Bizi if it's connecting like that and kinda 'freezes' your computer it sounds like something (a program) might be messing with your connection.

Really, the best thing would be to power off the machine completely, and don't use it until your friend can have a look see.

A genuine network problem could cause the green thing to go round and round, BUT, given you have all the problems with ads popping up left and right, and spam links, I'd have to suspect some sort of malware instead.

Best thing is to turn off the machine. Some malware will try to transfer data from your machine to a remote host; other types of malwarel act as a bridge to download more malware onto your machine. If you have a real nasty, it may be able to get online even with your router off, by piggy backing other wifi networks in your area that either have no password or an easy password.

So your safest bet right now is really to power the machine down.

Use a different computer if you can.

Good luck with this!

waves