I have been having problems with 'pop ups' for sometime, however, recently the pop ups are of an unpleasant nature - too unpleasant to discuss How can I stop these images, I have Norton Antivirus installed.

Do they appear when you're visiting certain websites, or just at random?

First: Remove Norton antivirus (or could it be called a virus?).

 

Second: Install something less crappy. You can buy Nod32, or get a fairly good free antivirus called Avast Antivirus Home Edition. I use the free antivirus personally, and I've never used Nod32, but I've heard it's superior to most antivirus programs. So who knows.

 

Third: Download Ad-aware SE. You may have a spyware problem

 

Fourth: Use Firefox. Althoug recently it's been lagging far behind in popup blocking, it should block most non-updated websites from giving you pop-ups. As well as better security and a wide-range of stuff.

First: Remove Norton antivirus (or could it be called a virus?).

 

Second: Install something less crappy. You can buy Nod32, or get a fairly good free antivirus called Avast Antivirus Home Edition. I use the free antivirus personally, and I've never used Nod32, but I've heard it's superior to most antivirus programs. So who knows.

Norton is not a terrible program. I've had problems with it myself, but it really isn't that bad.

 

Third: Download Ad-aware SE. You may have a spyware problem

That or Spybot Search and Destroy. Both are good products.

 

Fourth: Use Firefox. Althoug recently it's been lagging far behind in popup blocking, it should block most non-updated websites from giving you pop-ups. As well as better security and a wide-range of stuff.

Indeed. Although if you find popups it can't block, go file a bug.

Do they appear when you're visiting certain websites, or just at random?

 

Random

virus or adware then. run a full sweep with an AV and adaware and spybot and use firefox or opera or some other browser apart from IE

do they appear only when your online, or when your offline too?

 

AVG antispyware is a pretty damn good one... its free for a month (long enough to get rid of the infection, if you scan with it and an anti-virus)

 

browser-hijackers usually show up in HIjackThis, so if you want, if the scans done work you could download it, make a log and post it up. i dont mind looking thru it, and im sure others could spot the problem from a hjt log.

do they appear only when your online, or when your offline too?

 

AVG antispyware is a pretty damn good one... its free for a month (long enough to get rid of the infection, if you scan with it and an anti-virus)

 

browser-hijackers usually show up in HIjackThis, so if you want, if the scans done work you could download it, make a log and post it up. i dont mind looking thru it, and im sure others could spot the problem from a hjt log.

 

online only

Cheers - I'll give all suggestions a go

oh yeah, depending on exactly how 'too unpleasant to discuss' the images are, you might want to drop the urls of the sites being opened to this site: http://www.iwf.org.uk/

 

if you have the url from which you were infected, pm it to me and i'll pass it on to some researchers.

 

please do not get confused, and send me the urls to the porn.

I have to say, I've tried a lot of things but the best so far has been to use a hosts file that blocks a whole bunch of blacklisted sites. I HIGHLY recommend it. The one I used is http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm (if you see a bunch of “Unable to Connect” messages in place of banner ads, you know the file is working)

That or Spybot Search and Destroy. Both are good products.

 

I have both and frequently only one of them sees a certain problem. Together they work well.

 

About virus software... I've had Macafee (however you spell it), Norton (both incredibly slow), and AVG , but I've never actually found a virus. I don't even use a virus program anymore... do I really need one?

 

Anyway, when I get infected I know there's no way I can get everything. I always re-install Windows, but that's probably just because I'm crazy. (That's probably why I don't need antivirus ). Everything I need is in my bookmarks (on a server off site using a bookmark synchronizer), my documents (google docs), and other random files (usb drive).

oh yeah, depending on exactly how 'too unpleasant to discuss' the images are, you might want to drop the urls of the sites being opened to this site: http://www.iwf.org.uk/

 

if you have the url from which you were infected, pm it to me and i'll pass it on to some researchers.

 

Cheers

 

please do not get confused, and send me the urls to the porn.

 

Now how did you guess I was talking about porn!!

virus or adware then. run a full sweep with an AV and adaware and spybot and use firefox or opera or some other browser apart from IE

 

I have just downloaded firefox -maybe a silly question but should there be an icon to show that i have installed it ok?

Did you run the installer as well?

Did you run the installer as well?

 

 

 

ah, best do that then - cheers

Norton is not a terrible program. I've had problems with it myself, but it really isn't that bad.

 

I beg to differ. Norton has been listed by many as the worst antivirus ever seen. I've used numerous versions of norton in the days prior to firefox. Not only does norton hog massive amounts of CPU, RAM, HD space, etc, but it also collapse under it's own bloat.

 

Here's a link on it: http://my.opera.com/eztigma/blog/show.dml/155547

 

EDIT: and one more, read the user comments: http://www.castlecops.com/r235-Norton_AntiVirus.html

 

Really, I know of nobody that uses norton after they've tried Avast. There is also AVG, but it's been falling behind for some time (sadly). You can google for other information about norton. While it may not "seem" so bad, it's like those that say IE isn't that bad. They've yet to experience something better to make them realize how bad it is.

 

 

By the way: Spybot S&D is sort of slow with updating. Personally I haven't seen anything S&D detects that ad-aware does not. Plus, ad-aware has a better (and less buggy) search method. I've had a few bug-issues with spybot personally. Not sure if they've been resolved, though.

 

About virus software... I've had Macafee (however you spell it)' date=' Norton (both incredibly slow), and AVG , but I've never actually found a virus. I don't even use a virus program anymore... do I really need one?

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Yes you do. An anti-virus program is there "just in case". Avast, for instance, has almost no impact on system resources. Anti-virus programs normally aim for that (the good one) so that their autoprotect feature doesn't make people want to puke.

 

Anyway, when I get infected I know there's no way I can get everything. I always re-install Windows, but that's probably just because I'm crazy. (That's probably why I don't need antivirus ). Everything I need is in my bookmarks (on a server off site using a bookmark synchronizer), my documents (google docs), and other random files (usb drive).

 

You'd be surprised. Do you just reinstall windows? Or do you format? If you got a serious virus, reinstalling windows wouldn't do jack.

There is more to computer security than a simple re-install. If it was that easy, why would there be anti-virus programs? Anti-virus programs protect you from the worst viruses that may try to pelt your computer.

so far so good - thanks for ALL the suggestions and advice