Random popups out of nowhere

[cant think of a user name]

Does anyone else get random popup adverts, on sites that don't normally have popups? I think it's some dodgy adware/spyware crap on my computer, and I've tried using the latest version of Ad-aware but it didn't seem to get rid of it.

Any suggestions, please?

 

[squirrels]

Also download Spybot: Search and Destroy and give that a whack. Make sure your definitions are up to date in both that AND Ad-Aware.

Does anything keep showing up on Ad-Aware on a regular basis even though you're running scans at a regular interval?

Also If you hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE and go into task manager and look at the "processes", do you have lots of things that look like they shouldn't be there? Usually in all caps and a weird mix of letters and numbers like WU0Q.EXE and AD6F9VB.EXE and stuff like that? (Granted a lot of the names on that list look weird, but you'll know what I'm talking about if you see it)

If so, you might have the Peper trojan. Those EXEs actually connect to remote machines and download other spyware/open popups. Usually porn popups.

 

[cant think of a user name]

Does anything keep showing up on Ad-Aware on a regular basis even though you're running scans at a regular interval?

Yeah, a bunch of tracking cookies seem to repeatedly appear like:

obj[0]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[1]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[2]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[3]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/

obj[1]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/




Usually the popups go to places like:

(NOT RECOMMENDED YOU CLICK ON THOSE LINKS IN CASE THEY INSTALL MORE CRAP ON YOUR COMPUTER)
http://540.scmg.net/randomsites/pages/27.html
http://540.scmg.net/randomsites/pages/28.html


So far I've downloaded and used Ad-aware SE v1.06, Spywareblaster, VX2cleaner and ServiceFilter. the popups remain.

Also If you hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE and go into task manager and look at the "processes", do you have lots of things that look like they shouldn't be there?

The processes look fine, doesnt seem to be anything suspicious in there.

Also download Spybot: Search and Destroy

Will do so now. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[cant think of a user name]

Spybot found this:

Blazefind.Bridge
DyFuCA
Download Accelerator Plus ads
DSO Exploit

It also asked to change the registry by deleting bridge.dll and some other stuff. Is that safe?

 

[Evil-Rom]

Don't use Internet Explorer.

 

[cant think of a user name]

Originally posted by Evil-Rom
Don't use Internet Explorer.

Good idea, but if I merely just stop using Internet Explorer, wouldn't that adware crap still be on the computer and cause more popups with the new browser? Or is this only an IE thing?

Man I'm thinking of formatting the computer to get rid of that crap!

 

[Evil-Rom]

Originally posted by cant think of a user name
Good idea, but if I merely just stop using Internet Explorer, wouldn't that adware crap still be on the computer and cause more popups with the new browser? Or is this only an IE thing?

Man I'm thinking of formatting the computer to get rid of that crap!

Yes the spyware will still be on your computer but it will prevent further spyware from easily infecting your computer. Most likely it IS an Internet Explorer thing.

You should try booting in Safe mode and then running the spyware cleaning tools.

Oh, http://www.io.com/~cwagner/spyware/

 

[diablo]

http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?act=SC&c=26

These people will get you clean in no time. Read and follow the forum rules before posting, as they don't take kindly to people who don't specifically go through the normal process to get help.

 

[bangoker]

i personally downloaded Spybot, Spyware Doctor and Ad-aware

each one found different thins the others didnt.

TOTAL: about 300 freaking spyware files

all cleaned up

I you do deciede to chance browser, (which you should do) I would recommen Mozilla's Firefox, really simple looks, very much like IE (just in the looks) but faster and much more secure.

if you want something else, theres also Opera, i also like it, but it has a little bit too many things for some people ( like ICQ and MSN many loved ICQ..some just never understood it, it had too many things )

 

[MetalFortress]

YES, DOWNLOAD FIREFOX

My sister uses MSIE, and when I ran Ad-Aware SE on her comp (first full system scan on her comp, although I ran smart scans with AA6), I found over 2,200 spybots with it. I found 900 a month later.

I use FF, and when I ran Ad-Aware SE on mycomp (first full system scan on my comp, although I ran smart scans with AA6), I found 760 spybots with it. Since then, all I've found is a couple tracking cookies.

 

[Bilogomja]

are you using internet explorer? I'd switch to something like mozilla firefox or opera as a net browser (I use Opera and it blocks all pop-ups)

 

[cant think of a user name]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

- I have switched for Mozilla Firefox instead of the other browsers, since this one is only a 4.7mb download. So far there have been none of those annoying popups on this browser.

- Evil Rom: That article scares me. Don't wanna use Internet Explorer again!

- diablo: that forum sure looks like a lot of work, wouldn't it be easier just to reformat the computer (j/k) .... I'm checking it out now.

Spybot even prevented me from downloading adware from the MICROSOFT HOTMAIL WEBSITE. Oh dear.

 

[Omega]

www.mozilla.com

Firefox is your friend.

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

spyware doctor did the trick for me, it is really good, you can download it as freeware online, and just so you know how good i is, the spywaye i had saved undeltabe files on the system registry, i went in manualy and could not delte them, they just reapeared,and the spyware got rid of it.

on second thoughts if i had deleted it manualy and then turned off the pc by unplugging it, with out using the internet after i delte the files, i think it would have deleted, because these files, if you delte them and then use the internet again they reapear and this could on be because the files are stored in RAM when you switch the computer on. RAM is volatile memory so it will be lost if you turn the pc off before the RAM replicates the files back on to the registry.

 

[cant think of a user name]

I did an online scan using Panda Activescan and it found a couple of STRANGE .exe files in C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer. They have been deleted.

I've tested out Internet Explorer and so far there have been no more random popups, but I'm still using Firefox to be safe from further internet junk.

Thanks for the links and suggestions everyone.

 

[Chrispy]

Originally posted by cant think of a user name
Does anyone else get random popup adverts, on sites that don't normally have popups? I think it's some dodgy adware/spyware crap on my computer, and I've tried using the latest version of Ad-aware but it didn't seem to get rid of it.

Any suggestions, please?

1) download 'ad-aware' to clean up your system
2) use opera.com - it's a better browser and you can prevent pop-ups from loading on sites.

 

[Eventide]

Ok heres what to do:

First, go to your internet settings (from the control panel, or open IE and select Tools -> internet options)

On the first tab, delete all cookies, files, and clear history. This does not actually get rid of anything, but will make ad-aware scan faster.

On the second tab, security, set everything to the default level and remove anything from trusted sites that you did not put there yourself -- normall this should be empty.

On the next tab, privacy, make sure its set to default.

Then, on the final tab, Advanced, hit "Restore Defaults"

What this does is makes Ad-Aware scan faster and makes sure IE has relativley safe privacy settings.


Next, download Ad-Aware and Spybot. Install them, and UPDATE THE DATS.

Shut down your computer and boot into safe mode (hit F8 after the bios screen but before the windows screen).

First, run spybot. Be sure to use the immunize feature as well. Next, run Ad-Aware. Do a "Full System Scan."

Then reboot your computer, and download and install all windows updates. If your computer is pre-SP2 you will probably need to visit the windows update site two or three times (a reboot before each time) to get all the updates.

Next, download and install firefox as a precautionary measure

 

[Silquee Smoove]

Chrispy and Bilogomja: it's nice to know that there are fellow Opera users in the house, I think the Mozilla/Firefox crowd are becoming a damn cult.

One other thing about I.E. that you should know is that since Microsoft isn't keeping it updated like Opera/Mozilla programmers do, if you click on a link that has a malicious script to it, it is possible to FORMAT your whole hard drive even if you didn't know that the link was bad.

http://www.opera.com