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The Kitchen Table

Computer virus question

18 years ago

I just received a message on my computer after clicking off this program where a program came up and it looked like an official windows announcement that said that I had a virus and a hacker attempt. It asked me if I wanted to run a virus check and I said no. It started to anyway and came up with something like 4 selections of thing that it said was wrong and I clicked the X at the top and it went away. Anway, I did get from the address line "xponlinescanner.com". Was this something legit or something else?

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Comments (10)

Tally
18 years ago
Well, if you go to xponlinescanner.com you can see that it's a site that sells software.

It's an advertisement -

Make the switch to XP antivirus Protection and enjoy your
system work without any influence of spyware and viruses
Solutions for:
Home and Home Office
Small and Medium Business
Enterprises
Technology licensing

They're realistic, aren't they? Sometimes they fool me too!
iowagirl2006
18 years ago
Ugh - that doesn't sound good.

Make sure your AV is up to date. I would also run a spyware scan pronto.

I googled it and some are saying they picked it up from visiting the Minneapolis Star Tribune site...have you been to that site?
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cynic
18 years ago
Whenever you get popups like this you should NEVER click on the buttons they provide. Close the window itself without selecting any of their options.

Definitely do a virus scan and a spyware scan.
LorifromUtah
18 years ago
I doubt you have bugs in your system but I'd update my virus protection and do a thorough scan.
I clicked one of those popups once only to find out I had 793 bugs on my computer and it would ONLY cost me $49.99 to get them removed.

Lori
workoutlady
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks all. I have AV and made sure it was updated and ran a scan. It found a couple of things and deleted these. My only other question is what's a good free spyware finding program? I'm not so sure mine is doing a proper job.
iowagirl2006
18 years ago
I use AdAware - it is free.
secsteve
18 years ago
Go to the computer forum and check this out. Tally, you might have problems if you clicked on that link.

Those folks there know a lot about these type of things.
DYH
18 years ago
I had that same "official looking" ad and immediately closed down everything (didn't click on the link) and ran an updated Anti-virus software. No viruses were found, so I do believe that was a misleading ad from iVillage's advertisers. However, if you clicked, you may have gotten something installed on your system.
iowagirl2006
18 years ago
Yep - I posted another seperate thread so people might see it better.

I do think the source was DoubleClick.
Tally
18 years ago
Well, I didn't click on any link or popup I simply copied and pasted the URL into the address box. I ran Adaware just in case, and everything is just fine.

I googled the website domain and found a lot of discussion circulating across the internet, but nothing definitive. Most of the comments were from people using Firefox. No one could specifically identify any trouble actually created from the link, just a lot of buzz and speculation about it.

However, I do think it's good advice not to click on any popup.

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