The Q&A thread

[TheLotusEater193]

I keep getting a "hot deals" pop up on the right hand side of my screen. It mostly comes when I'm on shopping websites but earlier it was popping up on here too. I have Ad Blocker but that won't stop it. How do I get rid of it?! I've done a virus scan and my laptop's all clear.

[Tet]

I don't have anything that would run itunes, so that pretty much rules out Apple products for me anyway (even if I'd consider them in the first place, which I wouldn't).

[Jim]

iTunes is one of the few platforms that "Just works", the fact it hogs a fair bit of memory, insists on reinstalling the entire thing for every update, and is a bit slow in general is made all the better if you own multiple Apple devices, as things synchronise and "just work" with no extra configuration or settings needed.

Just plug it in, and log into your Apple account and it does everything else.

For user-friendliness, Apple got it right because their products are treated as household appliances, not disparate tech toys. If it breaks take it to an Apple store.

[skull-wart]

I keep getting a "hot deals" pop up on the right hand side of my screen. It mostly comes when I'm on shopping websites but earlier it was popping up on here too. I have Ad Blocker but that won't stop it. How do I get rid of it?! I've done a virus scan and my laptop's all clear.

Probably malware, Google the products they're trying to flog and there will probably be suggestion on how to remove it.

[TheLotusEater193]

What is malware? The only way I've found to remove it involves installing some sort of malware/adware removal software. I don't really want to download something that sounds equally dodgy in order to remove it.

[skull-wart]

What is malware? The only way I've found to remove it involves installing some sort of malware/adware removal software. I don't really want to download something that sounds equally dodgy in order to remove it.

Malware antibytes? Malware is basically a virus where things pop up asking you to buy something. I'm sure someone else will correct that vague explanation

[Jim]

SpyBot Search & Destroy. The only tool you need really to remove shite.

Can take a while to do a scan & fix though.

[thehairyone]

Good anti-malware programs (overlap but are different to Anti-vrius)

Spybot Search & Destroy: http://www.safer-networking.org/
AdAware (also includes anti-virus): http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware.php
Malwarebyes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/

There are others, but these are the three that I know and trust. Only download from those links as there are loads of imposters that can just put more malware on. These just scan, they don't provide continuous protection so it's probably worth running weekly/monthly.

Incidently, it's software like this that makes people think I'm good with computers. "OMG YOU MADE IT WORK AGAIN!" is a not infrequent reaction after installing and running them. Really I know not much more than average.

[Alex.]

Good anti-malware programs (overlap but are different to Anti-vrius)

Spybot Search & Destroy: http://www.safer-networking.org/
AdAware (also includes anti-virus): http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware.php
Malwarebyes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/

There are others, but these are the three that I know and trust. Only download from those links as there are loads of imposters that can just put more malware on. These just scan, they don't provide continuous protection so it's probably worth running weekly/monthly.

Incidently, it's software like this that makes people think I'm good with computers. "OMG YOU MADE IT WORK AGAIN!" is a not infrequent reaction after installing and running them. Really I know not much more than average.

You are seemingly one of those people who have at least some decent degree of knowledge on every subject though buddy.

[Jim]

Malware is a collective term for any bit of software with malicious intent. Malicious Software.

It includes things like viruses, advert spamming, homepage hijacking, key logging, trojans, backdoors, etc.

[TheLotusEater193]

OK, so I assume this isn't that? Otherwise when I ran a scan something would've come up, right? I'll download one of those things, thanks guys.

[MetalBeast]

A couple of years back I had to sort out my sister's laptop. She'd been using it online for about six months with no firewall or antivirus. Spybot and Malwarebytes are really good and will get rid of most stuff, but if they STILL don't get rid of all the issues, you can go somewhere like http://www.spywarehammer.com/ for advice. This will probably involve downloading a diagnostic tool, using that to produce a log file with details of your registry and so on and passing the log file to their heavyweight geeks for review. They'll then be able to tell you how to get rid of the persistent malware.

[Moonburp]

For those who've worked in restuarants, is it common for kitchen staff to completely take over the locker room?

[Nantha]

I need to get some business cards done, I was looking at Vista Print but a couple of people say they are poor quality. Any recommendations?

[Jim]

moo.com - I've had amazing quality cards from them.