SvensKenR

(BTW, yes, I uninstalled qBitTorrent already - immediately after the restart when I got the first threat of hard disk erasure. There was the usual mix of comments, some saying it was terrific or great and others saying it would bring malware. Guess which I believe now.)

About two weeks ago, I downloaded "qBitTorrent" because a friend said he was told in class he could get free copies of Microsoft Word 2010 which his laptop didn't have, and I thought I found something that said I needed a torrent client to download it. I never did figure out how to work the torrent client, the torrent I wanted was apparently "dead," and apparently the comments that this client could bring malware were correct. I started getting unwanted new windows and popups while using Chrome from spurious "help" software - sometimes including audio warnings. At first it was popup-style "warnings" that I had popups enabled - of course I did! - so I closed them. Then I got a full window purporting to be a chat with a technician - whom I told my only problem was their windows, which I was closing. Right after that, a popup appeared that my hard disk would be erased if I closed the window. So I didn't close it - I powered off the computer, unplugged the Ethernet, restarted and ran an Adaware scan, which found & removed 4 things. I managed to run normally for about a week, until this sequence of stuff started again. This time, instead of threatening to erase the hard disk, it said something about access to the PC would be blocked. I did the same thing - powered off, restarted without the Internet, and ran AdAware and killed four things. This time, on the assumption that whatever it was attached to Chrome as an add-on, I uninstalled Chrome and went to IE. I wasn't really able to find out a name of this malware, so I don't know where to look in your logs or posts for instructions. I liked Chrome, but I'm wary that if I re-install it these add-ons may be lurking to reattach to it. I'm also not completely sure it's really dead and I know my "remedy" will seem as primitive to you as if a witch doctor were writing to Johns Hopkins. Does this sound familiar to anyone and can you point me to something? Thank you for any help.