[IronHeart]

Not too long ago a virus doctor thing closed my internet and said I needed to run a scan blah blah blah of course I clicked the "x" button but it started to load I "x" again immediately and it closed down. I'm running my Norton security now as i type.

does this mean my laptops infected? am i at serious risks of having an infection on my computer? please some one help me I get extremely paranoid about this stuff.

[Deagon]

Internet Explorer and Most other web browers have had a function to stop so called 'Drive By Downloading' for a few years now, although it's possible to reduce the risks of infection. It is still advisable to peform regular scans with an AntiVirus and An Anti Spyware tool. Which I believe Norton has. Even the best maintained and secured pc can be infected. The only true way to avoid any and all forms of infection is to turn the pc off and never use it, which I am Sure you will agree is impractical.

[blitzkreig]

Yes your laptop is infected, its a spyware/trojan. I would advice you to download super antispyware free edition, update it and run a compete scan and see to it that you have good antivirus/internet security installed in ur pc. Remember to update it ATLEAST 2-3 times a week.

[Byteman]

Not every machine that comes in contact this way with the fake antivirus will become infected....it depends on settings you have and protection you have, the time involved, etc.

When a website does this, the easiest thing to do, most effective also, is to bring up the Task Manager (Press CTRL+ALT+DEL keys together once) and end task on iexplore.exe if you are hung in Internet Explorer.

The tools posted already should show you if you are or are not infected, but it is wrong to imply that anyone who has seen the scary tactics of these fake alerts has become infected.

People running security suites like Norton has should be cautious in loading more scanners.....the ones posted are good, but some will cause conflicts with protection running already....

[blitzkreig]

these fake antivirus alerts are really annoying, I remember a few years ago I was new to the internet scene and was habituated to downloading a lot of junk, one fine day I installed something i got the virusbuster antivirus fake alert and this has happened several times earlier, I used to believe these alerts and get those softwares installed, only later to realise that my pc has been compromised :'(