Hi,

I currently have Trend-micro Pc-cillin and Spysweeper but in the last 2 months neither of these programs seem to do anything against the frequent pop-ups that appear when I'm using the computer. I also run Ad-aware but it doesn't help.

If you are happy with with your anti-virus/ spyware programs and have been using them for a while, could you give me their name?.

Thanks!!!

Maria, do you have the Google toolbar installed? Besides being able to do a Google search from any web page you are on, it also has a wonderful pop up stopper feature. I haven't seen a pop up in years!

You can download the tool bar here and there are a host of other features you can choose from to add to the tool bar such as spell check that even works on your posts here at LCT! Just make sure to choose the pop up stopper feature when setting up the features that you want.

Thanks Karen,

Where am I supposed to see this toolbar? I downloaded it and I don't see it anywhere in my screen.

Maria, it should be at the top of your screen where the red arrow is pointing on mine in the picture below. Next to the search box, there is are three little windows, that is the pop up stopper and then next to that, the "abc" with the green check is the spell checker.

Ok, now I see it. Mine is next to the address/search box and it hides the other options ( like popup blocker, spellcheck, etc.). I wonder if these features are still working even if they are hidden?

Thanks

Maria, you can move the tool bar by dragging it down below your browsers address box, so it looks like mine does. This gives you more room to type in both boxes and so you can see what features are on your Google bar.

Right-click on a blank part of the toolbar, uncheck "Lock the
Toolbars", now you can drag the Google toolbar up or down and place it next to any
other toolbar.

Karen, You're such a good geek! :nw:

LOL Kim, I have a feeling that I am only a fraction of the geek that you are and I mean that as a compliment!!

Karen,

I'll try your patience one more time. I unlocked the toolbar( i got that far). Now ( and I'm sure this is a stupid question) how do I "drag" it?

Maria, that's what I am here for! Ask as many questions as you would like.

After you unlock the toolbar, look to the left of the word "Google" on the search bar and you will see a vertical line. Left click on the vertical line and hold down the mouse button while dragging the whole tool bar to where you want it.

Let me know if you need a picture to demonstrate what I am talking about :)

Hi Karen,

I did it!!! Thank you for walking me through it!. Now, if only those pesky advertisements stopped poping-up !!

In the toolbar help section they talk about malicious programs embedded and give some suggestions as to how to tackle them( apparently, the google tool bar can't do anything)

Thank you again!

Maria, are you sure you have the pop up blocker installed on the tool bar? You should see the little 3 window icon on the bar.

You should not be seeing any pop ups at all now unless you have a more serious problem. There is some malware that is going around that several of my friends got on their computers. Tons of pop ups everytime the load a webpage and this same critter also would hijack their browser. They would log onto one of their favorite websites but be hijacked to "party poker" or something like that. If this is what is happening to you, it is very hard to get rid of!

I am very proud of you for mastering the moving of your tool bar, though!

Editing to add: You might want to run these two microsoft progams.

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool


Then download this one and install it:

Microsoft Windows defender

I use spybot search and destroy and spyware blaster which "innoculates" your computer against known adware, etc.

Karen - great job explaining things!! :D

Maria - sure hope that this takes care of the problem.

Masaki

Hi Karen,

Yes, I have that icon and it must be blocking something because it has a count of 23.

Yes!! That's what I have ! Party poker, casinos, sale of ringtones,etc., etc.!!

I'll try the other things you suggest.

Thank you again!

Hi Masaki,

Yes, isn't Karen great? She has the patience of a saint!

Hi Arlene,

I already used spybot. I have spyware blaster loaded somewhere in my computer but maybe I need to run it manually? Is the one you have the free one you download?

Thanks,

Kim and Masaki, I think Maria's problem might be a trojan. Do either of you have any recommendations for a good free trojan cleaning program?

Hi Karen,

I ran the "Microsoft Malicious software removal" and it tells me that I have no problems ! LOL!

If you (or anybody else) think of anything please let me know. Thanks!!

Hummmm..... I'll ask the real expert in the house tonight, but offer Ad-Aware as an option.

