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| Because my Mac is broken completely and the new one I ordered has still not been delivered, I am temporarily using an old Windows PC. Because I only use it for things that can't wait I didn't go into the trouble to purchase Firewalls or virusscanners. It's only for a few days and then this Windows computer is bound to never be used again. Still each 15 minutes or so, Internet Explorer pops up with annoying advertisements. I never use IE (since I hate nearly all MS products), I always use FireFox instead. IE just starts up itself with those ads. The only cause I can think of is that something must have installed itself without my knowing it. What I need to know is an as cheap as possible (preferably free) way to get rid of it. Even though I may be using this machine for only one week from now (if not shorter) it annoys the hell outta me, but I don't want to spend any money into it since because of the short duration this machine will be in use (so $50 will be the ultimate max I want to go to). Do you think it's possible to get rid of those ads that cheap or free, or could I better grin and bear it until my new Mac has arrived? |
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| Can't you install Firefox, Chrome or some other browser to use? |
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| Have you enabled the pop-up blocker? If not do so. In the meantime - download Spybot Search and Destroy - it is free and has real-time protection and can scan for infections. There is a freeware version of Ad-Aware that can scan (like Spybot) for infections, but it does not have real-time protection. |
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| @DIJ I never use IE (since I hate nearly all MS products), I always use FireFox instead. IE just starts up itself with those ads. In other words I already AM a FireFox user, and I still use FireFox even on this crappy machine. It's just that IE starts itself up without my asking. @puki Thanks a lot, I will try that out. I first have to go to my office, and after that I gotta leave, but as soon as I use this machine again, I'll try this. |
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| Possibly adware resides on the computer Trend HouseCall, FREE. http://housecall.trendmicro.com/apac/ AdAware, FREE http://www.lavasoft.com/home.php SpyBot Search & destroy, FREE http://www.spybot.info/ If you've scanned your Windows with above 3 utils and still not solved, I do recommend a clean re-install. |
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| @Tricky It's just that IE starts itself up without my asking. Sorry, missed that bit. Doh |
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| http://superantispyware.com/ is free and fairly effective. |
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| It may not be malware at all. (Unless you want to call Microsoft malware, and you'll get no argument from me!) there used to be a windows messenger service that was on by default. (not to be confused with windows messenger) A lot of popups came through on that until it got disabled. Sounds exactly like what is happening. look here for more info. http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article03-300 |
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| You could also try Malware Bytes. The free version (might be a trial) works quite well at removing some trojans. |
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| The best free and complete anti spyware/add I've tried was Hitman Pro. It is a collection of a broad range of these type of programs that are bundled together. After that, install AVG antivirus and as mentioned, use Firefox instead of IExplore. |
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| why not just uninstall Internet Explorer? |
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| +1 for malware bytes |
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| I don't know if uninstalling IE is a good idea in XP. As for the other suggestions, I'll look into it... And MS Malware.... Well I won't aruge on that one either ;) |
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| Sounds like adware to me, too. We had a computer at my job which kept coming up with popups even when IE wasn't supposedly running, and just would not go away. same thing. |
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| I have uninstalled IE before and had no problem with my other browsers opera and firefox on xp. just make shure you have the xp installation disk incase you want to install it back and there is no need to reinstall the whole operating system. ie: add remove software -> add/remove Windows components - uncheck IE |
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| MalwareBytes is superb. Picks up trojans that AVG missed, and adaware, and spybot. |
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| you have the xp installation disk incase you want to install it back And that's the problem. In my country you get Windows installed on your PC without an installation CD. In other words when you ever need to re-install Windows you're screwed... (as I am, since that PC is very bad off, and the only reason I never reformatted it was because I never got that fucking CD). |
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| +1 for Malware bytes. The best. Lavasoft #2. |
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| you can also download the newest IE version from microsoft. you are correct, most programmers find it daunting to extract the installed operating system key from the operating system, to borrow a copy of a window xp cd or download an iso, download drivers for motherboard and peripherals and install ;). I do that so often that I never considered it to be a problem but now I guess it is. In that case, Ignore me. I hope the "f***ing" was not directed at me. |
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| Tricky (Posted 11 hours ago) #17 you have the xp installation disk incase you want to install it back And that's the problem. In my country you get Windows installed on your PC without an installation CD. In other words when you ever need to re-install Windows you're screwed... (as I am, since that PC is very bad off, and the only reason I never reformatted it was because I never got that fucking CD). Any chance somebody in charge could do something about such profanity? |
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| In other words when you ever need to re-install Windows you're screwed. In most situations, the PC would have a (hidden?) recovery partition that you can boot from by selecting its option by activation the boot menu options -- as long as the harddrive doesn't physically conk out on you, you can restore the system back to the factory defaults by that. (Under Vista you also have the ability to create a recovery CD from within windows itself, but that isn't present in XP) |
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| yes, alot of new computers haved that. Some computers(xp) give you a nag to create the recovery cds/dvds until you do it. you can just guess how many owners actually take the time to do it. Out of like 12 computers I had to restore all of them the operating system was still asking if they wanted to create the recover disks. All desided to ignore it. all of them full of adware malware and viruses and corrupt operating system. unable to creat recovery from that. |
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| @GaryV Profanity? I'm not in the mood for crap like that over one f****g word. It only harmed you because you wanted to be harmed by it. Get a life. (I've seen what true profanity is. Once you saw that you'd never dare to touch the internet again if this already hurts you). @xlsior I'll have to look that up if that's the case on that PC. It is XP what I'm running on that machine BTW. And since that PC is very extremely old, I don't dare to install Vista on it. I think that machine just can't take it. @Jesse I was never prompted to create that CD. I would have created it if I was prompted to. And I'm afraid I won't be able to do that now, despite the state of that PC. The CD recorder that in there is one of the worst kind you can imagine. It never produces a CD succesfully. :( I hope the "f***ing" was not directed at me. No. Rather to the fact that I bought that machine at a computer store I never want to visit again. I use that word very scarcely toward fellow forum visitors and it was certainly not directed at you. |
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| @GaryV Forum rules exist for a reason and they have nothing to do with me. Profanity? I'm not in the mood for crap like that over one f****g word. It only harmed you because you wanted to be harmed by it. Get a life. |
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