Pop-up ads/Spyware/Virus problems - all related posts in here.

[jezzace]

I keep getting extremely irritating pop-up add offering me a free ringtone (wow I just got one then!!). The same ad pops up on nearly every site i go to. I've cleaned my system with ad aware and it didn't stop so i used spybot and it found other stuff ad aware didn't but still didn't get that ad! Anyone got any suggestions?

[goldbricker]

I'd take a look at msconfig as programs like this usually get started in there. See if you can spot anything that looks suspicious and try turning it off to see if it makes any difference.

[Chadruharazzeb]

Yeah, use FireFox. I have recently converted and, may I say, it is lovely. It actually blocks the stuff you want to block, and it allows the windows you *do* want to pop up! What a revelation!!

[Wild_Cat]

Sounds like spy/malware to me, which installed courtesy of Internet Explorer's numerous security holes. Run Ad-Aware, then Spybot Search & Destroy. Once you're done with that, as Chad said, head to http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ , download Firefox and say good bye to IE.

(for me though, the true Firefox revelation (well, it was still called Phoenix back then) was the discovery of tabbed browsing)

[Commander Marklar]

Except Firefox won't block all pop-up ads either but at least it'll stop getting arse-raped by script kiddies (which sounds like what has happened here -- I bet you've got an infected bit of jscript in your temp directory; get a virus scanner).

[nips]

Oh wow, firefox is great...

It's so much faster than IE. It loads up NTSC-uk about post by post so I can read the first one while the rest loads...

This is amazing. No longer will I stare at blank screens for two minutes waiting for impressions of games I'm interested in.

I should have done this years ago!

[Concept]

FireFox is indeed an utter joy to use, and should be food for thought when MS release their next version of IE. If they have any sense.

Commander Marklar... FireFox is exceptional at blocking pop-ups. Seriously, I haven't encountered a single one since I started using it a couple of months ago. Whereas even Google's toolbar isn't invulnerable to pop-ups in IE.

[Super Stu]

This forum seriously needs a set of FAQs written. We answer problems on networks, internet sharing, bit torrent and spyware seemingly daily.

[Commander Marklar]

It's no more "exceptional" than any other pop-up blocker; I get ads pop up on Firefox as often as I do Google's toolbar/IE7. Firefox isn't infalable and I couldn't possibly recommended it over IE, beyond the lack of browser exploits.

Firefox is only good for browsing pr0n sites

[Commander Marklar]

This forum seriously needs a set of FAQs written.

Just links to other places will do, in a sticky. There's plenty out there just those retarded-computer types need to gtf and sort themselves out.

[Concept]

Commander Marklar - Come on. IE is a stinking convoluted mess of a browser.

I just wouldn't go back to it. The damn thing is messy and hardly what I'd call streamlined.

[Commander Marklar]

Come on what? Firefox has issues -- it needs some serious work to get anywhere near the accessibility and performance of IE/Opera.

[Concept]

Yes. But that wasn't really my point of my last post.

In terms of design, I just don't like IE at all. I may give Opera a try though if it's aesthetically and functionally more appealing. What's it like?

[Commander Marklar]

You can customise IE you know Minimal toolbars, skins or whatever you like. Firefox and IE look practically identical, just a toolbar and menu on my screen here. I don't like Opera much, seems to have some issues rendering .html at times and you have to pay (*cough* crack *cough*) for it to get rid of some annoying ****. All of my browsers have mouse gestures on too, I love that ****!

If you're happy with Firefox, might as well stick with it. Its nice looking, imho (or can be) and has some nice features but its far from the best thing ever.

[Concept]

I know I can minimise certain aspects of IE or customise it, but it's the actual amount of **** I find I need to keep on that keeps irritating. Admittedly some of the functions are helpful, but they also provide needless clutter in my view.

FireFox has the added benefit of tabbed browsing (a major draw for me) and loading pages that bit faster. Plus IE has a habit of randomly re-directing to Microsoft's website every once in a while, even if I clear the cache. Not something I appreciate.

I'll stick with FireFox for the time being. I know there are a variety of issues that have to be sorted, but hopefully the next version will address some of these.

I just hope it doesn't become pay based when it does though.