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,7423,00.asp

Kim

Kim, I was looking more for for a dedicated trojan program rather than one for adware. I will search around a bit more and see what I can find.

Maria - did you also install Windows Defender as well? Did that scan and also show no problem? When was the last time you updated your PC-cillin?

I still think that this is an adware problem rather than a trojan. Trying Ad-aware as well certainly can't hurt (rated #1 recently by CNET as best antispyware).

Masaki

Hi Masaki,

Yes, I did install Defender and it also didn't detect anything. The PC-cillin gets updated in real time as new components are available (I think the last time was yesterday).

I also have the latest Ad-aware and run it everyday . I have the free version. I don't know if the paid version is supposed to be better?

I must have a really imbedded infection!

Maria, I refuse to give up just yet! There is an online virus scanner that sometimes catches things that our own virus programs don't. Let's try a scan on that first, then we will do a trojan scan, just in case.

housecall online scan

After that scan, try this one next:

Online trojan scanner

Let us know the results from those two scans.

Thanks Karen,

The house call is the Trend-Micro PCcillin which is the free version of my antivirus.

I'm trying to run The trojan scanner but there appears to be something in my internet settings that is not letting it scan. I'll try to look at their directions more carefully and see if I can figure it out.

Thank you so much for your help!

Maria, still try the PCcillian online scan, many people report that if finds things that their paid-for version doesn't.

Maria - the paid Ad-aware isn't really all that much different except for live updates. You have build 1.06r1 with definition file SE1R105 26.04.2006?

This has me stumped. Hard to diagnose any further without access to the machine itself.

Masaki

Hi Karen,

I have tried several times today to run the PCcillin free online scan and always in the middle of it I lose my internet connection! Now I'm paranoid that whatever bug I have is interfering with the internet connection as well.

Hi Masaki,

Thanks for letting me know that. I'll keep running it once or twice a day. It certainly doesn't hurt anything. I'm stumped too! I might have to bite the bullet and take the computer to a "Computer Dr." of some sorts!

Hi Karen,

This is all very interesting. My virus software found a Trojan on 2 of my computers and it's been quarantined. I would love to get rid of it and thought I would give the Trojan software above a try. When I try to run it the thing says I need an Active-X enabled to run correctly. I thought I downloaded an active-x on the first two Microsoft programs you posted but apparently something is wrong. How do I enable the Active-X?

Thanks for the help, you are a wealth of information.

KarenM

Karen,
Here is the easiest way to see if your ActiveX is installed. Go to PC Pitstop and you will be prompted to download something. This is one of my favorite PC sites so you don't have to worry about accepting the download.
It will then tell you if you have it installed. If you don't, it will prompt you as to what to do next.

I've used Norton for years and also use AdAware. However, neither of these do much about popups. I use Netscape vice Internet Explorer, but they both have a popup manager under tools. I haven't had a popup in years by activating the popup manager.

Doug, the pop ups that Maria has been getting aren't your normal pop ups and can't be stopped by a pop up stopper. This is more of an infection that takes over your browser and forces you to view the same set of pop ups over and over again. In some cases they even hijack your browser, for instance, if you click on LCT, you end up at some casino site instead.

Hi Karen,

Yes, you sure have diagnosed it correctly!

Finally I was able to use the Trojan program you linked to and it found some stuff and cleaned it. But guess what?

Those pesky pop ups are still here :( !

They haven't (yet) hijacked my browser. I hope it doesn't get to that! I'm going to call the TrendMicro people on Monday( they have free phone support) and see if they can help.

Thank you for your help!

Maria, I wish you luck, I sure hope you get your problem solved!!

Thank You Karen!

Maria, do you use Yahoo or MSN Messenger? If so the popups might be coming from them. The fix is real easy:

1. Bring up Control Panel, select Administrative Tools.

2. Select Services

3. Double-click on Messenger from the list

4. In the Messenger Properties window, select stop, then choose Disable as the startup type.

5. Click Ok

That worked for me and I was getting deluged with popups.

KarenM