Here are some steps you can do on your own to try to fix various problems if you think your computer is "infected" with something from the internet.

Malwarebytes anti-malware program

  1. Go to https://www.malwarebytes.com and click the "Free Download" button. Find it in your Downloads folder.
  2. Install the program
    1. Tell it you are using a PERSONAL computer (not sure what happens if you say a WORK computer, but I'm afraid it might try to force a business-class purchase of their product on you).
  3. Run the program and agree to let it quarrantine whatever it finds.

WEB BROWSER WORK - Do these things, at a minimum, for the web browser you were using when the problem happened. But malware on a computer can get into your other web browsers too, so if you see anything weird while doing these steps for in your regular web browser I would first finish all these steps for your normal web browser and then go back and do them for the other browsers as well. Start with your normal browser first though. If you see nothing weird in it then maybe you don't have to do the others.

  1. Clear your browser's ENTIRE history, for ALL time.
    1. Chrome
      1. Chrome menu/Clear Browsing Data
    2. Safari
      1. Safari menu/Clear History
    3. Firefox
      1. History menu/Clear Recent History
  2. Disable and/or delete ALL browser extensions. You can usually just disable ones you think you might want to re-enable in the future. But if any have names you don't recognize then delete them.
    1. Chrome
      1. Window menu/Extensions.
    2. Safari
      1. Safari menu/Preferences/Extensions
    3. Firefox
      1. Tools menu/Add-ons/Extensions
  3. Check your browsers' home page and search engine settings. If they are set to anything you don't recognize then change them to something you do (i.e., set homepage to be your Gmail login page and set search engine to Google)
    1. Chrome
      1. Search engine = Chrome menu/Preferences/Search Engine
      2. Homepage = Crome menu/Preferences/On Startup
    2. Safari
      1. Search engine = Safari menu/Preferences/Search tab
      2. Homepage = Safari menu/Preferences/General tab
    3. Firefox
      1. Search engine = Firefox menu/Preferences/Search tab
      2. Homepage = Firefox menu/Preferences/Home tab

Final steps

  1. Restart your computer.
  2. Run Malwarebytes again
  3. Now test your normal web browser and see if it acts normal.