Question on "Virus/Spyware" message that popped up !!

Hi, I'm new to this board, and pretty computer illiterate !! ... Anyhoo's I got this message that was just at the bottom of my AOL screen, and it said: "Virus/Spyware detected .. Remove?" - and I hit "no" cuz hubby said it might be a trap ... so anyway - does anyone know what or where that came from? All I know is I'm under AOL 7.0 now because my 9.0 TOTALLY crapped out on me - and is acting like my modem DOESN "T exist - and it's all happened after I used their "autofix" after I got kicked off ..

Any help ?!?!

 

Hi and welcome.

Virus or spyware or both are not good things and need to be removed when found.

Do you run any sort of antivirus program other than whatever AOL provides (and sorry but I know slightly less than ZIP about AOL ).

At this point I recommend 4 things and in the order listed.

• An online virus scan using RAV or any other that will both detect and remove. If it finds stuff, let it fix/delete.
• Download, update, and run Spybot to locate spyware. It will find lots of stuff but any spyware will be at the top of the list and already checked/ticked to remove. Remove it. The other items are history files and such so leave them for now. A download link for Spybot is in my signature so just click on it.
• Download, update, and run Ad-aware. It only finds spyware/malware and doesn't pre-check anything. Whatever it finds, check it and let Ad-aware remove it. Also linked in my signature.
• Get a regular antivirus program loaded and keep it updated. Do a search on this forum for antivirus software and you will find lots of discussions of the various ones available so you can pick. some free, some not.

After you are all cleaned up, post back and we can probably move this to another section where some AOL experts can offer suggestions about getting 9.0 to run again.

 

Me to with AOL ,,dont know nothing except I recently saw this about the new aol9 optimized
January 6, 2004
"America Online on Tuesday announced the addition of antispyware software as part of future upgrades to its flagship online service. As previously reported, AOL will introduce its antispyware programs into upcoming versions of its AOL 9.0 Optimized software for both narrowband and broadband users. The software will disable programs that are unknowingly installed on one's computer to monitor Web surfing behavior. There are many different forms of spyware and its more common relative "adware. "...
http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=9173&hl=aol+9

 

I had 4 customer, 2 been confirn click yes, the windows still work until the next boot, windows will stop on just before all the icon on desktop is showing, the task bar will show for half second and dissapare, so far I did is reload winodws to fix the problem, can you tell me if your machine still working after reboot, I been telling my customer if see it don't click on anything, just reboot, (even the 'x' on left top coner of windows is gray out), all 4 are using windows 98,