WATTO.CW

I recently spoke to a helpful man north of Limoges who fixed computers. I didn't take his name or number unfortunately. Could he contact me?

Gozit

Did you contact him through BE or ...
Anyway, if you need help i'm good with computers, just shoot me a PM

Chatter Static

Whats the issue?

WATTO.CW

I'm sure it's minor - it's slow and I've got a some viruses. I also can't open some messages. It's asks me to choose between a number of formats - and won't work anyway. I therefore have dozens of files I can't access.

EuroTrash

What anti virus have you got installed? Can't it get rid of the bugs if you do a scan?

cmread

Have you been keeping your anti-virus up to date? It usually catches stuff like this. You haven't clicked on any banner ads or any email links, have you?

petitefrancaise

download CCleaner for your computer -it cleans out cookies and other stuff that makes your pc slow.

and then microsoft security essentials as your anti-virus. It's very good and there's no need to pay for anti-virus software.

EuroTrash

Unless you're still on Windows XP in which case ms security essentials no longer supports it. If that's the case, the best free anti-viruses are generally agreed to be AVG, Avast! and Avira.

loy loy

Eset do a pretty good free online scan too.

I use microsoft SE and periodically do the Eset one too

cjm

CCleaner is good at deleting cookies, history and temp internet files. It's been over a week since I ran it and just now it cleaned 113MB of stuff, so if you have never cleaned your system, this may be a pointer. Also keep heavy stuff off your desktop.

You might also like to take a look at Malwarebytes. There is a free version which I use and it has come up trumps on a number of occasions especially with PUPs.

MS Essentials I also run as a back-up fail-safe, plus Avast, again free. Several of my French friends also use Avast.

And, be aware of e-mails coming in. The real bogus ones are easy to spot, but if you have a friend whose mail has been compromised and the address book copied, it may look genuine. Even opening can be a hazard and any link avoid opening at all cost. If in doubt, delete and send separate mail back to the person to check the mail was genuine.

InVinoVeritas

I go along with all the advice given here except that it's not true that you can get a virus by simply opening an email - you would need either to open the attachment in the email (which would most likely be an .exe file) or follow a link to a website where you are asked download and execute a file (again most probably an .exe).

A good precaution, if you're suspicious about an email, is to right-click the sender to see if the email address looks fishy and also to google the subject of the email to see if it's a known threat.

Finally most emails warning of viruses are simply a hoax which you certainly shouldn't forward to your friends and family without first checking the subject line on google.