We just ran our weekly Malwarebytes and AVG programs to scan
our computer. We do this every weekend.

Malwarebytes found PUP.Optional.Vitruvian.A
and recommended it to be quarantined, which we did.
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/55704/pup

It appears these are becoming more common lately. In spring we downloaded Adobe reader for this new computer and a similar malware which was a browser hijacker came in. Malwarebytes removed that quickly.

This one, Vitruvian.A did not seem to be obvious to us on this machine. I have had AVG or Malwarebytes block some things from Yahoo, and Ebay lately. And the only download I did was an update to Flash recently (about 2 wks ago).

Our son says it is no longer the most common to get these from fringey sites...they seem to tag along on legit activities.
I have to wonder if Facebook is the culprit? I've been playing daily that new tournament they are doing for Angry Birds. And sometimes it won't load for me. That is the only snafu I am having now.

If you use Firefox you can try the ghostery add on
Or
FBP -face book purity add on

I have both on my browser.

might help to block that stuff before it gets to your computer.

Easy way is Tools - Add-ons
It will open up a screen - you can watch the video about add ons , or just type the name wanted in the search area..
easy install just click , sometimes a Firefox restart is needed after installed.. it will tell you.

I just got rid of one yesterday Win32:MultiPlug-LV[PUP]

Took me about 5 hrs in the end.
I'd been unable to keep my definitions up to date due to very sparse internet connection. Meaning I could barely connect to internet for a month let alone download antivirus and malware updates.

PUP = Potentially Unwanted Program

They come in on other downloaded software.

They change the start pages of your browser.

They link your searches to poor reputation sites or even bad sites.

They also add add-ons to the browser. Worth always checking in your add-ons and extensions in your browser. I had some kooky adware stuff in extensions that I didn't put there. I also had some other thing I didn't get myself and ended up finding a youtube vid on how to get it off as it wouldn't uninstall from "uninstall programmes" area. Ended up having to do about 10 steps and then to Registry and got it off that way. ugh

They bring up ads on webpages and underlined words and make words on webpages bold or underlined.

They slow down your computer and make it very difficult to get from one page to another even to check on what it is that has infected you or even to get off the page at all.

Basically they slow you down so much your computer barely is functioning because you're constantly being bombarded with alerts and ads popping up and other pop up windows etc.

BAD news.

Check and double check everything that you may download.
Read the "terms" before you do anything.

Many free tools -

[Trend Micro offers a range of free tools to protect your devices and help you manage your online activity.]

http://free.antivirus.com/us/#cleanup-and-prevention

When I had Windows issues I often used the hijack this program to sort out the baddies.

We removed a hijack browser thing in the spring with Malwarebytes easily.

So we decided to buy the upgrade more complete program.
(we still have AVG free version)

In the settings for Malwarebytes is a section with 3 choices to
deal with PUPs ...
We picked the option for detect and remove it automatically.

I used malwarebytes a long time back.
I should get it again.
I was surprised that my adware/spyware programme didn't pick up the one I had.
It was picked up by my anti-virus and then only after I had received the month or more worth of updates that I'd not been able to get because of the connection problems.

I think Malwarebytes does a pretty good job of getting them?

judi

I use the free version of Malwarebytes as well as (day job stuff) the corporate version of Norton.

I run Malwarebytes once a week - it does a good job of zapping PUPs on the (rare) times that I have picked one up.

I always find these on Malwarebytes, best thing to do is always select the option to remove them. Most of them, you're not getting rid of any important files.