WTF just happened to my computer (Adobe flash malware??)

Never use Flash.  Especially in a browser.

Adobe is killing it for a reason.

Look for the uOrigin plugin if you're lazy.  Use NoScript with uOrigin if you want to surf clean, but there is a learning curve.

If you were infected with ransomeware, you wouldn't be able to use it, so that's nice.

What was installed?  Who the fuck knows.  If you don't understand the nexus of software development and computer security, you are sitting at the bottom of the competence triangle - Unconscious Incompetence.  Don't worry, 99.9999999999999% of people live here on this topic.

You're all fucked.

Google was serving malware ads that used your computer as a bitcoin miner (for the ad company, not google).  If they can't serve clean ads, who the fuck can?

Long story short, don't ever allow Flash to run in your browser, no matter how enticing the porn is.

If you did, copy your important pictures somewhere and reinstall your operating system.

Whether its fixed or not, listen to Reductimat and use NoScript. Also, never let a program install itself that you dont downloaded directly from the site or have a file downloaded for you - usually Adobe Flash Installer downloads a file to your download directory and you double click that and install from there.

Random future tip: any time something fishy happens and you choose to reboot the machine, hit f8 like a madman as your computer starts, and most importantly, before you see your windows logo boot screen. f8 will you give a boot list and you want to choose "restart using last known good", which was what you loaded last time. This doesnt always work depending on just how damn crafty the ware was but it can fix some basic issue's.

Posted by: JBV

ok, think i got it sorted. reached an old buddy who is a computer tech. he walked me through cleaning it up. downloaded malware bytes first. he said it wasn't particularly nasty but a hijack that was redirecting my searches to yahoo and through a bunch of ads.

Some installers will change your default search provider, default home page, add a toolbar, etc. And the installer typically will indicate that it's going to do it, but in a not-so-obvious manner. The change to Yahoo is quite common. A conspiracy thinker might have you believe that Yahoo funds this kind of thing...

Always go to the software publisher's website to download the latest update. And pay attention to the installation process as there might be a screen that says these kind of changes are going to be made.

And Shogun, ransomware typically only encrypts data, so the machine doed not become unusable.

Don't ever download flash player from any non trustable source.