Computer question....Stomachmonkey??

[Dottore]

I was just doing some internet research (on Bernie Madoff of all people) when my computer (Apple) suddenly went berserk. (This has never happened before.)

A Microsoft Windows pop-up came up and informed me my computer was seriously infected by the Trojan virus, and showed me little icons that indicated my hard drive had 150 Trojans, my Document files another 160 etc etc.

An apple pop-up then informed me I need to download certain software to clean up the virus. I tried to do this but the download was unsuccessful despite several attempts.

This went on for a few minutes with the computer completely frozen.

I decided to reboot, and now everything seems fine.

Stomachmonkey: You're the Mac genius. Should I be worried about this??? Anything I should be doing?

(Currently everything seems to be working normally—but I hate to think there are Trojans in the woodwork.)

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Dottore

Should I be worried about this??? Anything I should be doing?

(Currently everything seems to be working normally—but I hate to think there are Trojans in the woodwork.)

You're fine.

That was an advertising pop up designed to scare you.

They can overload your browser so it spikes the CPU which makes you think it locked up.

[cstreit]

In many cases these days the bogus websites make it LOOK like there is a popup window to spoof you into clicking their ads or even downloading malicious software. THe latest trick is putting out websites that supposedly contain DIY automotive information and parts vendors, but are really virus/trojan sites. They then exploit the google algorithm to get high ranked links.

It's bad enough that google is changing their algorithm.

[TerryH]

Best to never download from a pop up. It may be harmless, but it easily can be malware that actually infects when it says it uninfecting. It is too easy to create phishing sites that mirror legitimate Microsoft or Apple sites for downloads. If you need to get those sites, enter with their url.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by TerryH

Best to never download from a pop up. It may be harmless, but it easily can be malware that actually infects when it says it uninfecting. It is too easy to create phishing sites that mirror legitimate Microsoft or Apple sites for downloads. If you need to get those sites, enter with their url.

That to.

[Dottore]

Many thanks gentlemen!

[dad911]

It's a good thing you were using an Apple. If you had clicked 'ok' to download and install on a windows machine, you would have that trojan/virus now....

[rcecale]

And all this time I've been told this kind of thing only happens on a PC!

Randy

[jyl]

I had that happen a few months ago. Not a real virus (ahem, Randy, get the difference?) but a fake one. I ignored it.