Help get me out of popup hell.

I managed to get some kind of bug on my computer. It's launching a popup a minute, to say nothing of the dozens that get blocked. Every now and then, it'll start opening tab after tab in Internet Explorer for no reason whatsoever.

I know. Solution 1: Use AdAware. It found a few cookies and removed them. The problem persists

Solution 2: Use some kind of virus protection: McAfee's Security Center is armed and loaded. I've scanned a few times. It found a few more cookies (the ones no doubt created from the new popups).

Solution 3: Use Firefox. That's what I was using when all of this started. I'm on IE now, where it is, I think, even worse.

Solution 4: Use System Restore. Tried three times. Each time, it went through its paces, restarted, and told me it couldn't restore to that date.

I've never seen it like this. Anybody have any clue?

 

have you tried to block the popups on the IE? There is a button for that.

 

Most of them aren't actually coming up, thanks to the blocker. In history right now (which I cleared 5 minutes ago) there are nine sites listed, from canceriq.org to shopica to willfullsearch.com, none of which I have visited.

But they try to come up even if I'm disconnected. That's how I know it has to be something on the computer itself.

Cookies have been cleared, too, by the way. I've done everything n the book.

 

You can also go to the Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs and scroll down the list for things you don't recognize. You might find things listed like "shop assistant" or "search assistant". They won't say exactly that, but it will be similar.

Good Luck

 

Ragu mentioned SpyBot S&D which is very good. Microsoft also makes a spyware program which is very good(OK, they actually just purchased one made by someone else). You should also download Norton AntiVirus and have that clean out your system.

Simple note: DO NOT REBOOT after installing the programs. Often times the reboot process allows the virus to kill off the program that you just installed.

If the problem persists, what you need to do is press Ctrl+Alt+Del to (assuming you are running WinXP) bring up the Windows Task Manager. Go to the Processes List and click on the column heading Image Name. This will sort all of the running processes alphabetically. Load up a browser and type in Google.com. Using the search engine type in each process, one at a time, and click search. Once you learn what each process does, you can determine which process is the one creating the problems and learn how to delete it by hand.

Lastly, I would suggest you stop visiting those porn sites that advertise free movies.

 

Go to www.cnet.com and search for PanicWare Pop-up Blocker. It's worked for me for years.

 

It sounds like you had the thing called the Vundo. I had it a hear back. Google a link for VundoFix and download it and you should be all set when you run it. It worked wonders for me.

If you can't find the program, PM me and I'll send it to you.

 

This will sound flip, but I don't mean it to: Buy a Mac.

 

Thanks, jgmacg. If I wanted to spend $1,500 to fix the problem, that likely is how I would do it. But

Pastor, I suspect this thing came up while looking for a restaurant's phone number and I wandered into one of those non-Verizon, non-AT&T directories, which unleashed a torrent of Popups and triggered a bunch of McAfee alerts. The alerts went away but the popups didn't.
But thanks for getting my wife (who reads this board to see what I'm posting) all rankled. (P.S. What is this free porn you speak of? Oh, wait, sorry, honey, that wasn't me writing that!)

But thanks for the other info. I've already gone through the Control Panel but there was nothing new there (I did get rid of a few old programs, though) and most of the processes running seemed kosher, best I could tell by Googling them.

I'll try these ideas when I get home tonight. Some of those removal programs sound promising. It's nice to know what's been used before, because I know some of those so-called removal programs only make things worse.

Thanks.

 

It doesn't help you now, but I've found McAfee's SiteAdvisor to be pretty helpful, esp. when running Yahoo/Google searches. It loads a little green/yellow/red icon next to each search result and at the very least tells you which sites to avoid.

 

Install AVG

It will fill in the gaps your other virus programs don't. Plus it's free.