pop up help

[MX45]

I've been getting popups for random ads for a while now, and everything I try, I can't stop it. I'm using IE (and I prefer it over mozilla, so lets not go that route) Spybot and adaware don't find anything. I even tryied running both of them at startup, and nothing. I get one pop up when ever I change the page. For all sites, even TD. About 2 out 5 times I change the page, I get a pop up.
Small reward for stoping these anoying things. 

[VMX_SKYmx99]

Not sure it'll help, but try this program.  You may have spyware doing it.  I think this does a better job than spybot.

http://www.webroot.com/

[DBR_Dodgy]

i wont go there but i use mozila and ive had ZERO  adaware and popups in the last 9 months now.

but i wont push the matter. 

Ian.

[AMA_DirtTwister]

You should use HiJackThis.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

Download it and use it.   There may be other things on the download page that could be useful to your specific problem. 

When you run HijaakThis it will display all the startup options, BHO's, and a few other registry settings.  You can select some and tell HiJaakThis to ignore them ( you should do this for all things that you know are legitimate).  Things that you know aren't (this is always the tough part) you should check and delete.  One way to know if they are is to do a Google search on some of the things you see (like program/dll name) and see what you find on it.  If it's spyware delete it.

Before doing any spyware removal you should do the following steps.

1. In Internet Explorer go to Tools-->Internet Options and click on Delete Files.  Go to your Temp folder and delete all the temporary files that you can.   Do this for each user.  (this will safe you time on the spyware scanning process).
2. Go to Control Panel-->Add Remove Programs.  UnInstall all programs that are suspicious or unneccessary.  Use Google to get more information on ones that you don't know what they are.

Then work on the removal process:

1. Get the latest Ad-Aware SE and run it at least twice. Reboot between runs.
2. Run HiJackThis and identify the suspicious entries.  Google for info and follow the instructions.
3. Repeat 1 and 2 until you are done.
4. Possibly do it for each user on your system.
5. Do a google to search on the best way to secure Internet Explorer.  Make sure you go through the Security tab in IE and change things to "Prompt".  Ones you find annoying and safe, go ahead and enable.  Otherwise leave them on prompt.
6. Don't randomly click on suspicious ads/e-mails.

Bruce

[MX45]

Thanks Bruce. Good info. I never thought to delete all my temp files first. I've also heard stuff (mainly viruses) can hide in your system restore, so is it a good idea to disable that? The webroot one is a nice program. It found alot that ad aware and spybot suposedly already got rid of. I'm still getting pop ups, but not as many. only 2 so far today.

[Metz]

I would recommend PestPatrol. That is what i use and if you keep your definitions up to date it works very well. I find adaware itself depending on the versions (not hittin on ya brucey  ) and where you get it can give you spyware from what i personally have noticed in the past. Id get pest patrol, boot up in safe mode.. disable your system restore because some virures not only infect them but can ruin all of them so there useless and will not work. then run pest patrol in safe mode along with deleting all your temp internet files, cookies, history, etc.... Whens its done, reboot, and do it one more time. Another good idea is to get the latest version of norton, update the definitions and run a scan with that also. If you dont have a good Firewall, Virus Scan, and Spyware blocker your going to get the stuff no matter how hard to try to avoid it. And make sure you have all your windows upadates installed.

I recently got a virus and reformatted... when i reformatted, i Installed all my software i needed, and got on msn to chat, not thinkin i needed to go straight to windows update. within an hour norton was telling i had trojan droppers all over my pc specificly in the system32/drivers folder. (trojan droppers download other trojans from the net and infect your pc.).. and i hadnt even been on the internet yet! Windows XP is very vunerable to getting hijacked, doing the windows update is highly recommended! anyway...I did the steps stated above along with doing windows update and downloading Service pack 2 and the problem was fixed. I find service pack 2's built in pop up blockers, and firewall work MUCH better than zonealarm.... and funny thing is i didnt get the virus's till after zone alarm was installed for a few days... thats just my 2 cents.

[AMA_DirtTwister]

You aren't going to get spyware from Ad-Aware.  You should download it from GeekZone or here:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

You also aren't going to get spyware from going to MSN.   You can get virus's, trojans, and spyware by just connecting up to the network without a firewall/router.

On my own personal workstation and laptop I have never had spyware or a virus.   I go everywhere and anywhere. The only virus that I have ever had was from booting from a Dell floppy taken right from the shrink wrap.  I do not have anti-virus or spysweeper kind of software installed either.  I will install and scan a couple of tiimes a year.

I have cleaned up many, many infected PC's. 

Bruce

[MX45]

I'm alwyas behind a router. How good of a firewall is that? Are there any settings I can change to help?

btw, I did most of everyone's sugestions, and things are alot better now. I've never had a serious virus before, or atleast one that wasnt caught right away. But adware and spyware really get on my nerves.

[AMA_DirtTwister]

The router's are pretty good until you do things like DMZ and forward ports to your PC.    DMZ forwards all ports to your PC.  This allows all kinds of unsolicited communication to your PC.    I recommend disabling port forwarding when you are not playing.  There is no real simple way to enable or disable it on my NetGear router.  The way that I do it is to have an IP address for online game playing and one for not.  I do that by setting a static IP on my PC that isn't in the range that DHCP hands out.  Most of the time I use DHCP and when I'm playing games I switch to that static IP.  That way most of the time the forwarded ports are forwarded to an IP address that doesn't exist.

For example say my DHCP range is 192.168.0.50 to 192.168.0.100.    I would port forward to 192.168.0.200 (anything not in my DHCP range is ok).  I would use DHCP when I'm not playing games and then use 192.168.0.200 when I'm playing games.

It is suicide to just hook your PC up to the internet without having a router or firewall between you and everyone else.

Bruce

[wil_mx]

I've been getting popups for random ads for a while now, and everything I try, I can't stop it. I'm using IE (and I prefer it over mozilla, so lets not go that route) Spybot and adaware don't find anything. I even tryied running both of them at startup, and nothing. I get one pop up when ever I change the page. For all sites, even TD. About 2 out 5 times I change the page, I get a pop up.
Small reward for stoping these anoying things. 

this is how i do it i dowload the google toolbar (i don't know where i got it)and it comes woth a strong pop up blocker that u just click to turn on/off

[Bunny]

I'd assume you got the GOOGLE Toolbar from google.com?

[MX45]

i use the google toolbar, and it works great. It makes a sound every time it blocks one. But I still get some. As I said, I did what everyone sugested, and it helped, but I still got a few pop ups. Over time, I'm getting more and more again. They don't pup up in front of my browser, but behind it, so next thing I know, I look at my tast bar and there's 5 or 6 extra IE windows open (the pop ups).