homepage freakin' me out/internet security

[idontknow]

My home page has been changed to a web site that tells me "Your IP Address Has Been Traced" and then it explains how my internet & offline activities are being recorded & blah blah blah. It offers a product to secure it but I'd have to pay (the site address starts with like "syspage.com") Interestingly enough, and scary enough, the site also warns "Virus Alert--if one of the following occur, you need to secure your computer immediately" and one of the following is that the disc drive just opened on its own, and it does when i open internet explorer. Does anyone know of a "free" way to "secure it"? check for viruses? if there is a real threat involved here? and prob most important, why this is happening?

[Blonde799]

Probably adware. I just ran spybot search and destroy, and turned my homepage back to normal.:)

[njptoo86]

howabout you change your homepage and run your virus scanner because it sounds like they just want your money

[inori]

So basically they put a virus on your computer, and then want your money to remove it. Sounds like a really trustworthy company. [/sarcasm]

As far as your IP address... of course they know your IP address. Whenever you download a web page (or anything else), the site from which the download comes gets your IP address: how else would the 'net know where to send the page? That's like getting a piece of mail that says "your postal address has been traced."

Sigh... another company looking to separate the naive from their money.

[idontknow]

so if other people have your IP address, its just that they know which computer to send info to, but it doesn't really mean anything bad? i'm not at risk for identity theft?

[Breaker]

Your ip is 64.53.149.50. If this text is red, then you have been infected with TehVirus™.

Removal is easy; disconnect the modem from the infected computer to prevent TehVirus™ from sending any further information to TehHackers and reformat.

[Mercy]

You most likely have not been 'hacked' in the conventional sense, but as Blonde799 posted, have some sort of spyware on your machine with a trigger for opening your disc tray. Resetting your homepage is not difficult to programme into a site... been browsing any pron or warez sites recently? The trend for sticking some nasty bit of spyware onto browsers' machines with accompanying messages that, 'joo have been haxxored!!! buy our product so we can save you from haxxor selves!!!' is annoying but a good learning experience for the naive.

So what you want to do is go here (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/) and download ad-aware. Ad-aware is free and the company is above board. Consider the purchase upgrade to ad-aware plus if you visit a lot of questionable sites. Reset your homepage to normal if you haven't already then run disk cleanup (assuming you are on a Windows system) followed by running ad-aware. Finish it up by running your virus scanner... you do have a virus scanner, don't you?! If you are sans virus scanner, go to your nearest software retailer and buy one. I use McAfee but there are other good, legitimate virus scanners on the market such as Norton Anti-Virus. Never download a hacked/warez version of a virus scanner or one that solicits you from a seemingly random pop-up or you are just asking to have some nasty backdoor or worse installed onto your machine that may let real hackers fuck up your system.


m.

[bigjoe]

I hate when websites use such intrusive advertisement. Any advertisement that can cause physical harm or interfere with a computer's physical state should not be tolerated. I have a mind to file a report to .. uh... wherever you file reports to.

And no, I hadn't been doing anything illegitimate whatsoever when it happened. I fooled around with the registry, though, so its not a problem anymore. I think.

[Dechipher]

I can see it now...
"You see, I was browsing this warez site...no, I wasn't actually going to download the warez, I was just browsing, and then this advertisement popped up from the animal porn site that I wasn't viewing, and it said..."

Right.

[Dart Zaidyer]

Simply put, IDK: You've got adware. Run a spyware/adware killer to remove it. I recommend SpyBot Search & Destroy, because it's polite and non-intrusive.

[AlexMax]

Originally posted by Breaker
Your ip is 64.53.149.50. If this text is red, then you have been infected with TehVirus™.

Removal is easy; disconnect the modem from the infected computer to prevent TehVirus™ from sending any further information to TehHackers and reformat.

This is clearly the correct answer.

[Fatty Lumpkin]

I did what u said breaker, but I still get that message when I look at your post. I guess I'll have to reformat again.:mad:


:D