puter help

For the last couple weeks our puter hasn't let me do anything but look (sometimes) on line.Coun't reply to anything, but could work off line just fine. Well today this site came up on the screen saying it was from the FBI and i had to pay them 200.00 to get my puter unlocked. I figure i have a bug in there some where. So my son had this puter he wasn't using, so thought i'd hook it up and see if this was just the other puter or if it was for real some how. Didn't think it was for real;, but now days you can never tell what our goverment might be doing. So i guess what i am wanting to know is there a fix to my puter? I've always thought i had my anti virus up to date, but something has happened.

well steve, you got a scam or virus messing with you if the fbi had anything to say to you it wouldnt be that way it would be in person,, brent or darren would be better ones to ask but my opinion would be to reformat your hard drive and save anything you can get off your present hard drive backed up then reload the software to start with a clean slate.. but contact the big boys first!!!

yep kind of what i was thinking my self. I'll wait till my youngest son comes over and see what he thinks.

You must not mess with the FBI.

I haven't removed this particular infection but this website has saved me plenty of times. Follow the instructions at your own risk. Also search the same website for the term FBI to find more solutions.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-fbi-monkeypak-ransomware

I also like the following free anti-malware:

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?part=dl-10804572&subj=dl&tag=button

Steve, I've seen a similar malware. It usually puts an executable in your computer's startup.
Check the computer's startup by clicking the Start button and in the search window type "msconfig" (without quotes), double click on the msconfig.exe, then go to the startup tab. Uncheck any programs you don't recognize.

You may need to restart the computer in safe mode. To do this, restart the computer, after the bios screen displays, press F8, then choose Safe Mode. Check the startup options using the instructions above.

I'd definitely download the MalwareBytes app (link in Mohammad's post) and run a scan on your computer, you'll probably have to restart in normal mode to install it though.

Edit. You'll probably have to first run task manager and kill any apps you don't recognize before messing with the startup stuff. If it's malicious enough it will probably just put itself back in startup if it's running when you reboot.

Thanks mohammod,and Darren i'll show Skyler what ya all said and let him go from there. Yes i'm not very good with these things. I turn them on and use the mouse to get me to my wood forums. That's about my knowledge of how these things work. Heck after all these years you would think i'd be able to do some work on them, but they ain't made of wood.

Well, if computers were made of wood---you would, at least have firewood when you get mad at them.

I just call Glenn and aggrevate the heck out of him. It sure is nice to have a great son!

Enjoy,

JimB