huge pop up problems!!!

compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
27,112
930
126
I went searching on the web, downloaded some anti popup software.

Problem is now 10 fold, and slowing my computer to a crawl. I've never seen so many popups, blowing right thru adzillah, adaware and everything else I have tried. Help! I'm gonna kill this pc soon. It's slowing down to a crawl! :(
 

NikPreviousAcct

No Lifer
Aug 15, 2000
52,763
1
0
Disconnect it from the network. Cut off the connection completely. That may help get you to a point where you can close every program/process/service running that isn't essentially necessary and go from there. :)
 

AnyMal

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
15,780
0
76
Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
Disconnect it from the network. Cut off the connection completely. That may help get you to a point where you can close every program/process/service running that isn't essentially necessary and go from there. :)

While at it, dump IE and try Firefox.
 

compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
27,112
930
126
FFM, uh, why didn't I think of that. Sure...just disconnect from the internet. Excuse me while I shut her down. ;) See ya..nope, guess I won't, but I won't have any popups either. :D

Running Win2k
 

TwiceOver

Lifer
Dec 20, 2002
13,544
44
91
After switching to FireFox, I havn't had any popup problems. Before that with IE I was using Bayden PopupPopper and that worked real well. Adaware and Spybot also help out.
 

TheBoyBlunder

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2003
5,742
1
0
Are they IE popups or messenger popups? If they're messenger popups, kill the messenger service. messenger popups show a website and something like "go to www.biggerwang.com for a larger penis" in a plain text box.
 

Double Trouble

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
9,270
103
106
I just read an article this week about how many of the supposed adware and popup blockers are really just adware and popup creators themselves, like a trojan horse. Step 1, get lavasoft ad-aware and spybot. Install both and have each scan the entire drive. Delete anything they find. Step 2, install FireFox and check the little box in the settings for blocking popups. Done. I haven't seen a popup in years on my PC.....

When I do have to resort every now and again to using IE, I use the google toolbar to prevent the popups and such.
 

Kelemvor

Lifer
May 23, 2002
16,928
8
81
I normally run a double team of Ad-Aware (update it first) followed by SpyBot (again, update it first). This has gotten rid of almost all the pop ups I've had.

Also you can get the google or yahoo IE bars that have pop up blocking built into them.
 

MrBond

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2000
9,911
0
76
His problem isn't popups from websites, it's popups from a program that keeps launching IE with them. It's running in the background. So even if he DOES switch to firefox, it's not going to solve the problem.

I hate to say it, but it might be time to format and reinstall :(. One of my buddy's PC got some popup program, and the effect was exponential, with one program installing others. We'd leave for a 1 hour class and come back and he'd have 60+ popup windows.

I gave his pc my best shot, using AdAware, spybot, and MSConfig with google (to lookup starting processes), I thought I had his PC clean, but an hour or so later the popups started again.

We did a parallel install of his OS, he moved the important stuff over and we nuked the old install.

If you don't want to format, check your starting programs (in the registry, as there's no MSConfig in w2k) and google the names of suspicious stuff. Uncheck it so it doesn't start at boot, reboot, run AdAware and Spybot. Then hit up google again and find uninstall instructions for things that are left over.
 

OZEE

Senior member
Feb 23, 2001
985
0
0
Yup - most of the antipopup, antispyware, neat-little-IE-toolbar-addon, thingies out there right now are trojans and hijackers. You've got to be VERY careful when choosing these products -- check them out before you install them. Spywareinfo.com is a great site for checking these things out and for getting help fixing the problems they cause.

And I've NEVER seen one so badly screwed up that it required a format/reinstall. They can always be fixed. ([rant] Why is everybody so quick to format/reinstall -- that's a horrible way to solve these problems. I've NEVER formatted/reinstalled in professionally working with computers for 15+ years [/rant] ) Again, spywareinfo.com is great for that. If you need help, feel free to p.m. me.