Last evening,something hijacked my address book and sent spam messages to everyone. This wee, I had a single alert from Avast when I was searching for something on the web. An alert came up that the site had potential malware and that Avast had not let it through, that the site was not safe, and gave me the option to close the window and get out of there and I did.
Coincidentally, my computer has been running very slowly and I can’t figure out why.
I run Avast (the free home version) and it automatically updates virus definitions all the time, so I know my scans are as current as they can be. I also run Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware. I use AOL for email and AOL mail is scanned by McAfee coming and going but that is through the AOL program somehow - I don’t use McAfee, don’t have it downloaded.
When I saw that I had been hijacked, I changed passwords of course. Then I ran an Avast scan and it came up totally empty. I ran the most thorough scan and it took several hours. Next I ran a lavasoft ad-aware scan and aside from a few measly cookies, that came up empty as well. I had only run a basic Ad-aware scan so now I am running the full scan but so far, nothing is popping.
Whatever hijacked me is hiding very cleverly. Help! What do I do next? And when you reply, please keep in mind, I am not a technogeek. I am a middle aged woman, aging much faster now that I must have acquired a virus, and I am practically computer-illiterate. I would describe myself as someone who speaks Computer as a second language and very poorly at that, and who needs to walk around with a dictionary. There are kids in preschool who are mode adept at computers than I am so whatever instructions you have for me, they have to be truly simple.
Oh, don’t know if it matters, I have an HP notebook that has Vista.
Thanks!