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I am having a problem with sometype of 'spyware' program being installed on my computer after visiting this site. I could be wrong, but I run Ad-Aware at least twice a day to keep these things off my computer and recently the only site i visited after running Ad-Aware was this one and the popups were back.

Cheapy D, i was hoping you could answer this as to if something on this site installs on my computer everytime i visit.

Thanks.

maybe somebody pm'ed you? i never have popups from this site...

Nope, no popups, spyware or anything of that sort here.

Maybe Adaware missed something...

Download Spybot...neither Spybot nor AdAware catch all the spyware by themselves, but together it pretty much scans everything. I know this is directed at CheapyD, but I can assure you it's not from this site. You picked it up somewhere else.

You may also want to run a virus scan. AVG and F-Prot are both free, as well as the one run off Symantec's website. You could've picked it up via email attachment.

WSB hit it right on the nose. You may want to try microsoft's free popup blocker and search toolbar. They are giving it away free of charge. Ironic? Yea, but it's their shitty browser so they'd better do something about it!

Originally Posted by daphatty WSB hit it right on the nose. You may want to try microsoft's free popup blocker and search toolbar. They are giving it away free of charge. Ironic? Yea, but it's their shitty browser so they'd better do something about it!

Better yet, download the Google toolbar. It blocks popups too, and the search is MUCH more useful.

Don't you have to eventually pay for the google bar?

Make sure you upgrade ad-aware. I recently had spyware and I ran ad-aware and I thought everything was gone, but then it came back. I then upgraded ad-aware and it got rid of everything. Now my comp is back to normal.

Originally Posted by Togepy Make sure you upgrade ad-aware. I recently had spyware and I ran ad-aware and I thought everything was gone, but then it came back. I then upgraded ad-aware and it got rid of everything. Now my comp is back to normal.

Upgraded or Updated? There is a big difference. Updating the reference file is VERY important. That's how ad-aware knows what to look for. The more current, the more it will find.

Update. Definitely attempt to update AdAware and Spybot [and your virus scanners] at *least* once a week, if not more.
Definitely run them both--AA always catches something SB doesn't and vice versa.
Check your Add/Remove programs listing, see if there's anything wacky that self-installed in there.

I'll try these. Thanks. And its not popups from this site... its when i visit any site, a popup appears.

Where can i get this internet explorer popup blocker.

Yep it is not from this site, this is like my base of operations type thing. I now have it as my home page since I'm here more than any site

My brother-in-law had this problem, but that is cause he shared his comp with a bunch of friends, and they would visit porn sites and all type of sites and would say yes everytime something offered to download on his computer. I just told him to start from scratch because I didn't know about certain programs out there. If anything you can do what I did to his computer, put in the starter disk and well re-install everything as new, just back-up what you want. It works fine now, and he is more careful who uses his computer.

Originally Posted by daphatty Upgraded or Updated? There is a big difference. Updating the reference file is VERY important. That's how ad-aware knows what to look for. The more current, the more it will find.

Ya, I meant update, sorry.

Originally Posted by WhipSmartBanky You may also want to run a virus scan. AVG and F-Prot are both free, as well as the one run off Symantec's website. You could've picked it up via email attachment.

In another topic, you mentioned you use AVG anti-virus, so I decided to check it out. Since it was free, it couldn't hurt to try it out. After scanning the computer, it found 1 virus and removed it from the computer.

I also recommened it to my cousin, who had been experiencing a bunch of errors ever since he receieved the computer from a friend. It didn't shut down properly, and everything was just out of whack. After running the scan, it detected over 15 viruses on his computer and removed all of them. His computer is funtioning much better now.

Thanks for the great deal WhipSmartBanky. :wink:

Did you know it scored higher than Norton AntiVirus 2004 and McAfee VirusScan 2004 in the March issue of Maximum PC? I guess free is better.

