Full browser window pop-up

[Guest]

I hope someone can help me with this problem. I am trying to become more
tech savvy but I can't seem to figure this out myself. While I am online, a
new browser window (not just a small pop-up) will often open up. It is
usually an offer for software, specifically WinAntiSpy 2004. On several
occasions it has been a porn website. Some days it only happens once or
twice. Today it has been happening about every 15 minutes. Not only is this
irritating but I think it may be the cause of my computer running so slow. I
have run McAfee Antivirus and Ad-Aware. Neither one have solved the problem.
Can anyone help? Thanks.

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Please try all these programs to check for any spyware that may be on your
system:

Ad-Aware - www.lavasoftusa.com
Spybot - http://www.safer-networking.org/
CWShredder - http://forum.aumha.org/downloads/cwshredder.zip
Spy Sweeper - www.webroot.com

Try SpyWareBlaster to stop intrusions:

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Also see the following links:

http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/security/articles/spyware.asp

 

[Guest]

Hi, Will. I took your advice, but I'm still getting the same browser windows
opening up and my computer is still running really slow. The additional
spyware programs have found items that Ad-Aware did not (I thought it was
comprehensive enough to find all spyware and malware). I'm thinking less
software, more baseball bat?! Thanks anyway!!

 

[Test User]

Hi, Will. I took your advice, but I'm still getting the same browser windows
opening up and my computer is still running really slow. The additional
spyware programs have found items that Ad-Aware did not (I thought it was
comprehensive enough to find all spyware and malware). I'm thinking less
software, more baseball bat?! Thanks anyway!!

First use Add/Remove programs to get rid of stuff you don't want. After
running the uninstalls, delete the program folders from teh Program Files
directory structures. Don't miss teh ones hiding in the Common Files area.

I have had best results with hijack this and cwshredder. You do need to be
aware of what you're doing with these. It's best if you have access to
another machine so you can look up whatever you are unsure of *before* you
decide to remove it or allow it to remain.

With hijack this, you have to rescan after allowing it to delete items.
You'll find that a number of malware apps will immediately refresh the items
you'd told Hijack This to delete. This will be a very large clue as to
what exactly is causing you problems.

Check the task Manager Processes list to see what is really running.

Also, be sure to empty *all* of the temporary folders. I've taken to
shutting down IE and then doing a search for content.ie5 folders, and simply
deleting them all. They will be recreated on demand.

If you go to Start, Run, and type %temp%, you will get an Explorer window
for the system temporary file folder. Each user account will also have temp
folders within the folder structure.

Finally, the \windows and \system32 folders are common hiding places for
malware, trojans, and virus executables and DLLs. if you use explorer and
View, Details and sort by type, you can page through the list and get rid of
the problem items. You can also get rid of stuff you need, too, so be very
careful with this. You may need to restart in safe mode to get all of this.

HTH
-pk
<snippage>