pop up hell----help needed

[mrw]

somewhere I picked up something that is causing pop ups all over my laptop.

I have run Ad-aware and spybot without success.

When i boot up, I get a message that Window Defender has been disabled. i have tried to reinstall Defender but i keep getting an error message.

On the interweb, I get constant pop ups and icons appear on my desk top

Am I screwed or is there some program somewhere that will stop this?

Thanks, Mark

[squirrelmurphy]

reinstall windows. works every time

[Staggerwing]

Start here.

It's an old thread, but should be enough to get you started.

[Blatant]

get a mac

[Free Range Lobster]

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

download
post log

[RShea]

The pop-ups mean that you have some rogue software probably installed that are causing them. You can try a few other tools like AVG Anti-spyware, or as mentioned HiJack This and provide the log to a person that knows what they are doing, what is needed and what can be removed. First thing you can also do is go to the control panel and open add/remove programs. Take a look at the list and anything that you do not know what it is, google it and see if it comes up as a problem (like abetterinternet, WhenU, etc.) But you have to identify what the program is. Another good (free trial will not remove anything though does give you a list) scanner is MWav from mtwi.com.
You can also run msconfig and try and disable items from the start up items there and see if you are running better.

http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showforum=18
is another good link and site that offers tips and help.

[AsheanMT]

You need firefox!!

[birdman829]

If all the other stuff you try fails then I would also advocate reinstalling windows. I usually reboot windows once or twice a year even if I'm not having problems.

[Cirquerider]

First of all, hit cntrl alt delete to bring up task manager. Look at the process tab and report all processes that are running. If you can, search all processes you can't identify and terminate suspected spyware/viruses. This might get Defender back online. Anyway, once you know what processes are running, post the list here and someone will recognize the culprit.

Option 2: go to www.trendmicro.com and run their free scan. I use PCCillin Internet Security, and it seems to intercept these problems pretty well.

[Crass3000]

or as mentioned HiJack This and provide the log to a person that knows what they are doing, what is needed and what can be removed. .

HiJack This was the only program that worked for me in a similar situation. the pop-up was for an anti-virus program and scanned your computer and told you you had spyware and wanted you to purchase their program.

Edit: You have to be VERY careful with HiJack This as you can easily delete things you don't want to. As mentioned above its best to provide the log to someone who knows how to analyze it.

[Telepath]

Firefox works great for me. Have had like 2 unwanted pop-ups since converting something like 1.5 years ago (and that while spending ridiculous amounts of time browsing all kinds of sites). Ease to allow the pop-ups that I do want to work as well. Only use IE to check performance of new web projects etc. no, never use it for anything else.

[Tuckerman]

I would vote for Firefox also. Oh and what's a pop up?

[Free Range Lobster]

Firefox isn't going to magically make the popups go away.
Post a hijackthis log and I'll tell you what to do or to just get a new computer.

[Nobody Famous]

Another vote for Hijack This > Post Log > Delete what experts say. Good place to post log is here: http://forums.spywareinfo.com > Malware Removal forum

[mrw]

thanks guys. a friend of mine went in and extracted all kinds of bs from my hard drive. I am pop up free as of now. i don't know if it is just some kind of open door in my computer but if I turn on my computer and then log on here directly and then run symantec anti virus corp edition, it always finds something it labels a virus and removes it. Cookies? or is something floating around in here?

[Free Range Lobster]

don't worry about cookies.

you probably clicked on the wrong thing or installed say... limewire.

if you don't have it already
install:

Windows Defender
ad-aware

Defender will run on its own in the background like AV and catch MOST crap.
and ad-aware usually picks up one or two things that defender missed (run it once a week or so.. FULL scan.. its going to find every garbage cookie so don't freak out)

There is some spyware that no scanner will remove... ie: smitfraud vundo etc. if you get something along those lines then you need to use specialized tools made to remove the specific spyware.

[fez]

also process explorer formerly of sysinternals (now microsoft ) kicks the windows task manager's ass at least a hundred different ways.

[RShea]

If you do a scan after visiting this site, what does it report finding? If the friend is not well versed in cleaning there still could be something hanging around that is not completely removed. There are no issues that I am aware of with this site and if it is only a cookie, unless it is tracking your visits to other sites and attempting to redirect you it is harmless.

As for the comments on Firefox, yes it helps protect your computer because it is not as open as Internet Explorer for things like Active X, etc. but if the user is getting pop-ups that is because of having issues and blocking them only masks the underlying issues, it does not solve the problem. Internet Explorer has pop-up blocking and 3rd party stuff like google tool bar or Yahoo's tool bar will block po-ups from sites too. But if there are a mess of them (and not just a single site- such as weather.com which has a regular pop-up of ads etc.) Running Firefox after the pop-ups start will be like sticking a bandage on a cut after it is infected and looking nasty so you don't have to look at it any more- it is not going to help much with the infection.

The pop-ups that are more dangerous are the ones like the false spyware that try and sell you crap software to remove them, or ones that direct you to less than reputable search engine web sites and it is because there is software installed on the computer tracking or doing stuff that it should not- again like abetterinternet, etc.)

Now that the computer seems better, read through the site link for spywareinfo.com how not to get infected discussions so you know what to do now so in the future the system is protected.

[haydukelives]

peer-guardian in the block http mode shows really stops a lot of shit, and shows you whats happening in the background,( but it also stops some connections that you want, and you have to manually allow those)