Just opened one of those emails..I knew I shouldn`t have!

closed

you're overly worrying, just let malwarebytes do it's stuff, or uninstall the toolbar.

and consider backing up properly, using disk imaging to a £40 portable hard disk

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

then if anything does go wrong in future, you can fix it in 10 minutes.

katies_mum

Malwarebytes have removed the items and restarted the computer, thanks.

Not sure what you mean by backing up, using disk imaging?

anotheruser

If you're using Windows Vista / 7 / 8, to run any program you need to accept it (a User Access Control box will appear asking if you want to run the program / change your computer).

Clicking on the link won't have done much, just possibly told the spammer you are available for spam.

Don't worry too much, the only way you will learn is to notice these emails in the future. The whole "being hacked" thing is far too used these days. Someone or a computer program guessing your password isn't "hacking"...
On a related note (and a bit of fun) try visiting How Secure Is My Password, which will tell you how secure your passwords are. Mine came up with a few minutes to millions of years

closed

disk image backups copy every useful bit of data from your hard disk to a file on an external drive, then if you get infected, system wont boot, hard disk fails in future, you boot from the macrium cd, and recover a working system with all your data and programs in a few minutes, see the video in the speedup sticky. The alternative disaster recovery in those scenarios can be difficult or impossible.

macman

The Ask toolbar is invariably (inadvertently) installed along with a legitimate Java update.

katies_mum

Thank you all. According to my list of programmes Ask toolbar is not listed so think it must have taken it off.

I`ll have a look at the disc image back up at the weekend.

Darent look how secure my passwords are!!!!

On the subject of passwords, does anyone use - I think they are called password managers...where all your info is kept under one password? are they secure, worth it, any good?

closed

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/locknote.html

or piece of paper, with some obfuscation

katies_mum

Much appreciated, thanks.

Jivesinger

katies_mum wrote: »

On the subject of passwords, does anyone use - I think they are called password managers...where all your info is kept under one password? are they secure, worth it, any good?

closed wrote: »

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/locknote.html

or piece of paper, with some obfuscation

Although locknote or whatever will let you store your passwords, another advantage of password managers is that they will generate long and random passwords for you.

You want to have different passwords for different sites. For instance, if MSE was hacked... :eek: and passwords stolen, you wouldn't want those hackers to be able to get into your email account by using the same password, or guessing a variation from it.

A good password manager will invent random passwords for each site... although it does mean you're placing a lot of faith in them.

cookie365

If you keep your antivirus up to date, and regularly install the recommended windows updates every month, you're pretty safe if you closed the web page straight away.