Originally Posted by sman113 I am having a problem with sometype of 'spyware' program being installed on my computer after visiting this site. I could be wrong, but I run Ad-Aware at least twice a day to keep these things off my computer and recently the only site i visited after running Ad-Aware was this one and the popups were back. Cheapy D, i was hoping you could answer this as to if something on this site installs on my computer everytime i visit. Thanks.

wow... this is amazing. i just did that "what type of robot are you?" thing and now i have like 177 objects on my computer!!! damn... kinda depressing. i just did a scan this morning with ad aware and spybot my computer was spyware-free! now, this damn spyware will not come off my computer! everytime i run spybot, more spyware pops up! ARGH! so frustrating! it keeps changing my webpages and pop ups are non-stop! any help? :(

Originally Posted by daphatty Don't you have to eventually pay for the google bar?

Nope, 110% free.

110% free?
Does that mean they pay us to use it?
Regardless, it's worth it--that's one of the first things I add to a new/reformatted computer. Of course, on my home PC I've started using FireFox, since IE crashes at will.
Regarding getting lots of spyware: Ironically, just because SPybot and/or Ad-Aware find things, doesn't mean they're spyware technically.
Spyware, officially, is a program that runs and sends info back to a certain website, without your knowing it. 'Spyware' in and of itself is generally considered 'bad': usually self-installs, or is linked to the install of something you actually want, and runs unnoticed. Sometimes that's a good thing [Diskkeeper], sometimes it's not [spyware.]
Adware is not the same thing as spyware. Some privacy groups link them together, but they are different--Ad-ware is ad-supported software. Eudora, for instance, is [or can be] adware. I get free software, they show banner/inline/embedded ads. I don't have a problem with that. Sometimes, the methods they use to determine which ads to send you, can be classified as spyware, and that's bad, but adware in and of itself isn't necessarily bad.
And of course we've got cookies--Spybot and AdAware catch most cookies that are associated with the well-known spy companies. But again, a cookie in and of itself is not a bad thing--actually they are very helpful and save a lot of time. They are what allow you to jump right into CAG without logging in each time.

Doraemonkerpal: If you're *still* getting popups, after running Spybot and AdAware, something is definitely wrong. Are you on a Windows machine? If so, shut down all the running programs you have in your system tray/task bar, try hitting ctrl-alt-del and see what is running in your task manager. If you're not sure what something is, search for it on Google or mention it here. You may have got some program that's running in the background and sending you that crap.
Have you installed any software recently, especially stuff you downloaded? Have you visited any, er, adult entertainment or not-so-legal software sites? Those are legendary for wanting to install crap on computers--so I've heard. Or have you opened any emails with attachments recently?
It is depressing, the *$*$ virus writers, spyware makers, hackers, slammers, spammers, keep one step ahead of honest folk, and cost everyone who uses the internet untold amounts of money and time. I think virus writing/releasing and spamming should be federal capital offenses. I'd gladly pull the switch on those scumbags, especially the 'holier than thou' ones who say 'I'm just running a business' and then get mad when the tables turn and their info gets released.

Avant Browser has a built in popup blocker and it has its own windows for pages, I suggest trying it out.

I use firefox as my browser and only see popups when i wanna see them. This browser is great, you migh wanna try it out.

thanks for the heads up dtscarson. i didn't visit any porno sites or anything like that. the site i visited was the "what kind of robot are you" and damn... all this stuff just started to happen. it sucks b/c i'm on a brand new work computer and now i have this problem. my homepage keeps changing, all this junk keeps popping up on my desktop and my favorites folder is all out of wack and full of junk too. i've run ad-aware, spybot at least 20 times each. i've re-installed them b/c it seemed that everytime i ran spybot, everything would get worse. i've done the ctrl-alt-del and nothing was running in the background. i've also went into the add/remove programs and removed all the programs that i didn't recognize. last but not least, i've run a virus scan from pandasoftware's website. after all this, i've gotten everything to disappear except for the homepage changing. plus, now all my favorites folders are screwed up... that's no problem to me though as long as i can get rid of this one last thing! man... i'm getting crazy frustrated over here. i'm not necessarily a noob when it comes to computers (i used to work at computer shows), but i am a novice when it comes to offensive spyware like this. :(