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Suddenly a lot of spyware affecting my browser, best way to get rid of it?

Chop LogicChop Logic Registered User regular
in Help / Advice Forum
So, my brother was watching porn on my computer. Now, when I am googling something, my browser will auto-redirect me to some weird sites. I've never had this exact problem before, and I'm not too tech savy, whats the best way to make sure I'm rid of this stuff? I just got this computer cleaned out so I don't want to take any chances.

Thanks.

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    Jebus314Jebus314 Registered User regular
    If it's actually taking you to sites that you didn't click on then it's not your browser but your computer that needs to be cleaned. Your going to want to do scans with any good anti-virus, anti-malware software like malwarebytes, microsoft security essentials (which is just microsoft defender in windows 8), or whatever paid one you might be using (norton, sophos, avg, ect). Preferably do scans with several of them. Don't run them simultaneously, just open up one, do a scan, close, then move on to the next.

    There may also be addons installed in your browser that you don't want, but aren't detected as malware. Not sure what browser you are using but you'll want to look at the list of addons and get rid of anything you don't know. Don't worry about deleting something you want as it will be pretty easy to reinstall it later if you need to.

    "The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it" - Dr Horrible
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    TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    Reformat your computer and reinstall Windows. Or, since you're not very tech savvy, get a friend to do that.

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    Jebus314Jebus314 Registered User regular
    TychoCelchuuu wrote: »
    Reformat your computer and reinstall Windows. Or, since you're not very tech savvy, get a friend to do that.

    This really is the only way to be 100% sure that you are secure, but if you run a few scans and it finds some things and you don't experience anymore problems it's not a terrible idea to just stick with that. Definitely want to watch your credit cards and bank accounts like a hawk for a while though.

    "The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it" - Dr Horrible
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    Chop LogicChop Logic Registered User regular
    if I don't have things saved on my computer, would I be safe putting that stuff on an external hard drive now, or would that get infected also?

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    Chop LogicChop Logic Registered User regular
    sorry, to clarify, I mean if I don't have things backed up that are on this machine.

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    ThundyrkatzThundyrkatz Registered User regular
    There is always a chance that any file on your computer may be infected. Though it has been my experience that pictures and word or excel documents tend to be clean. You can move them to a flash drive and then scan that drive for viruses before adding them back. If they are infected then any computer used to check the flash drive could be at risk if auto play is enabled when you plug in the flash drive.

    A clean reinstall is likely to be your most secure and your least time consuming method for ensuring you have gotten rid of the problem though.

    In the future you may want to set up a non-admin user account for your brother. Also i have heard that using Google Chrome can be safer as it does all its surfing in sandbox mode, so its more difficult for you to be infected by drive-by attacks.

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