Virus from nowhere

a reply to: mysterioustranger

Perhaps try running adwcleaner - www.malwarebytes.com...

I don't trust the malwarebytes AV, but their adware cleaner is pretty okay.
Adware is a new variant, I wouldn't call it malware as it isn't necessarily malicious in nature, but it can frustrate the hell out of an individual. Adware infects your browser and redirects you to ads.

I hate the current financial model for the internet, it's unsustainable and will lead to Brondo: It's got electrolytes!

a reply to: GreenGunther

I'm not a great fan of the userface and have no real idea as to why. It hasn't caused any issues with any MS Office apps. Thing I like most is it doesn't need any attention and I can go weeks and months without opening it. I got the 3-user license and the other two are happy with the product too.

There's a little bit of movement in the Top 3-5 security suites and Kapsersky has stayed in there for years. In that time I've seen Norton and McAfee move in and out of the top places. If anyone picks a Top 3 suite they'll be OK and personal taste and brand loyalty play their parts too.

Viruses can come in through web-page adverts, or even concealed in zip files and freeware android packages. I've downloaded a few using the Internet archive - mainly no longer available webpages for freeware 3D utilities and demos. Fortunately, they were caught by the virus scanners.

Haven't had an active AV for probably 15 years, only one virus in that time. If careful, don't need one. MS Defender is crap honestly.

Sophos that someone suggested is good, it handles the worst threat (ransomware) neatly, so it's a good choice. Don't know if the free version does it, but the pay version does, and that is the real threat. But then, if you just have system restore turned on, doesn't matter.. only the nastiest prevents system restores (kill restore points), and you can just restore even encrypted ransomware files.

Usually a pop up while browsing is a fake alert. Simply immediately restart your computer. Or kill the process. Still restart though. : )

I don't care for the hit on resources, so don't run an AV actively, just scan once a month or so. And IE is fine. Edge is ok, just sucks in general as a browser. Chrome is ok with adblocker. But this is ATS, so.. go TOR and browse with duckduckgo. : )