What is this pop up ad re Castlemedia

Rookie

I get a pop up ad warning me my computer may have critical errors. It invites me to click to have my computer scanned in order to remove critical errors.
If I click no it starts up anyway. I have to click the close screen box to get rid of it.
Anyone know if this is a good thing to allow it to work?

Noobie_2

Probably safer not to until you find out more.  If you haven't invited it in, it ain't good news.

If you want to check your pc, this one from Norton would be a lot safer:
http://www.symantec.com/index.htm

Click on Symantec Security Check in bottom left corner - takes a while to complete but is pretty thorough.

Noobie_2

You might want to check this out - may not list Castlemedia, but it paints a picture:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

LincsLad_3

I get a pop up ad warning me my computer may have critical errors. It invites me to click to have my computer scanned in order to remove critical errors.
If I click no it starts up anyway. I have to click the close screen box to get rid of it.
Anyone know if this is a good thing to allow it to work?

No, do not click on it. This is a fairly common technique from popup ads to get you to download who-knows-whatware onto your PC. Best avoided.

Incidentally, there aer several ways to stop these annoying pop-up ads. The Google toolbar is a pretty popular way of stopping them. Or if you were to swap from Internet Explorer to Firefox, that has a built-in blocker and is more secure.

Best of luck!

Rookie

Thanks, much appreciated

Noobie_2

Rookie / Lincslad - just came across this:

Internet 'rogue dialler' swindles have caught out as many as 80,000 home computer users. Rupert Jones reports

Saturday November 27, 2004
The Guardian

……. The virus is often activated by closing an unwanted "pop-up" window on an internet screen. This sends a message to the computer, changing its usual log-on settings. It then surreptitiously diverts the connection into a premium-rate line, typically at £1.50 a minute.

http://money.guardian.co.uk/scamsandfraud/story/0,13802,1360626,00.html

LincsLad_3

Since you ask (in another thread), this has been happening for several years - must have been a slow news day for someone to feel the need to rehash it (or maybe it was just the fact that Dubya's brother gets a mention ::) ).

What can we do to protect ourselves? Shift to a cablemodem or routed connection and disconnect the modem totally. Or at the very least, unplug the modem cable from the wall when not in use.

Noobie_2

Thanks for that Lincslad - sorry if this appears a daft question but..... when it's not in use the pc is switched off.  Take it its safe then or is it still best to disconnect the modem (ie, disconnect the pc from the phone line?) (as I said, sorry if its a daft question).

Sorry - just another thought - read on another thread that the pc is most under stress when its first switched on and powered up - would the best bet be to leave the pc on and disconnect from phone line?

LincsLad_3

There is a 'Leave it on or turn it off?' thread around somewhere which will cover the second part of your question.

As to the first part, unplugging the modem when the PC is switched off may sound a stupid thing to do, but it does protect your PC against the risk of lightning damage coming in via that route. It happens. Often enough from what I have seen over the years. The damage can be spectacular too - I have seen a whole network taken out by a lightning strike on the ground close to a building. The route into the first PC was....via the phone line and thence the modem.

Anyway, this is now waaay off topic, so perhaps best left at that! :-[

Noobie_2

Thanks for the reply, Lincslad, appreciated. Think that topic you referred to was one I've seen, but it seems to be more concerned with energy saving side rather than security issues.

Don't worry - first clap of thunder, off it goes. Got pc, etc, protected by a surge protector, must get one for the phone line (don't think they are expensive, just keep forgetting - until the sky flashes).