AnnaFaraday
..
Ok, look, I'm a sensible person, right? I never click on links in emails, never even look at popup ads, would never in a million years be fooled by phishing emails. Right?
Er - wrong. Ooops. But it's worth admitting that I'm not so clever as I think I am, if it stops anyone else doing what I did.
Basically I must have clicked on something (although I don't know what) which activated what is known as "rogue security software". There is a detailed description of it here
Rogue security software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
but briefly, it makes you think that you have a virus and that it is scanning for corrupted files. What it is actually doing is causing the problems you think it is solving, and you can't get rid of them unless you pay up.
Luckily I did come to my senses and shut my computer down, and took it round to my local computer repair place where they cleaned up the mess for me and got it all up and running again.
So I am admitting my stupidity for the greater good! Be warned!
Er - wrong. Ooops. But it's worth admitting that I'm not so clever as I think I am, if it stops anyone else doing what I did.
Basically I must have clicked on something (although I don't know what) which activated what is known as "rogue security software". There is a detailed description of it here
Rogue security software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
but briefly, it makes you think that you have a virus and that it is scanning for corrupted files. What it is actually doing is causing the problems you think it is solving, and you can't get rid of them unless you pay up.
Luckily I did come to my senses and shut my computer down, and took it round to my local computer repair place where they cleaned up the mess for me and got it all up and running again.
So I am admitting my stupidity for the greater good! Be warned!