Susan do you have Malwarebytes installed? It's an anti-malware program. (free)

Thanks for the warning!!!

My DH fell foe soething like that. Cost us plenty. First, the fake Microsoft website asked us for $50, which DH allowed. Next day, after he discovered the virus, our bank refused to stop the payment since he had agreed to it. econd, we had to pay Geekquad $160 to revove the firus and get our computer running properly, plus we were without our computer for 2-3 days while Geek squad worked on it. Luckily, they did pick up and deiver the CPU, which is quite heavy and difficult.

Jasdip, I have Malwarebytes installed on the computer I'm using to write this (thanks to you!), but not on the other one. :-(

It's at a standstill now; I can't even open the Task Manager. All I get is the ThinkPoint screen.

I fell for something similar at work. Luckily we needed some work done on the computer anyway; but I felt like an idiot.

Well, I'm happy to report my computer is all better. I followed instructions I found from a couple of sources online, and I think we're in good shape. And I installed Malwarebytes, too.

Oh what a relief Alisande! I'm so glad you didn't have to take it in.
Kudos for working through it yourself. If you couldn't even get past the ThinkPoint, I can't imagine how to fix it.

Unfortunately we only have the 1 laptop here, so if this happens to use, we're pooched. I'd have to take it to my parents or somewhere to research the fix. Hmmmm that's a good idea. My first instinct would be to take it to the shop, but if it could be fixed manually that's fantastic.

Thanks for the heads up!!!!

Yes, thank heavens I have two computers. The University of Delaware has instructions on how to start the computer in Safe Mode With Networking, and from there I followed other instructions on disabling ThinkPoint via the Task Manager. After that I went back to the U of D instructions (I had printed them out) and followed them to install Malwarebytes. The program found a couple more files left behind by the beast. Whew!!

When my DS arrived to see what he could do, it was all fixed. It's not often I get to impress my son (who has a bachelor's degree in Information Sciences & Technology) with my computer skills. LOL

At least I hope it's all fixed. I'm watching a message I left on the Landzdown Forum to see if there's anything further I need to do.

just to help you realize how many of these fake Antivirus programs are around look at this blog which keeps tabs of them as they hit, and see how real they look.

Please if any of you see these pop up on your computer do not click on anything!! instead do a control+alt+delete to get your task manager open and end task on your browser whether it be IE or firefox or what ever or just hit the shut down on the pc and restart it.
If you did fall prey and gave them a credit card, immediately contact the credit bureaus and put a fraud alert on your card and notify the card company also, usually best to kill that card, that is after all what they are really after.

the way these things work even hitting the x to close it will actually trigger the install of it. The scan they show that says you are infected is totally fake it is not real, it is not of your pc at all, everyone sees the same picture and that is what it really is, a picture. they are a bear to clean. If you find you need help please head over to the Computer help forum here, I am there daily helping and can lead to other sites to help you get cleaned up. Come see us (lots of good helpful folks there)before you spend money taking it somewhere we may well be able to get it straightened out.
Here is that blog.

Here is a link that might be useful: blog

Whenever I have trouble with my computer or starting up, I follow the instructions in my Windows XP book to do a "System restore."

the problem is most of these infections block the use of most windows functions including system restore.

system restore is a great feature and well worth trying in many cases, however for an infection it will not remove it and may make things worse, and infections often times will reside in restore points which is why when doing a full clean up of an infection it is beneficial to have a support forum help you determine if your restore points are clean or need to be cleared. But do not clear or turn off restore points till the full clean up has been completed, sometimes even an infected restore point is better than nothing when you can not get the pc to work.

I don't know what's going on, but for the first time in my life, my brand new laptop has been hit with THREE trojan viruses that wreaked havoc, despite an up-to-date Norton Anti-virus program.

Today, my facebook account was hacked into, putting up a URL that sent people to a phishing site and last week, my hotmail was hacked into and sent out a malicious email.

I feel like I spend most of my time changing passwords and fixing things. Are the hackers getting better or are there just more of them?

My router was installed by a well-credentialed computer programmer and my laptop is kept in good order by a top-notch repair firm. I'm doing all I can to keep things secure.

Lesson learned: Change all passwords every 30 days.

most of the antivirus programs are not able to handle some of the trojan/malware infections out there, Good antimalware programs are a must have and need to be updated and run weekly. The very best free one is malwarebytes and a close second is superantispyware, both can be put on any windows pc and used weekly they do not interfere with your AV program since you run them on demand. Here are some links for them.
I put these 2 programs on every pc that comes in to me.
Downloading and installing Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware on a Windows computer

SUPERAntiSpyware
just be sure you get the free version and always update it prior to running the full scan.

the other program I will not be with out is spywareblaster also free, no scans to run just open it weekly hit the update button then the enable all protection so the shield on it turns green.
SpywareBlaster

Many of these infections get on our computers when we have not been updating all the programs on it with the latest updates and patches, not just windows updates but things like Java, Adobe, Flash etc. Using a scanner like the Secunia one will tell you what needs updating on the pc.
Secunia Online Software Inspector (OSI)

and it goes with out saying the windows updates are a must.