"A list of 180+ ranked schools"

From the Off Topic Discussions here is something:

"Here is a list of 181 leading colleges and universities that have changed their requirements on submitting ACT and SAT college admissions test scores. The number next to the schools refers to their rank on the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Guide (2015 Edition)"

There were a couple underlined words above that I clicked into to see the list.

What came next was an audio warning that my machine may have been infected by a computer virus that needs to be fixed before making any online purchases. What does anyone know about this? I did find it somewhat difficult to remove any of the screens of which there were several.

In all likelihood you have a virus. Get a virus program installed and run a full scan. I'd also suggest installing a malware tool like Malwarebytes. If it's at the point where you can't run an .exe file (which is ugly), you may want to have a PC expert look at your computer.

If one can run their computer in safe mode they can run a exe program. The virus prevents it in the normal mode will not start up.