Hijacking a Windows 7 Computer

[hlewton]

While searching the WEB for a place to download an icon for a program I have a dialog box popped up wanting me to call a number to have them get rid of viruses on my machine. I know this is a common occurrence but this is the first time I have seen it. I could not close it even with Task Manger. Using Task Manager I did close the IE instance that was searching for the icon but that dialog box remained. Hitting the “x” or “OK” did nothing to close that dialog box. I shut down the computer and restarted it. The dialog box was gone but I ran scans with Malawarebytes, Spybot Search & Destroy, and my anti-virus program. ? None of them found any serious threats on my computer. I assumed either in applications or processes I would be able to recognize something in the Task Manager that would allow me to shut that dialog box down but I could not identify anything. I do believe all is well at this time with my computer but I am wondering other than shutting the computer down how could I have closed that window?

Thanks

[HansV]

It can be difficult to determine which process to kill. Completely shutting down the computer was the best thing to do.

[hlewton]

Thanks because I did waste about 5 minutes trying to identify something I could safely shutdown. I still am not sure how this even happened but I'm not looking forward to it again.

[John Gray]

Possibly worth starting up again in Safe Mode and running Malwarebytes from there, before rebooting when it finishes.

[hlewton]

Possibly worth starting up again in Safe Mode and running Malwarebytes from there, before rebooting when it finishes.

I thought about this but when I tapped F8 I was not offered the choice to get to the Safe Mode. I went on line and it said to hold down the F8 key before the Windows screen appeared and that too did not work. So I just ran them in the normal Windows mode. After your suggestion I tried again only this time I found that I could make it go into the safe mode using msconfig and on the boot tab telling it to start in the safe mode. It is running in that now but I'm not at all sure what it will do when rebooting after running Malwarebytes. Any ides why the F8 did not give me the option screen to choose Safe Mode and how can I fix that?

Just for the record I am not on that machine as we speak.

[HansV]

There is a rather narrow time "window" when pressing F8 will be effective. What works best for me is pressing F8 repeatedly (not holding it down) after rebooting/turning on the computer.
If a full scan in Safe Mode does not turn up any nasties, I think you can safely conclude that your computer is clean.

[hlewton]

I'm pretty sure that I have a clean computer because I ran all 3 programs in the Safe Mode and hey found nothing. However, there is a problem getting to the Safe Mode. Neither method I mentioned works. Tapping the F8 key is the way I have always done it in the past and after your post I tried it again to make sure I knew what I was talking about. Tapping the F8 key brings up a dialog box asking which devise to boot to. It lists my 2 DVD drives and the hard drive. It also offers the option to enter the setup mode. I assume it is referring to the BIOS. Both times I saw this dialog box I chose the hard drive and it booted to the normal windows screen. Something is not right but I have no clue how to correct it.

[hlewton]

Apparently this is a problem for many. There seems to be files to download and scan the Registry that claims they fix the problem. I am leery about that without a recommendation of which one to use. Any thoughts?

[hlewton]

I believe all is well. I just talked to the fellow who builds my computers and he told me that when I get that screen wanting me to choose which devise to boot to I have hit the F8 key too soon. He said to choose the devise and then hit the F8 key again. I did and that did bring up the menus where I could choose the Safe Mode. He said that he has seen this quite a few times on Windows 7 machines. Now if I can only remember this the next time I need it I'll be fine.

[HansV]

You could create a Word document or text file with this kind of handy tips and store it in your My Documents folder. Or write it on a sticky note and attach it to your monitor...

[hlewton]

Hans I had to chuckle a little about that because that is what I usually do but I end up with so many pieces of paper lying around I still can't find what I need. That is one of the reasons I always try to post here what the solutions to the questions I ask are. I created an Excel worksheet with the titles and links to every thread I have ever started in this forum and hopefully it has a distinctive enough title I can find what I am looking for by clicking that link in the spreadsheet. Sometimes, like this thread, the title doesn't always tell the other things that were discussed but then I just try to do an advanced search here for words I may remember I have posted. If all else fails me I just hope you or someone else here is on line.

[Rudi]

I created an Excel worksheet with the titles and links to every thread I have ever started in this forum and hopefully it has a distinctive enough title I can find what I am looking for by clicking that link in the spreadsheet.

Hi,

I do not document my threads in a spreadsheet like you say you do, but I too use the threads I start as a library for useful details I want to remember. As a matter of fact, I use the lounge bookmark feature to mark some of my threads that contain info I want to retain or reference. To help you in this system, and the maintenance of it, here are a few points to consider/adopt:

1. Name your opening post with a clear and descriptive title.
2. Keep the thread as short and concise as possible. Ask the query that you need and when its answered consider the thread closed.
3. Avoid asking questions in an existing thread that do not relate to the original title. IOW: Stay on topic.
4. It is difficult to find specific advice/comments in a thread that is excessively long.
5. A concise thread is also useful for other persons seeking advice on the topic. It's frustrating to have to weed out info between irrelevant data.

Hope this helps with your system
Cheers

[hlewton]

1. Name your opening post with a clear and descriptive title.
2. Keep the thread as short and concise as possible. Ask the query that you need and when its answered consider the thread closed.
3. Avoid asking questions in an existing thread that do not relate to the original title. IOW: Stay on topic.
4. It is difficult to find specific advice/comments in a thread that is excessively long.
5. A concise thread is also useful for other persons seeking advice on the topic. It's frustrating to have to weed out info between irrelevant data.

Hope this helps with your system
Cheers

Actually it does help. I have always been undecided as to when a new topic should or shouldn't be started. Also, though I do try to keep my posts short, I feel the need for some explanation at times. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing but that is what I have been doing.

In this thread, even though the title does not mention the problems associated with the Safe Mode they came about because of what I considered an attempt to hijack my computer and extract money or worse, get control of my machine. Something like this I think would be hard to start a new thread about since it all happened when I was trying to make sure my machine was virus free and knew I should be running programs in the Safe Mode but only really made an exerted effort to get to that after there was a suggestion to do so. Anyway, thanks for your suggestions, they are good ones.