What do you mean "whenever you are online"? Are you using dial-up (because high-speed internet like DSL is always connected)?

Can you maybe post a screenshot of that window?

Sounds like good old fashioned 'pop-ups', though I thought that even MS Internet Explorer had some built-in functionality these days to reduce or eliminate those. Genuine Windows update notifications should appear from the taskbar (if it's anything like it was when I last used it).

I agree with MTK358 - a screenshot of this activity might help us determine what it is, if you're interested.

I tried to grab a screenshot, but whenever I try to go online with Windows, it fails to even connect, even if I was able to connect with Linux immediately before and/or after trying Windows. Right now, I can't afford to spend money trying to get my computer wiped & reloaded, especially when I am operational on Linux. What I really want is a new computer with spanning capability. It is a big hassle trying to view and edit product listing spreadsheets, download images files from suppliers, etc with only 1 monitor. I might try to see if I can scavenge parts from the last 2 desktops into 1 functional computer.

What do you mean by "new computer with spanning capability"? What is "spanning"?

If you mean multiple monitors, that's properly called a multi-head setup.

You don't need to buy/build a new PC to do that, just get a new video card that has more than one plug in the back (unless you wanted a new PC in the first place ). And I recommend you go with ATI Radeon cards, there is a good open-source 3D driver for them.

Yes, I meant having 2 monitors, and had only previously heard it referred to as spanning. I remember that for Windows, I had to lie to it in regard to the relative positions of the monitors to get it to configure the 2 monitor layout to match the actual layout. The computer I am using right now is a laptop. The most recent desktop has a broken power button and some set up that seems to not be suitable to adding that type of card. I am not sure what is wrong with the other desktop, but it was set up for the 2 monitors. I hope I can scavenge them into a workable system.