Pop ups

[6Zabuza9]

im pretty sure many people have this problem about having pop ups. im asking for the best solution of getting rid of pop ups. i use spybot and lavasoft ad-aware frequently but it never gets rid of all the pop ups. anyone got suggestions?

[complich8]

Stop using mainstream apps, as your first step. If you're using IE, stop. Use firefox or opera -- both are free, both are in pretty much every way better than ie, and neither is the giant exploit-magnet that ie is. Included in that, with firefox use the adblock+ extension (opera 9's apparently got an adblocking tool too, but is still a developer preview). Try out trillian (or gaim) instead of aim/icq.

If you're running p2p other than the very few trustworthy clients out there, stop. Examples of trustworthy p2p: bittorrent, bittornado, azureus, utorrent, bitcomet, emule, dc++. Examples of untrustworthy: most gnutella clients, most fasttrack network clients, anything that includes an adbar or bundles other software with it.

While it's an off chance, some spyware propagates fetched by viruses, so make sure you've dealt with that too (ie: are running an active virus scanner that's regularly, frequently updated). If you don't have access to a commercial virus scanner on terms that make you happy, there's always Avast! and AVG, so there's NO excuse not to have something or another on your side.

Make sure you're updating your databases in spybot and adaware regularly, since they use definition-based scanning.

While you're at it, I can't emphasize enough the importance of putting windows on automatic updates, and of running a firewall (be it a home router with you not in the DMZ, or the xpsp2 built-in firewall, or zonealarm, or what have you). Further, keep your applications up to date.

If all else fails, back up any important data somewhere (ie: not on C drive), format and start over, taking to heart all of the above best practices. I was running the same winxp install since sp2 came out, right up until I wiped the drive on a whim a couple months ago to do a linux experiment. Employing the set of best-practices I've outlined above (and basically nothing else), I've been quite free of spyware, viruses, and basically any substantial software problems for ... well, I guess since windows 2000 sp2 or so. It's ... nice.

[darkmetal505]

yea do everything that complich said. You might already have spyware installed on your computer. I had a huge problem with pop-ups once, so heres what I did.

first see if this helps Clean Up (http://www.stevengould.org/downloads/cleanup/CleanUp40.exe)

it removes most temporary files from your pc.

Next download HiJack This (http://www.merijn.org/files/hijackthis.zip)

extract it and run the program, it gives a list of all running processes.

Finally register at Geeks to Go forums (http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php) and post in the remove malware forum. On your first entry, post your HiJack This log and the mods there will take a look at your situation and give you advice.

trust me, geeks to go really helps. You can set your profile you get email notifications when someone replies.

[Bushwacker]

I like my google toolbar, it keeps aways most popups. But it's always good to clean your pc as mentioned in the earlier posts.

[Deadfire]

yea do everything that complich said. You might already have spyware installed on your computer. I had a huge problem with pop-ups once, so heres what I did.

first see if this helps Clean Up (http://www.stevengould.org/downloads/cleanup/CleanUp40.exe)

it removes most temporary files from your pc.

Next download HiJack This (http://www.merijn.org/files/hijackthis.zip)

extract it and run the program, it gives a list of all running processes.

Finally register at Geeks to Go forums (http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php) and post in the remove malware forum. On your first entry, post your HiJack This log and the mods there will take a look at your situation and give you advice.

trust me, geeks to go really helps. You can set your profile you get email notifications when someone replies.

Good Job! all those tools are great things to do

Now if you don't want to sign-up to anything there is alway google, simply search anything that doesn't look normal. You will find there are many sites out there that tell you what it is and what it does. Now be very careful when using Hijack This. and make sure you read everything. As there has been many cases that I've had to do a OS restore on a person's computer because they saw something that they thought was bad but really was good (example clem.exe and clen.exe)

I think one day I should post a thing that teachs people how to clean out their computer without spending money....course it's up to you all

[Twinbee]

Those are all great ideas.... theres just one thing I would add. I too use Ad-aware & Spybot but if you are already experiencing a lot of pop ups I would say.....

