Aaaack, I did something

[madamesilverspurs]

Not sure what I did, apparently clicked on something that opened a door for pop-up ads. Happened while I was surfing and clicked on the 'shop now' button for a product; didn't buy anything and clicked out. Within minutes, ads showed up whenever I clicked on one of my favorites; not the little popup flags, this time they appear to be a whole site tab, and I can make them go away by clicking on the 'x'. But it's danged annoying, especially when I go to check my bank balance and the screen that comes up is one of those scary "OMG you're being ripped off" things.

I went to settings and deleted a couple of recent downloads, but I haven't been able to find anything else for the dates affected (essentially Oct. 1 forward). Any hints on where else to look, or how to rid myself of this annoyance?

Thanks in advance. Again. And again.

.

[bullimiami]

1. Did you clear your browser cache? Everything but passwords.

All history and cookies.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. If you have ANY kind of protection installed -- say MalWareBytes -- launch it, update it, and run a scan.

MalWareBytes (and other products), if current, will find all kinds of unwanted code.

Also, check your browser Preferences to see if pop-ups are generally allowed. If you use something like uBlock or other ad blocker, check to see if it's been turned off for your current page. It may be generally "on", but somehow "off" for just that page. That's kind of easy to do accidentally.

[justaprogressive]

3. you've been drive-by hacked.

Run your anti-virus immediately.

If you don't have Antivirus download bitdefender (it's free)

https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/consumer/free-antivirus

[madamesilverspurs]

4. Well, I tried.

Went through the download process, got it installed. Was just notified that my "free trial" has expired, they now want me to buy a subscription. And the pop-up activity continued even with it. Bummer.