Can someone advise me please

[mummylin2495]

From last night i keep getting this message up on my screen " Internet cannot open this file" itsays it cant open something called after download then its followed by several letters and numbers.I have looked in my history and deleted it and deleted all my temporary files.But it keeps coming back.The only thing i am doing really is that i keep having to log into mumsnet.Could this be connected and how do i get rid of the box that keeps appearing on my screen.Its driving me nuts.I have also done a search for this file on my comp and it comes up with nothing.Any advice anyone .Thanks

forgot to add,i have also done a restore but that hasnt cured it either.Im stuck as to what to do next.

Part of some spam crap spybot shit maybe?.

I am a linux user so I have no idea, sorry.

Download and run something like the free version of Malware Bytes:
www.malwarebytes.org/

That will check that there's nothing dodgy on your PC doing this.

It would also help if you confirm exactly to the letter what the error message is, is it actually saying "Internet Explorer cannot open this file", and exactly what the file it is trying to open is.

What are you doing when this pops up?

The error message says
Internet explorer cannot open the internet site.The next bit says HTTP;afterdownload.com/static/mplus-toolbar.html?
this is then followed by a load of mumbers and letters and at the very end it says operation aborted.
All i have done is opened up Yahoo which is my home page then into my history from previous day to get onto mumsnet,which is also giving me problems because it keeps logging me out.

I'd do a virus scan, AVG free is good if you don't have already

I think that the mplus toolbar seems to be a tool for doing file sharing.

Something seems to be highjacking Internet Explorer and then sending it to a page to download "something".

That "something" is probably a hacked application that is trying to use the security holes in Internet Explorer to find a way into your system.

It's a pretty common tactic for hackers to offer "bait" such as free downloads in order to trick people to access a site or download a program that they will then use to hack the computer.

Definitely download and run Malware Bytes to make sure that your system is clean and do it ASAP.

Once that's done check the homepage for IE (Tools/Internet Options/Home Page) to see if that's been set to somewhere you don't want it to be.

Anti-virus isn't quite the same as anti-malware, there's an overlap between the two but also some difference.

Yes doing a virus check with an up to date virus checker but also try with Malware Bytes too.

i have done all you have suggested,i think its gonna have to go in the shop,i havent been able to fix it.Thanks very much for trying to help me.I do have Avg and think there is a problem with that too as i wanted to uninstall it and my comp wont let me do that either.It was only in the shop last week and i had to have a new graphics card ! At the moment i could cheerfully throw it out of the window !!!!

Did Malware Bytes find anything?

I am on my dh,s comp , mine has been in the shop since wednesday,they phoned me yesterday to tell me i had loads of viruses and the afterdownload thing is just one of them.My avg stopped working and even my spam prog could not update,they have advised me to change my pin on my money card.they are not able to clear it so they are going to clear my comp,restate all all my docs and email and then i will have to reinstall everything else.Apparently micro soft now do a free anti virus prog so i may look into that,i will not have my comp back until monday,Thankyou all for your advice.It was only in the shop last week for a new graphics card ,now this !