Do I have a virus - internet keeps dropping?

Last night I went to a site which had a security certificate expired. I stayed on the site and shortly after I had a red shield appear in the quicklaunch saying 'you are at risk, your firewall is disabled'. Well I always run the firewall so I went in to turn it on and I cannot. It is locked in the off position. Also my 'automatic updates' are locked in the off position. I always have that turned on. I have been into user accounts and I am still the administrator. Now my internet keeps dropping out. I am sure I have a virus. Can anyone help me please?

PS. I have a PC and I am running XP Professional.

most virus are spread through IE. IE is not a safe browser. you should use a more secure browser to protect your PC from virus.

i recommand you to use firefox with Google toolbar. firefox can block any any popup and disable any virus and adware, spyware on webpage, so, firefox is much safer than IE browser. as you know, most of virus spread throught internet and webpage.

besides, firefox is much smaller than IE, so it run faster than IE.

download firef ox for free, Just have a try:

http://www.securebrowser.info/firefox/

you can also try Kaspersky Internet Security:

http://www.goodantivirus.info/kaspersk/

Good Luck !!!

Sounds like you might have been infected with something. You should run a few scans with known and trusted programs. You can read my step by step guide on malware removal here: http://prometechus.blogspot.com/2007/09/...

your virus database has been expired ...download a new one

follow this step and keep your computer clean http://www.howtoguidehome.com/howto/win/...
Regards,
G.
http://www.howtoguidehome.com

Do two free online scans then your know if you have a virus, if your internet keeps dropping out. start in safe mode with internet & do the scans:

http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/

These scans will remove what they find for free.