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intriguing things happening with my PC

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by hop228 2 views

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Hi,

I've just opened another window because I wanted to log in to my hotmail account.

From the homepage, I hit the down arrow on the address field, which I usually do, then scroll down and select http://www.hotmail.com

However, I've just clicked on the arrow and instead of my usual list of websites that I visit quite regularly, all of a sudden there's a list of websites I've never visited, including:

gallview.com
bimbo-sex.com
spermdrops.com
cunt4all.com [excuse the language here, but that's what it says]
tweaksex.com/tgp.shtml

Can any of you techy peeps tell me what's happening with my computer? BTW, it's my home computer and no one else uses it without me knowing.

14 replies

by jjoeclark

You probably type in a site that was one letter off. whitehouse.com is porn whitehouse.gov is real.

Clear your history in internet options, and start again

by hop228

Nope nothing of that sort.

I looked in the history and nothing of those mentioned site are listed.

by thechas

If you have received any explicit e-mails with HTML content, they will add their web site to the list of recent sites.

Otherwise, is there anyone else who may have used your PC?

If you use Windows Explorer, and look at the history or TemporaryInternet Files folders, you can sort by date, and see when the web sites were last accessed.

Another possibility, is that a hacker is using you PC as a proxy.
If you are on Cable or DSL for your internet connection, you really should be using a firewall to keep hackers off of your PC.

Chas

by hop228

One of my hotmail addresses that I access from my PC actually receives a lot of spam, but the ones that are from nonsensical addresses that I don't recognise and that have an obvious porn type subject, I don't open them I simply delete them without opening. I might have opened some advertising spam, I sometimes do if it comes from something that sounds like a name or a company, if it seems normal (instead of hhhhggglllll@blahblahblah.com says do yyyyou wwant to mmmmakke yours biiiggger, or whatever) but I haven't opened anything filthy like that.

How would a hacker use my PC as a proxy? How does that happen?

Thanks for taking the time to help.

by hop228

Errm, stupid I know, but I only recently got the computer, so I haven't got any anti-virus installed yet, I know, stupid. I thought I was quite careful, but obviously not careful enough. I'm a bit reluctant to download anything off the net. I was get a bit fed up with popups a couple of weeks ago and I saw a post here, where someone had posted a link for an antipopup program, I downloaded that and I think it caused loads of havoc because my computer started crashing a lot. I deleted it and thenmy computer went back to being okay, but now since last Thursday when those URLs turned up on the drop down menu for the Address bar, it's been playing up again... and something definitely happened then, because it's not just that these porn sites were added, some of the addresses that I used to use quite regularly were deleted as well, but I didn't delete them, like I used to go to a lot of news sites, like bbc.co.uk, newsday.com, guardian.co.uk and loads of others but now they aren't in my drop down Address menu, it's weird...

by thechas

Hi, read your comments.

When I want to avoid pop-ups, I use the Mozilla browser. www.mozilla.org

It's built-in pop-up stopper is nearly perfect.

As to a hacker using your PC as a Proxy server.
This is only apt to happen if you have a high speed internet connection such as Cable or DSL.

Without anti-virus, or a firewall, a hacker can install a program onto your computer, and use it to browse the internet under your name instead of his.
That way, he can visit any site and have no trace on his system or his ISP that he went there.

You say you just got this PC.
Is this a new PC, or used?
If it is used, or a 'demo' PC, it is possible that somebody visited those sites on the PC.

To clear the unwanted sites out of the address bar auto-complete list, you need to:
Click on Tools, Internet Options.
On the General Tab, click on Clear History.
Click apply, and close Internet Options.
The links should be gone.

Next, check for strange programs running on your PC.
Press"Alt-Ctrl-Del" to bring up the Task Manager.

With no programs running, the list should be short.
If you are not sure what each program listed is for, reject my answer, and add a comment with a listing of the running programs.
Also, the version of IE and Windows that you have.

Chas

by donmars

Yes a good and frequently updated anti-virus software is a must. It sounds as if you are mostly suffering from POPUPISM. There is software both free and premium priced that will help you deal with this problem. A good thing to try is a browser that can block pop-ups. Go here for free software to kill pop-ups.
http://www.powerie.com/

Or better yet here is an IE add-on that I like and it really adds great features to IE, including killing popups. Its free! http://www.crazybrowser.com/

by donmars

Since these are all sexual related sites it is quite possible someone has been using your computer to view them. Someone either inside (at home)or outside your system (hacker). If you are on broadband and your PC is on all the time or for long periods, then you should install a Firewall.

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