I searched for “the Family” and “C Street” on Google and clicked on the top link to a website called: (link removed)
When the site came up I was immediately redirected – saw flashes of other websites that have reported about the above subject, and then a series of warnings that my computer had been compromised, that I had been infected by a bunch of trojans, that I could chose to “Get me Out of Here” or cancel — or try to remove the viruses.
Stupidly I went further to see if this was real. The popups looked just like the nucense popups that advertise sex sites and so forth.
I need to know if it was real. Are there websites that can infect a computer that links to them, that instantly? Or was it a hoax – a fear tactic?
I’ve run a full system scan – which found nothing. I just don’t know if I should go further. I have McAfee running virus scan and firewall.
Am I being foolish to worry?
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I check that website link you gave me and put it into McAffee SiteAdvisor and it didn’t find anything bad, that’s a good sign.
There are websites out there that can infect your computer through unpatched security holes on your system. The popups could’ve been harmless ads but it’s hard to say whether that website has infected your computer. It’s most likely just scare tactic’s they’re using trying to get you to buy some bogus security software. If you keep your system up to date with the latest Microsoft Windows updates you’re in decent shape.
You did a McAffee virus scan and found nothing which is a good sign. I think I would get a second opinion just to be sure with a few free online virus scanners:
Kaspersky Online Virus Scanner
Trend Micro HouseCall
ESET Online Scanner
BitDefender Online Scanner
And download these Anti-Spyware programs and run them one at a time:
Malwarebytes
Spybot Search and Destroy
Windows Defender – you may already have this installed.
SUPERAntiSpyware
If you run all these security programs and find nothing you should be good. Good luck.