Several weeks ago, I had a friend contact me about a computer issue he was having. First, every time he started his Windows 10 computer several small windows would pop open in the lower right corner. They would contain various advertisements. He would proceed to shut them down by clicking the "x" in the right-hand corner of each one. It was not too bad but a quite repetitive waste of time. Another thing going on was that when he opened his Chrome browser it opened a couple of additional tabs each time set to pages he had never seen before. Originally it was set to Google.com.
I was quite sure I knew what caused the problems and began investigating. The first thing I usually do is scan for a virus. However, in my experience, it is rare for a full-on virus to be the culprit, especially with what was going on. However, I took his computer and started by running Windows Security, formerly known as Windows Defender. As I expected there was nothing found. By-the-way, I now recommend Windows Security for most users with the following software.
The main thing I suspected was a malware problem. It seems to be time for a little update on the subject since I last mentioned it three years ago. Malware is another one of those made-up techie words which is a mix of "MALicious softWARE." Malware is usually software downloaded to a computer that has been created to gain access to information, wreak havoc your computer, change your homepage in your browser to an ad and/or give you popup advertising to click on.
For a malware issue, in my opinion, there is only one option – Malwarebytes, (malwarebytes.com). Of course, there is a free version and a premium. This is one application that even I have purchased. The main difference is that the paid version runs automatically in the background and auto-updates. The free version you must run a scan occasionally to stay protected from malware and manually update.
To install Malwarebytes, go to the site (malwarebytes.com) and click the "Free Download" button. Once it downloads go to that file and double-click the icon. Then follow the setup instructions basically clicking, "Next" at each step. When the installation is complete you will have a new desktop icon. Then, at the time of this writing, Malwarebytes will start running automatically and the Dashboard will open. Click the big, "Scan Now" button.
The scan time varies depending on how much you have installed on your computer but it usually takes mine less than five minutes. Once done it will give you a list informing you of problems you may have. Many of them will be PUPs or Potentially Unwanted Programs. I would follow the directions that Malwarebytes gives which is delete them. The first time I ran this years ago I had well over 200 PUPs and other despicable files that I deleted.
When I ran it on my friend’s computer, he had almost 400 of them. Once I deleted all of them and rebooted his computer, it was returned to normal…after I removed his new homepage in the browser and set it back to Google. Do not be too worried as almost all computers have at least a few Pups but I do recommend scanning for them and removing them on a regular basis.
