My computer seems to be screwed. Data use is off the charts. 1 Gb. every 1.5 hours while browsing the Straight Dope. ( I don’t know if it is possible to read that fast.)
Have run malwarebytes and search and destroy with no improvement.
Running Windows 7. Happens on IE 10. Besides the data use, when I open a new tab it shows “frequent” sites. These are random sites which I have never viewed.
“bestmomstv”, “bet.com”, “carspoon”, etc. I can clear my history and they disappear but have similar results within minutes.
Any ideas?
Just me again. Have used another Gb of data doing nothing.
My frequent sites now have “barkwagbrag”, “americanprofile”, “blinkx”.
Looking at just my history, by date, nothing unusual shows, but looking at “most visited”, all these goofy sites show up.
I would suggest unplugging your internet cable, then use someone else’s computer to get a virus scanner (like AVG), put the installer for it on a thumb drive, install it on your computer, and have it scan your computer.
And of course there’s the sticky: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=538187
Is there network traffic when you don’t have a browser open? Have you tried using a different browser? Do you have a working firewall? Have you installed the latest updates for your browser, OS, virus protection and firewall? If you have a home network, are any of the other devices involved (i.e. does the problem go away if you disconnect them or shut them off)? Does your browser have any new add-ons that you don’t recognize? Does the task manager show any strange apps running?
It sounds like you have a Trojan doing its work in background. If you haven’t done so already, disconnect the pc from the internet and use another pc to change all your online passwords. If you do internet banking or store any credit card numbers on your pc, let your banks know and get them reissued.
The safest bet would be to do a complete reformat of your pc, but if you cannot/do not want to do that, perform all the necessary scans for viruses, rootkits, and malware.
Install this free program and see when the data is running or not running NetWorx : bandwidth monitor, connection speed test, data usage log
AVG, Malwarebytes Free, Trend etc. most of these anti-virus programs have a “free” version, you just have to be very careful which option you pick to download them. Do a full scan. If necessary, boot in safe mode.
Right click the clock in the task bar, start Task Manager. Select the processes tab, show all processes, and do View - Select COlumns and select the path (Image Path Name). Odds are the Trojan is smart enough to hide this, but just in case - if you find something running out of the Internet Temporary files, user files, or some other location that seems odd, kill the process… but don’t monkey with windows specific stuff. Of course, when you kill it, it will keep coming back so let the AV scan do its thing.