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General discussion

Help! Laptop's suddenly acting squirrelly

Jun 24, 2016 8:42PM PDT

A few days ago on Facebook I clicked on a story on my news feed and I was IMMEDIATELY kicked off and FB's warning message said my laptop my not be safe and it may be infected w/malware.

I tried using Facebook on my smart phone. At first it worked; but after a few minutes it gave me the same warning message. I had to download their F-Secure Online Scanner before I could log back into FB on my phone an don my laptop.

Now I'm logged in; but the PC is running super slow; it switches from one thing to the next; when I click on the shortcut to open the SUPER AntiSpyware, it opens CCleaner instead. This was 5 days ago and it's not improving even after running SUPER AntiSpyware, CCleaner and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware; all of these are the free download versions. My phone is acting weird, too, running slowly, etc.

Today I cannot open emails in from my yahoo account on my laptop. I click on them; but they don't open. When I click on a link to open something, it automatically opens a new window without my requesting it.

Help! What can I do to clean my laptop?

Discussion is locked

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Try These Steps...
Jun 25, 2016 9:02AM PDT
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Referral?
Jun 25, 2016 11:10PM PDT

Thanks for replying so quickly Grif. I went through the first few steps you suggested; only through the downloading and running ADWCleaner. I'm not comfortable trying the additional steps; I not PC savvy and I worry I may do irreparable damage.... Can you suggest some place I can take my laptop to complete the cleaning needed? I'm in the Central Arkansas area. Thanks Happy

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More laptop issues...
Jun 25, 2016 11:16PM PDT

Grif, as I said in my earlier post, I only completed the first couple of steps in your recommendation. I downloaded and ran ADWCleaner. Then I messaged you for a referral to finish cleaning my laptop.

Just now I tried logging back into Facebook and it's giving me the same message I initially received; that started this entire problem: "Your Computer Needs to Be Cleaned
It looks like your computer is being affected by malware. We’ll help you fix the problem to keep your account secure and prevent malware from spreading to friends.
Malware is software that tries to steal personal information and causes problems when you use Facebook. Clicking or sharing links that contain spam can give your computer malware."

What do you suggest? I'm wondering if it's giving this warning message again b/c the issues still remain and I only went through a couple of your steps. Help please....

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If You Don't Want To Try Cleaning It Yourself
Jun 26, 2016 6:48AM PDT

...then I would take it to a local shop near you but it will cost money. (Sorry, I don't live near you so I don't have any actual locations to refer you to.) Then again, the steps I provided in the link earlier are fairly easy to follow and if you've got a friend or family member who is computer aware, maybe they could help you take the steps I mentioned. It's up to you.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Post was last edited on June 26, 2016 6:49 AM PDT