I had something else alarming happen today. I tried to call my bank to get my balance and when I dialed the 1-800 number got some funny clicks and redirected to a recording that was apparently trying to sound like the bank recording by using some of the same phrases they do when they push promotions. This one asked me to take a short survey which said to press 1 if I was over 50 years old. I did and it then said I won a free life alert service and and to press 1 again and I hung up.

I went to the bank and they said it was not them and would check to see if they had been hacked and then call me. I have not heard from them yet.

I have Centurylink phone and internet through the phone line, does anyone know if I could be hacked on the computer and from there hacked into my landline phone? I am going to call the bank back tomorrow and call Centurylink as well. Old ladies don't like this garbage.

I will try the Comodo browsers, FF is kind of a pain but I use it because the browser crashes instead of the whole computer. Are their antivirus free and any good? I am about ready to download Ubuntu if that would work but I don't know if my old computer woud run it or tolerate the big download.

I would think maybe you hit the wrong number by mistake. Try calling the same number again and see what happens. I guess anything is possible but in your case I think you are fine. What is the number you called ? I can call that number and see what I get .

I had suggested in an earlier post for you to download the Farbar Recovery Tool. I can tell more about your system if you do this and then post me the log files. It will create two files. I need both

Farbar Recovery Scan Tool Download

I would not download anything else like the browser suggested until we know for sure your computer is clean. If you need more help on doing the farbar thing please let me know. Here is a link that will show you how
How to Run the Farbar Recovery Scan Tool - YouTube

Tom

If you do get tired of Windows & virus/anti virus issues......
You can even order Linux cds and not have to download or burn it to a cd. under 6.00 for a ready to use cd..
If interested- OSDisc.com - Linux, Beginners, 32-bit, Live

* If download & then burning a distro ISO , you have to make sure to set it to a slow burn speed for best results.*

*Or another option...if you have a large library or book/magazine store there might be Linux books or magazines with a cd inside..to test it out..
I found some many years ago in our library.

The Linux Live CD's are the ones you can run from the CD drive & see if you like it before installing anything. Like make sure wifi/internet connects and that you can navigate around in the program..they will be slower that way, but if you like it then you can click the install icon..
Most that I mention have every easy install, gives you options of wipe/format all & install, or install side by side with your windows and you can choose at boot screen which to use.. (dual boot) etc..
For Live cd - If you don't like it just shut down & remove the cd..

This page shows the top Linux and you can finds screen shots and such , I am most familiar now with Mint Mate, Zorin, Ubuntu/Lubuntu/Xbuntu ( lighter versions of Ubuntu) Linux Lite..
DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

Jo*Mar, I am proud you like Linux but it will never take over windows. It is much harder to learn for most people plus nobody can help much on it as it has very little of the computer market. Probably never will.

Windows is here to stay and to be honest windows 10 is a great operating system. I have been working on computers for almost 20 years.

In the last 10 years I have got no malware or viruses. You just have to learn how to stay safe and don't click on bait. Watch opening unknown emails and just use common sense.

I have a laptop with windows 7 and I have no antivirus or malware programs loaded. It is still as fast as the day I installed the SSD. I just user it to pay bills and never go to any websites.

On my desktop I use what Charter supplies for free. F-Secure which is a top notch program. Never been infected on this desktop .

I have tried all the versions of Linux and I agree, it is a good operating system but for the everyday user I would never recommend it. I actually have a spare hard drive with Linux Mint loaded that I use on occasion just to play around with it but I had rather user windows any day. Just my take on this.

I sure would not want to confuse zygopetalum and tell her to install Linux and her problems would be gone for good. Virus writers do not target Linux because it has a low market share. Let it become the main operating system people use and the problems would show up with Linux like windows does now.

Cheers Tom

The major Linux distros are very beginner friendly..some others are tagged specifically as beginner friendly also.
The last few years things have really changed and with the Live cds you can try it right from the cd drive to test it out..a very nice option.

zygopetalum's laptop is an older one, that's why I mentioned the Lite Linux versions and gave more info when she mentioned Ubuntu.

I have an old laptop which I installed Ubuntu on.

For me it is stable and didn't take long to learn.

I downloaded it but accidentally disabled the informative video and have been afraid to run it without it. It looks like Threeputt provided it here so will try to do it this weekend.

I also wanted to be sure I did not have to run it as administrator as I have not done that before and forgot what password I was given. 1,2,3,4,5,6......I don't know how many characters. I should just call and find out because running as admin would give me more opportunities to wipe out my OS.

I think I do at least have some PUPs because I am getting too many ad sites when I search something, eg I try to find medication information and I get too many sites selling it instead of information.

Thank you all for your patience, I am technology challenged but I do get benefit, my computer runs so much better than it used to because of what I have learned. Onward.

zygopetalum, I understand how confusing computers can be. If you don't feel up to doing this then there are other ways I can help you. Before you download anything let me know. Also when running a program as an administrator you will not need to enter any passwords.

Also please understand I might not be here in the next few days to help you. We got some bad news on my wife. Just found out she has Kidney Cancer.

Going to urologist today for more tests in a large city and hope to find out how they are going to treat this. From there who knows what is next. It is a small mass on her right Kidney so lets hope they caught it early.

She will be 68 in a few weeks but otherwise in great health. She has never smoked and looks much younger than she really is. She also walks at least three miles and day and continues to do this even after finding out about her problem. She has a great attitude which helps a lot. She also feels great except for being a little nervous now. I am a wreck but with God's help I will make it through this.

Found this after first the ultrasound and then Cat scan. She went in for regular blood work and they found a small amount of blood in her urine. Her blood work looked normal. Doctor didn't like seeing the trace of blood in urine as they had found a trace back last year but meds cleared it up. This time the meds did not.

Please pray for her and me also as we head into the weeks ahead. This has had us on edge for several days until we got the call two week ago after they did the ultra sound. Then Cat scan showed it much clearer. Mass is 1.4 x 2.4 CM which I understand is not all that big.

I will try and log back here to check on your computer as I find time.. For now I got to take care of my wife of 47 years. Wish us luck and again I will check back in on you. Tom