How are advertisements getting my personal information?

[舞里世盆]

Advertisements, which I can tell are viruses, somehow have my personal information. I'm fed up and feel like my privacy is being invaded. I just had an ad that said "(my full name), find out your house's history at (my entire address). Just enter your credit card number in the field below to discover this secret information free of charge." I've also been instant messaged many times by a bot from some unknown site. It was claiming to be a 14-year-old girl who "just got out of the shower" and was "looking for someone to talk to." It was freaking disgusting because it was saying how this girl wanted to cam 'cause she was "extremely horny and lonely." Apparently this girl wanted to visit me in (my city and state, which I had not provided). Just gross. I'm not a pedophile, I was told to click on the link and enter my credit card number just to verify my age, which was total bullshit. I knew better than to click the link in the first place. I'm really paranoid and this is freaking me out. I can't think of any companies that would have sold my information; I don't use my real name for websites I'm not 100% sure of, and I doubt Facebook or Firefox would sell my info since they're so well-known. I have my settings set so that third parties cannot access my information, so I'm beginning to believe that I have some kind of spyware that's tracking everything I do. I've run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Microsoft Security Essentials scans and have removed viruses many times before. It seems that the same things are being found and removed each time, so I think this is some super-sneaky virus or something. Is there anything that I can do to make sure my information has not been sold? Does anyone think that this is a virus that has itself very well hidden? If so, how can I remove it? I'm confused and kinda scared.

[GameDay]

http://www.eff.org/wp/effs-top-12-ways-p...ne-privacy
great info on how to protect yourself when surfing the internet. also, when i surf the net, i don't stay logged into my email. use the best protection. I use windows defender, eset nod 32 for real time protection. I scan with malwarebytes regularly.


hope this helps

[Dunbar Pappy ÏŸÏŸ]

The 'Net is not the warm fuzzy place one would hope it is: like the real world, it has become a 'kill or be killed' war zone and all users MUST become adept at hiding themselves and defending their computers.
Unknown to the novice users, the Windows operating system is ('out of the box') very loosely configured. One reason is so Internet users don't have a lot of issues to get a website to behave itself and do what it's supposed to do, with all the glamorous graphics and whiz-bang features.
That means the browser brings back any 'asset' it encounters, and delivers it to the browser, which promptly executes/displays the feature.
The bad guys (and "legit" services) leverage this looseness and install trash that fools the unwary, and siphons off more data than is intended from everyone.
You must reform your entire Windows strategy and tactics.
"10-Step Security"/PC World; http://www.pcworld.com/article/122500/10...urity.html

Stop using Internet Explorer!
It is the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champ @ passing malicious garbage.

Firefox, beefed up with these effective Firefox Collection items, stops acres of malware seen here in Y! Answers:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox...nbarpappy/
"NoScript" will go a long way preventing "rogue" malware infections.
Have this setting:
Tools> Options> Privacy> top drop menu set to "Firefox will use custom settings..."> Check 'Accept Cookies from sites'
â–º& Un-Check 'Accept 3rd Party cookies'.

Use "Sandboxie": http://www.sandboxie.com/ for even better protection.
Core defense applications might include (but not limited to) a robust dedicated anti-virus (I make no recommendations).

And, get this installed: â–º"HOSTS file" (from mvps.org) which blocks evil webpage assets from re-directs which install malware or trashware. (Vista requires special instructions; on-page link)
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
SpywareBlaster (snoopware prevention and hostfile guardian); http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

If you don't have time or skill for 'updating', have a look @ "Secunia": checks all your 3rd party stuff for updates.
Freeware.
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/

Once you have your computer solidly defended, it's time to address the users behavior in relation to what you divulge willingly to websites.
Social Networks (Facebook, etc.) are now being 'crawled' by bots that look for and capture names, faces, friends, workplaces, and all kinds of stuff, in order to tailor advertising and malicious 'spear phishing' that specifically targets you.
There's mountains more of information you need to know, but this is the untarnished truth: using the Internet requires you to be a security EXPERT, whether or not you want to. It's that freekin' simple.

[Piggy]

maybe its bcuz ur such a low life jerk tht has no life!!! ya im almost 14 and i bet i no alot more about std's than u do!! and therr is nuthin wrong with askin questions bout stuff ur not shurr of! ya i knew wut a foreskin wuz but i wuz juz makin shur bout circumcise ....and we r in the same grd so u betta get over ur lil pathetic self and find sum people who ctually care..wich is ganna be rather hard for u since u have no freinds