Update your Ad-aware, spybot & whatever anti virus you are using (I use AntiVIR)
Switch off 'system restore'
boot up in safe mode
do all 3 scans
restart.

Sometimes without using safe mode you can't get rid of everything and with system restore on the things you do remove are sometimes replaced when you next reboot.

Oh, don't forget to back-up whatever you need when ever you do anything like this... better to be safe than sorry right!

[samsonlonghair]

These are all great ideas. Here's another easy one: Hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to open task manager. Click on the "Processes" tab and look for anything that seems out of place or unfamiliar, especially if it's using up system resources. If you're unsure of something, do a google search for the name of that process.

Another place to look is next to your clock. Click on the little left arrow << next to your clock in the bottom right corner of your screen. You'll see a bunch of little applications that you probably didn't realize were running in the background. These little buggers sometimes cause pop-ups and always steal system resources. If you don't absolutely need them, shut them down.

[Genma]

Since we're on the subject of spyware, can anyone help me out?

See, I bought this computer for christmas, and until recently it'd been working very well. As of late it's been totally lame, however, and has sudden crashes for no apparent reason.

My whole computer will freeze up and I'll be able to move the mouse, but not click on anything. If a non-frozen window is still up and I move it around, it'll make blurry replicas.

I've tried Norton and there's no viruses, but as soon as I run any sort of spyware destroyer (I use adaware) the screen will turn gray within a few seconds and then a blue screen will pop up with the words FATAL ERROR.

I've also tried to system restore on multiple occasions, but every time it says my restore has failed.

It's awful. I get about 15 minutes to and hour on the computer without having to restart.

I might just bring it in to a computer shop or something, but before I do that, can anyone throw out a suggestion?

[Deadfire]

Since we're on the subject of spyware, can anyone help me out?

See, I bought this computer for christmas, and until recently it'd been working very well. As of late it's been totally lame, however, and has sudden crashes for no apparent reason.

My whole computer will freeze up and I'll be able to move the mouse, but not click on anything. If a non-frozen window is still up and I move it around, it'll make blurry replicas.

I've tried Norton and there's no viruses, but as soon as I run any sort of spyware destroyer (I use adaware) the screen will turn gray within a few seconds and then a blue screen will pop up with the words FATAL ERROR.

I've also tried to system restore on multiple occasions, but every time it says my restore has failed.

It's awful. I get about 15 minutes to and hour on the computer without having to restart.

I might just bring it in to a computer shop or something, but before I do that, can anyone throw out a suggestion?

Well to tell you the truth is it's time for a new hard drive, all those errors are caused by that and noting the the System restore fatals, tells me that the partity on the hard drive is failing (this rarely happens unless it's a bad HD). the fact the computer boots and runs for more then 5 mins states that it's not a heat problem (also causes alot of those problems). This could be just a OS problem however as you stated it's clean of any errors, so it tell me the drive is to blame.

[Genma]

Well to tell you the truth is it's time for a new hard drive, all those errors are caused by that and noting the the System restore fatals, tells me that the partity on the hard drive is failing (this rarely happens unless it's a bad HD). the fact the computer boots and runs for more then 5 mins states that it's not a heat problem (also causes alot of those problems). This could be just a OS problem however as you stated it's clean of any errors, so it tell me the drive is to blame.

A faulty, 4 month old harddrive? Damn.

I know for a fact that the random freezings aren't a heating problem, though. They've actually occured less frequently as of late (knock on wood), and it usually only happens in Internet Explorer. I've ultimately decided to switch to Firefox now... and yeah. Nothing bad to note.

As for the system restore problems, yeah, probably something wrong with my HD. But my games are working fine and never freeze when I'm playing online (with the exception of Wolfenstein - ET, every so often). Anyway, I'll probably just buy a new HD this summer.

Thanks for your help.