babble.

[Ush]

Aside from Spybot and AdAware, another relevant program is SpywareGuard. Blocks alot of spyware and downloads

 

Prevention is always better than cure :-)

 

If you use broadband, and have a decent router/modem, you may be able to block content/access in the router etc.

 

Although we do this here, We also use IPROTECTYOU (http://www.softforyou.com/ip-index.html) on PCs which the kids use. It allows us to set restrictions on a per MS account basis. Not only for content restrictions, but also internet access time etc.

 

One of the great features we like about it though is that it also intercepts programs (like MSN), and filters what is typed (inappropiate words). If our son swears, the user the other end sees *** instead. Likewise if they swear to him, he just sees the word replced by stars. The MSN "chat" thing has been a big issue for us, as our son associates with kids a lot older (teens) than him?

[lynyona]

We had the same problem wth ds 20,we know when he shuts the living room door or turns the screen off he s looking at porn,weve tried talking to him and had a content blocker on but it got then it was nearly blocking everything .we always know when he d been on the computer as it is always slow and the antivirus was warning of viruses all the time.when we got the new computer we put a password on it so he doesnt get on it at all unless one of us are with him if he wants to search ebay or new ringtones for his mobile.he moans about it at times but accepts it.

 

 

lynn