I just installed Bitdefender Antivirus Plus.
I came back from a shopping trip…and those annoying little phishing pop-ups are back. A full Bitdefender scan can’t find anything wrong…even those the little pop-ups are coming every few seconds. No matter where the notes supposedly come from, they all have a string of numbers and letters ending with “oes-cfirm.co.in”.
Sounds like you have a browser hijacker.
Where do I find my DNS Cache?
I don’t use Windows, but a search says to do:
ipconfig/flushdns
to flush it.
I don’t know that it worked…but no pop-ups so far. BTW, I looked up that “oes-” sequence, and it is definitely a phishing scam that uses the names of different antivirus companies to trick people into linking to nefarious programs.
I had a similar experience on my Kindle Fire, and what I did was to reset to factory settings and start over again.
Obviously I should have been more specific here. What I meant was “Do the pop-ups continue if the browser is stopped, and not restarted?” Along with the follow up “do they continue once you restart your browser?”
Yeah, it looks like someone’s hijacked your browser. You might need to go through the list of add-ons and delete any that don’t look familiar, as well - that’s what I see on my MiL’s Mac.
What browser are you using?
It doesn’t matter, because the pop-ups started happening right after the machine was rebooted, before any browsers were opened.
Which says very clearly that whatever it is, it isn’t a browser hijacker.
Is there a reliable computer repair shop near you? They have the tools and the knowledge to root out all that crap that’s infested your machine. An infection that persistent has likely burrowed deep into your computer and will take multiple lines of attack to eradicate, something computer repair shops are equipped to do.
If it comes back, I will do just that.
I recommend taking Reply’s initial advice. Back up your documents, any saved passwords and websites from browsers, and do whatever is considered a factory reset. Full format of your C disk.
I dunno if you’ve just got a lot of PUPs (pop up programs) or a real virus that has opened your computer to whatever it wants. There is too much doubt to trust your computer as it is.
It’s sage and harmless advice, yet I’ve not heard of viruses that can do any worse than a root kit. They don’t burrow into computers. Any computer shop will (or should) say they ran some low-level software and everything’s cool now. Maybe it is - I’ll give them that - yet I highly suggest a full reinstall is all that’s needed here.
A good computer shop will do what’s needed. I’ll leave it there. It won’t be cheap and won’t be while-you-wait.
But when the computer shop does the reaming out of whatever the infection is, all your data, programs, settings, etc., stay the same, as opposed to doing a factory reset and then having to set everything up again. It’s easier for me, anyway, since I have two laptops and two desktops, so always have another machine to use, plus it spares me the hassle of redoing all my settings, apps, etc., which I can do but would rather not spend my time and attention on. The convenience is worth the cost.
If they’re a trustable shop where you can bring the compy in and tell them, there’s viruses and suspect PUPs that I can’t get rid of, depending on how much backlog they have (I reckon with lots of people being shoved to Windows 11 - lots) they still ought to be able to do a morning drop off - evening pick up. Even right around Christmas. Indeed, I reckon all the new computers after Christmas will be a boon for them.
There ought to be some initial poking around, yet for the most part, it’s running background scripts and then restoring your data and programs, then perhaps running a few more background checks.
Some short warranty, and you take the machine home and do everything you ever do, and if all is good, you’ve got peace of mind.
Last year, I wanted an NVMe card in this still very fast monster of a computer. Three different 1TB Seagate drives, none worked or were recognized by the BIOS, yet I still had tech support, and then the guy suggested trying Western Digital. No good reason other than it’s not Seagate. Popped the WD in and all is good. First computer I’d not built ground-up since my first IBM PC, yet without the lingering tech support they provided, I’d have been banging my head against the wall.
I know how to do certain things on my computer and do them well (e.g., making pdf files, building folder/subfolder storage, downloading and installing printer/scanner software for a new machine). I can do other things with a bit of frustration but get them done. And then there are things that I could arguably do on my own with much fumbling, errors, swearing, and hopefully eventual success but would much rather pay someone to do for me, faster, better, and without potentially mucking something up, given that I once tried to adjust the settings on one Outlook email account, rooting around in the bowels of the program, and managed to bollix it up so thoroughly that even my very capable computer shop guys couldn’t salvage it for me, so we just set up a new account that worked fine.
My skills serve me just fine for what I need to do but are way below the build your own machine level, and I don’t try to push past the limits I’ve learned define what I can/should do..
Another option if it comes back is to try bleepingcomputer. Legit cybersecurity pros with the best tools (often they create their own) volunteering free virus removal help to anyone. These guys are very good and it’s always completely free.
The downside is their forums are slammed and so it can take a few days to get a response. But once they take your case they continue working on it until it is solved.
Interesting. Do you give them remote access to your computer? How do you vet whichever volunteer happens to take your case… is there some sort of reputation system there?
Don’t shortchange yourself. If you can make a PDF file and install printer drivers, putting together a computer isn’t much harder… it’s something you could easily learn over a YouTube video, if you wanted to. I totally get not wanting to bother, though.
However, with malware it’s totally different. There, you are actively being attacked by blackhat cybersecurity professionals. They literally make their living doing this, and they have way more skill and experience than the overwhelming majority of computer users. It’s an arms race that’s difficult to win, even with access to antimalware software.
That’s the thing… even if you take it to a shop, there’s no real guarantee they can find all the malware on a computer. Once a computer is infected, it usually becomes even more vulnerable to additional malware… like a sick immunocompromised patient, once the first layers of defense are down, everything else can just kinda pile on. It’s not a pretty sight.
Chances are the shop would just run similar (or even the same) software you can run yourself, maybe catch some of the more obvious issues, but there’s no real guarantee they can catch everything unless they, too, wipe the drive and start from scratch.
The people who are actually skilled at this stuff will easily make 6 or 7 figures at proper cybersecurity consultancies, or in enterprises or defense, etc., not working at the local computer repair shop for pitiful hourly wages. If you’re lucky the shop might have an old-timer sole proprietor who at least knows his way around a BIOS. If you’re not, you get a teenager who follows a script because it’s better than working at McDonalds.
But… also, not all infections are THAT bad. They can probably take care of the run-of-the-mill computer “colds”. Anyone can, with just a little patience… but I totally understand not wanting to for lack of experience/time/skill/whatever.