<p>Another piece of loveliness from Xfinity/Comcast. Whenever I open my browser, or open another tab, or go to another page, I get a popup:</p>
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<p>I have followed the first 5 recommended steps: updated Java and Adobe, made sure my AV and anti-malware were up to date, firewall on, and OS up to date. If all of that doesn’t make the popups go away, the 6th and final recommendation is – surprise! – purchase “Constant Guard” which I gather is a Norton product. </p>
<p>I suspect this is nothing more than a Comcast/Norton sales pitch. Is anyone else having this issue?</p>
<p>I’d suggest shutting off your computer, wiping the disk and reinstalling the operating system and then connecting. Alternately, if you have a friend with a laptop or you have an unaffected computer, disconnect your systems from your home network and try those. Bots can affect a lot of other people out there - practice safe computing. If it’s too much to do, see if there’s someone in your personal network that’s good at dealing with these kinds of things.</p>
<p>BTW, we’ve had XFinity for internet service for a few years and are very, very happy with their service.</p>
<p>I’d also recommend giving Spybot Search & Destroy a shot. I use that in conjunction with MalwareBytes whenever I seem to have an issue.</p>
<p>I also like Microsoft’s antivirus program. It’s a lot less invasive than programs like Norton that, oftentimes, feel as bad for my PC as the viruses it’s supposed to protect against.</p>
<p>I normally use Microsoft Security Essentials on my Windows systems. I use MalWareBytes for regular scans. I sometimes use SpyBot Search and Destroy and AdAware. I also use something else for scanning for rootkits.</p>
<p>My work system uses McAfee which is very, very thorough but can really kill the performance of the system.</p>
<p>Another good program that’s free and easy to use and frequently effective in cleaning up a system is ‘stinger’ from McAfee. Do a search for ‘stinger’, find the first hit that’s from McAfee, and go there and download stinger. After downloading it you simply run it. It’s lightweight and doesn’t install anything on your system - it just searches for and removes viruses.</p>
<p>I ran full scans with AVG, MalwareBytes and McAfee Stinger (thanks, GladGradDad, I’m bookmarking that). All three came up 100% clean. My firewall is up, my OS is updated. I haven’t had any performance issues, and my surfing habits are safe to the point of being boring. I don’t think there was anything wrong with my computer. The good news is the annoying popups are gone.</p>
<p>LasMa, one thing I would recommend is always keeping the install file for one of those programs on your hard drive. There are viruses which will hijack your browsers and auto-redirect you to fake websites if you try to go to an antivirus or antispyware site (or even run a google search with certain search terms in it). This way, you don’t need to keep the program installed, but at the first sign of a problem you can install it, run updates, and clean it out.</p>
<p>I also keep a copy of Firefox Portable on my desktop as an alternate browser for if that happens. It seems those hijacking methods only work with browsers installed to the system and not “portable” versions. It’s also nice when you’re looking at airfare/hotels and need an extra instance or two of a browser running. :)</p>