Steps you should take to remove the OffersWizard malware

This is an obnoxious malware that somehow gets into your computer (even inadvertently entering the address of an unknown URL). It manifests in the form of putting long rectangular pop-up ads on four sides of your browser besides adding many other obnoxious features like page turnover effects etc. as shown:

 

 

On noticing this you should immediately take some action. Tried to cleanse with these steps in IE 11.0 but did not seem to remove this malware.

 

 

Tweaked the Advanced features some more as shown:

 

 

But this did not help. Also tried Microsoft Security Essentials which validated that the PC is clean, but did not help.

 

 

Finally, did a System Restore to an earlier date and this seemed to have fixed the problem.

 

 

After restore the IE displayed the following message:

 

The lesson is if the Internet Options | Advanced (tab) | Browsing node changes (mostly reset) does not fix perhaps you should restore the computer to an earlier date. You should take steps to remove this malware as soon as you notice it.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free download available for Windows 7 and Windows 8 OS.

 

Download here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download

 

What are the best practices I can adopt to protect from Internet Fraud?

Internet fraud and infection from Malware has become very rampant. I am a guy short of cash and go for free stuff on the Internet. Longtime ago this was OK, but has become increasingly problematic.

Quite a lot of this free stuff comes bundeled with unwanted programs and malware. They are not easy to recognize for obvious reasons. The motivation for all of these programs is to steal data or try to pretend to be 'you' and access others or make money using you as a 'proxy' click assistant without your knowledge (Click fraud).

Recently I removed both Google Chrome and Firefox browsers as they had become very infected. Trying to remove the bugs/malware using, Popup blocker, manage add-ins etc were not of much  help. I am keeping IE since I need a browser for Internet access;  not that it is free from malware.

However, frequent security updates to the computer makes it  somewhat more usable.

Microsoft recommends these best practices that you should consider adopting:

• Use newer software that provides enhanced protections. 
 
• Keep all of the software installed on your system up-to-date. This includes software from Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle, and others. 
 
• When downloading files or software online, make sure that you are doing so from a trusted vendor. 
 
• Run up-to-date anti-malware. 
 
• Think before you click: don’t click on links or open attachments from untrusted sources. 
 
• Back up your files.

Also while downloading make sure it is coming from a trusted source displayed in the URL.
Here is an example of a familiar secure site for accessing your email:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/

Make sure you watch for the beginning of the url:  https://