How to stop explicit popups??

[Safari Ary]

Someone in the house frequented a XXX site it seems, and now we get explicit popups everyother hour or so. This is a problem because my 3.5 yo cousin uses this computer, along with the rest of the family. Is there anyway to stop this without paying for a popup killer?? I've cleared the cookies, history, and temp internet files, and they keep coming. Help guys, this is a disaster waiting to happen, "Arya, what are those people doing??"....."ummm, Well, Cameron, let's see...." you get the idea. Thanks

Ary

[TOZOVR]

Hmmmmmmmmmm...who could it Be?!?!?

Mom? Dad? Lil Bro? Arya?


My bank is on lil Bro followed closely by...Arya!!!!!

[Safari Ary]

Thanks RJ :rolleyes: :angel: , anyone have anything useful to contribute??

[TOZOVR]

ok



Stay off bangbus.com :flip:

Here ya go Sparklepants...a free popup blocker...Do you, uh Google? huzzzah!

http://www.historykill.com/download.asp?filename=1642

[Rev Den]

What version of Windows? XP maybe??

Delete Index.dat...all of them, maybe

Rev

[Safari Ary]

Originally posted by Rev Den
What version of Windows? XP maybe??

Delete Index.dat...all of them, maybe

Rev

2000 pro, but I'll try it anyway, thanks

Ary

Edit: there were two "index.dat" I deleted one, but it won't let me delete the other one. Thanks

[F. F.]

ZoneAlarm Pro has a Pop-Up Blocker in it... works very nicely.
www.zonelabs.com

[Safari Ary]

Originally posted by Forum Fixer
ZoneAlarm Pro has a Pop-Up Blocker in it... works very nicely.
www.zonelabs.com

This isn't my computer, so I don't wanna d/l and install something if I don't have to. I don't anticipate this problem happening again, if I can stop it from happening, there should be no reason for it to happen again.

[GSequoia]

Take a look though the add/remove programs list. Bet'cha there's something in there that shouldn't be.

Search and destroy, there's a couple I can tip you off on that start popups (not generally porn though)
Comet
Gator
PrecisionTime
Xupitor

There's MANY more.

[ChiXJeff]

Just to make sure........ are the pop-ups you're seeing new browser windows? Or are they Windows messenger service windows (NOT AOLIM, Yahoo IM, etc.?)

Messenger service windows can be stopped by "net stop messenger" or through the Control Panel/Services tool.

[Safari Ary]

I believe they're called messenger windows, i.e. no tool bar at the top and no URL address

[Safari Ary]

Originally posted by ChiXJeff
Messenger service windows can be stopped by "net stop messenger" or through the Control Panel/Services tool.

Is this called "messenger" under the services menu(if it is, I already stopped this)?? I found one program under the add/remove programs, but I'd like to check out any other places as well. Thanks

Ary

[Ted Z]

panicware.com

pop-up stopper free edition

[Safari Ary]

Ok, it happened again, and this one was a browser window. Help guys, I d/l'ed the panicware one just now and installed it, but it says it only does ads, I don't know if it will do the browser windows as well. Thanks again

Ary

[Tucker]

I highly recommend that you get a good "internet cleaner" program. They're available from lots of sources, try this link for more info: http://www.cexx.org/adware.htm

The reason you keep getting the popups is because the offending site has installed spyware/adware on your computer. Popup blockers may stop the symptom temporarily but won't cure the disease. Most of the cleaning programs have a try-before-you-buy option so you can test their effectiveness on your machine.

[Safari Ary]

Thanks Tucker, I ran installed spybot search and destroy, and I think it fixed the problem. Only time will tell, but it says it found like 18 things that weren't supposed to be there. It also fixed the search function problem(if I entered an incorrect url it would take me to a XXX search engine). Thanks guys, I'll report back if I have any more problems.

Ary