empty popup windows

[Fran Dales]

Why am I getting empty windows opening all the time when
I'm in explorer? The window is always empty, and the
window titles are as follows:

"www.system-update.net/popups/old/popup#.htm"

with the # being a number that changes with each pop up.

I have Windows XP Home Edition, and my home page is
Google, but it doesn't seem to matter what page I'm on
when these popups happen. Sometimes I come back to my
desk after a few minutes and find 6 or 8 popups have
opened!

 

[purplehaz]

Sounds like spyware or a home page hijacker.

Run these tools weekly
spybot -- http://www.safer-networking.org/
ad-aware -- http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
HiJackThis - http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/



And always have a firewall installed and running at all times.

 

[Guest]

I have a firewall running - but you need a degree of some
sort to know what the heck it's doing! So for the
average person like myself, it's just a nuisance, rather
than a help, because I don't know what it means when it
does send me messages (which it doesn't do regarding the
popups, even though it says it's running the firewall and
protecting me). :-(


I think you are right about a home page hijacker. When I
open explorer, it doesn't go to my home page, I just get
a blank screen, until I click on refresh. When I looked
into this I found that it would require doing some
changes to the Registry to get rid of this, but I'm not
willing to tackle that. Too dangerous. I can't afford
to be out of commission if I mess up! So I guess the
answer is that I'll have to put up with the pop ups, so
long as that's all it is, a nuisance.

Thanks anyway,

 

[purplehaz]

If you use the programs I mentioned they will clean the spyware, hijacker
ware, and adware off your computer automatically and delete any registry
entries that are associated with it. There is no manual editing at all. You
should not put up with the pop-ups as they are most likely sending personal
information about your surfing habits to marketing people. If you like this
invasion of privacy then keep the spyware. If you don't like the invasion of
privacy and you want your computer to run correctly again, then run the
programs. You can skip HiJackThis as its for advanced users, but the other
two should be run weekly if not more. They are all automatic, fully safe,
and anything they do can be undone. I have never had a problem with them. I
would run them if I were you.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In (e-mail address removed)

I have a firewall running - but you need a degree of some
sort to know what the heck it's doing! So for the
average person like myself, it's just a nuisance, rather
than a help, because I don't know what it means when it
does send me messages (which it doesn't do regarding the
popups, even though it says it's running the firewall and
protecting me). :-(

If you think it's a nuisance rather than a help, you are not ware
of the dangers of running with a firewall. Turn off the messages
if you must, but don't turn off the firewall.