adzidzor

Help me guys. I am having many pop ups anytime I connect to the internet. I am using firefox and the "block pop up" is checked. Surprisingly these pop ups come with the internet explorer browser. Which I hardly use. ANY HELP?

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adzidzor
Be nice to the people you meet on your way up....for they are the same people you'll meet on your way down.....

Drakin316

Usually it is because you have adaware on your computer or browser hijackers. You should be able to make firefox your default browswe it usually takes care of most of this from happening. If you install update and run some adaware/spyware programs it will get rid of most of the things that cause this also.

This is a copy and paste job from a newsletter I get every month.

Anti-Spyware Recommendations
Earlier this year I wrote that I intended to test anti-spyware products and recommend the best ones. When I looked into objective testing, however, it quickly became clear to me that I would have to take a few months off from writing the newsletter to have sufficient time to do objective research properly. Since that wasn't a practical option, I announced that I would not be doing a formal, objective-tested anti-spyware review — but I would return with some advice on this subject.

I did, however, acquire evaluation versions of a long list of popular anti-spyware products, and I've been using several of them ever since. Recently, I had the perfect occasion to test them out in a typical real-world scenario. A relative sent me her notebook PC because of a problem with the display. I quickly replaced the damaged display, but another problem was a lot tougher. The computer was riddled with spyware and adware, including some notable bad guys, like one of the less potent variants of CoolWebSearch.

It took me about three days to eliminate all the spyware on this system. Thankfully, it wasn't so bad that I had to wipe the disk and start over — an option many people wind up resorting to.

The process of eliminating over two-dozen serious spyware programs and scores of mostly minor adware instances reinforced something that I've strongly advised in the past: There's no one anti-spyware program you can trust to get that job done all by itself. You have to team up several products. Install your full suite of anti-spyware tools. Then run all your scans, one after the other, vanquishing all suspicious hits. Restart the ailing computer after each set of scans and rescan it again. You are not done until you get a completely clean sweep of all your scans. Even then, you need to be vigilant.

I used a suite of products that I've come to consider my anti-spyware toolkit. Each has different strengths and weaknesses. In terms of overall detection and success in eradication of spyware, I prefer Webroot's Spy Sweeper.

This product has a nearly terrible interface. (Dear Webroot: I would be only too happy to recommend about 20 major things you should to do change Spy Sweeper's user controls.) But the power is there. And, most importantly, the product does the best overall job of ridding your computer from a moderate level of spyware. It's still apparent that no anti-spyware utility — nor even a suite of such utilities — is truly equal to a full-bore, especially nasty spyware infection.

I've been a Safer Networking's Spybot Search & Destroy user for several years now. I still use this product, which has improved this year. I would place it as second, behind Spy Sweeper, in terms of its ability to find and rid a computer of spyware that's already slipped by your defenses. Keep in mind, this is a subjective rating.

I still use LavaSoft's Ad-Aware Personal to check for and rid a computer of pre-existing spyware and virulent adware. In my opinion, it does a so-so job of detection. It's best feature may be its excellent user interface and fast deep scan. It's another check for me. I don't consider it to be the most important check. And it may be the least important. It might be better if updates came more frequently and covered more spyware.

Microsoft's AntiSpyware (Beta) is notable for several important advantages. Purchased from a company called Giant Software, Microsoft AntiSpyware has the very best interface of any anti-spyware product I've tested. This product is weak at eradicating pre-existing spyware. It's a common problem with anti-spyware products that they tell you they've removed a spyware program when they, in fact, have not. I've seen this occur more with Microsoft AntiSpyware than with any other utility I've tested, though.

But the Microsoft product has one strong suit. It offers the only real-time scanner that I can stand to have running on my system. I now install it on all the machines in my care for that reason. [Editor's Note: The jury is still out on whether *my* computer is in "his care" or not. --Cyndy] [Right, even though you got a brand new, shiny, more powerful notebook after you fried the last one earlier this year? With all your apps and data intact? How quickly you take my services for granted! By the way, I promise you all that I will pay for bringing this up. And I ask you, is that fair? — Scot]

Microsoft AntiSpyware (Beta) also automatically updates, does scheduled deep scans, and may be optionally connected to Microsoft's anti-spyware network of users, which helps with early detection of new spyware. So, as a before-your-PC-gets-spyware-sick form of protection, it's an excellent choice.

Were I only going to install two anti-spyware products, they would be the Webroot and Microsoft products.

Another indispensable tool for more experienced users is HiJack This. Read up on this product before you use it, and also, check with the resources the author offers you before doing anything you're not sure of.

Finally, although I haven't tested this product recently, Computer ***ociate's eTrust PestPatrol">Computer ***ociates' eTrust PestPatrol has probably the largest database of spyware and adware signatures. I don't know how well it's been kept up to date since CA purchased the product about two years ago. I'm also a fan of Sunbelt Software's CounterSpy, which is another Giant Software derivative (like Microsoft AntiSpyware).

Big Chris

I'd start by if you don't use MSM by removing it. There's a few fee utils out there that will do it, shoot the messanger is one. That may well stop a few and then try running

Ad-aware - Free
Spybot - search and destroy - Free
Spyware Blaster - Free

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One by one, the Penguins are slowly stealing my sanity.

adzidzor

Thanks guys...your info was worth the try. It worked! BIG THANKS to y'all !

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adzidzor
Be nice to the people you meet on your way up....for they are the same people you'll meet on your way down.....