have i got malware?

caroline1973lefty

hi there

i'd be grateful if someone could advise me if i have a problem and if so, what to do about it. possibly being far too paranoid, but my last laptop was wrecked by dodgy viruses - admittedly went on some peer to peer sites. so have bought new netbook, promised myself to be more careful, ensured mcafee was properly installed, thought i was protected.... BUT just read a few blogs and realised this may have been naive!

have noticed that i already appear to be connecting to sites with names like gawker, fastclick and admanager.

are these spyware/malware/trojans?

if so what can i do? mcafee scan found nothing, i've already uninstalled mcafee after reading that it is cr*p, have installed windows security essentials, but i don't think it's found anything either (running full scan at the mo)? should i use something else like malwarebytes (seen that recommended on this forum) and if so, should i uninstall windows security essentials first?

or am i just being paranoid? i'm not that tech savvy and realise a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. all i have done so far is download things like firefox and openoffice (ok, one or two less well known apps, but they were recommended by lifehacker so i thought they'd be ok too)

any advice gratefully received!

Money_Grabber13579

They sound more like tracking cookies so I'd say if Microsoft Security Essentials doesn't find anything, you should be fine! Tracking cookies aren't generally dangerous, they just gather information about sites you visit so they can remember you when you go back.

Browntoa

download this

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

update it aand do a full scan , if it finds anything then post the log file it produces

caroline1973lefty

thanks! will give that a go.