Whenever I turn on my computer, I get several pop ups that try to direct me to a site to correct some sort of critical error or that I need to fix a corrupted something for my computer to work again. What does this mean ? Should I take my computer in to be repaired? I tried to go to one of the web sites in the past & they wanted me to pay money to register on a website, but wouldn't tell me the problem with my computer. This left me a little suspicious...

Here's my usual C&P for cases like this:


When was the last time you did some serious maintenance on your system ?

System maintenance includes:
Defrag
FULL patching
Virus scanning
Spyware scanning
removal of rubish files

Defrag is an inbuilt function in XP.
Open My Computer > Right click C: > Tools Tab and its there.

To make sure everything is running fine run both anti virus and anti spyware apps in normal AND safe modes. (make sure that they are updated first ! ;)) (AVG (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1) is good and free AV)
(A couple of good removal tools are Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/) and Adaware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/))

ALso an on line virus and spyware scanner is Trend Housecall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/)

Just a note: actively running two AV's on one machine can cause problems.
So if you are thinking about it make sure your current one is disabled first.
Same thing applies to online scanners as well.

Removal of junk files is easy with CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com) a free app that does exactly what

If all this fails then a repair install may be in order:

Here's (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx) the official Micro$oft way of doing it,
and Here's (http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138) one with screen shots.

Basically this installs windows over the top of your current setup.
So you don't loose any information you already have.

This lot should resolve your issue.

It means you have spyware that is trying to get you to go to a site and buy some software.

You have a browser hacker which is taking over your browser,(spyware,malware) asking you to download some bogus program that will probably make things worse donload and install an ware remover such as SPYBOT SEARCH&DESTROY, or ADAWARE,you can download them fron Tech product reviews for cell phones, computers, MP3 players - CNET (http://www.cnet.com/downloads.Also) you should make sure your virus scanner is up to date and working if not download AVG ANTI VIRUS from cnet, all free versions.