Help with annoying warnings..

[royknives]

Hello,
I have been getting these annoying warnings that start out in the lower right corner of my screen in the icon tray..its a yellow triangle with an exclamation point in the center..it comes on with a warning and then blinks....when you click on it it takes you to a internet explorer page which turns into a MSN page full of ads...also I get a popup that says that I have poor security and when clicked on it takes me to another MSN page full of ads...can anyone help...thanks in advance.

 

[meltdown75]

The yellow icon in your system tray sounds a lot like Microsoft Update attempting to retrieve updates from the web.

If you do not wish to see it, or would rather retrieve the updates manually, you can disable Automatic Updates.

Other than that, make sure you are routinely checking for anti-virus defs, performing system scans with Adaware, Spybot S&D or Webroot Spysweeper, and also keeping your internet and temp files cleaned up.

Not sure which firewall you're using either, but I recommend ZoneAlarm.

 

[royknives]

I have my automatic updates disabled...so I don't think that is the case....man this is frustrating!

 

[sykopath79]

Sounds like spyware/adware. I have been seeing several lately that drop a systray icon so that they look very much like actual Microsoft/Windows warning messages and coax the user to click on them. If you click on it, and it takes you to a website, I guarantee it is malware related.

Head over to MajorGeeks.com and download Ad-Aware, Spybot, and Microsoft Anti-Spyware. Update and run full scans with all of them. I would also recommend a virus scan for good measure (http://housecall.trendmicro.com is one I use every day at my job).

 

[meltdown75]

Yes.

Also, make sure you do your full system scans in Safe Mode. Apparently a lot of the junk out there right now can only be detected in Safe Mode - if it's running in the background while you attempt your scan, the scanner might not be able to pick it up. FYI

 

[NuroMancer]

If it's spyware that gets picked up but those tools can't get rid of it. Then google cwshredder and run that in safe mode. Great tool. As well don't discount meltdowns suggestion, xp sp2 if you turn the update off there is a yellow icon that sits there and wants you to reconfigure, you can turn this off on the right hand side the the menu that shows the update and the firewall.
Hope it helps.

 

[royknives]

Well I wanted to thank you guys...I ran the computer in safemode and found nothing..I then decided to go to a system restore to an earlier date..when I did...my spyware told me that a few programs were going to be added to the start up menu...I delete those and I am now free from these annoying warnings...thanks everyone for all your advice..it brought me to solving this issue...