Posted: 1/6/2007 8:03:53 AM EDT
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Here's the problem: For the last few days, everytime I open Internet Explorer 7, I get various random advertising pop-ups. This only happens when I open IE, and every several minutes thereafter. The pop-ups are in a new IE window. When I click on a link, or select to open a link in a new tab, it opens in a new window, even though the tab settings direct them to open in a new tab. I've updated and run Ad-Aware, but it found nothing. I've updated and run Spybot Search & Destroy. It found nothing. I've updated and run Norton Anti-Virus, again nothing. I checked the program control in my Zone Alarm firewall, and removed a few unrecognized programs. I've checked the IE add ons, but I don't recognize anything that shouldn't be there. I've examined the start-up programs in "msconfig", and unchecked a few unrecognizable programs. I've increased the settings for the pop-up blocker in IE. I attempted to do a WinXP system restore, but I didn't have a restore point to utilize. I'm still getting the pop-ups. I want to avoid formatting the HD. Installing another pop-up blocker will only provide a temporary solution. I've tried other browsers, but didn't care much for them (and that won't fix the problem). At this point, I've done everything that I can think of to rectify the problem. I want/need to locate and remove whatever is causing the pop-up ads to appear. Gunner |
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might be windows messenger related support.microsoft.com/kb/302089 www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/learnmore/stopspam.mspx |
I forgot to add that Windows Messenger service is turned off. Those usually appear as the grey dialog boxes, but these are new IE windows. |
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1. Stop using IE. It stinks. 2. Try HijackThis. It searches through your registry for suspicious-looking stuff and gives you a report. DON'T DO ANYTHING TO THE REGISTRY UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING. There are groups which can look through the report and give you some good ideas of what's wrong. |
Only one thing you can do on unless you're on a mac to get rid of IE... install another OS, and I doubt you'll want to do that. I'd recommend switching to Opera as a primary browser; it's got a much better UI than anything else, and it's free. But I can't really help with IE, since I stopped using it entirely more than two years ago. |
You can not uninstall IE from the Windows as it actually is what most of the OS is built on top of. You can do a good job of hiding its existance but not remove it. -Foxxz |
you can't any more it's an integral part of the OS I'm all for OSs having web browsers bundled with them in this day and age, but they should be separate stand alone apps, not part of the OS |
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It could be Vundo. Go here and follow the instructions for VundoFix.exe www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic18610.html I was having the same problem even though I don't use IE unless I have to, IE would open on it's own. I downloaded and ran VundoFix.exe the other day and I've had no troubles since then. |
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SOMETIMES... I had a somewhat similar problem a while ago (browser hijack with popups in this case) and this is how I fixed it. There's a way to show ALL of your installed programs in "Add/Remove Programs", they're not all shown by default and sometimes something's hiding in there that will give you problems. Once I was able to see everything that was installed it was easy to remove the culprit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Make Hidden Programs Appear in Add/Remove Programs This tip will help you remove annoying programs such as MSN Messenger that do not normally show up in the Add/Remove programs list. In order to do this, you need to open Windows Explorer and do the following: 1.) Navigate to C:WindowsInf 2.) Make a copy of Sysoc.inf for backup 3.) Open the original Sysoc.inf file and it will open in Notepad 4.) Press Ctrl-H and replace the string ",hide" with ",," and save the file. After doing this you should be able to see all of the hidden programs in Add/Remove (located in the Control Panel). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't remember what exactly the problem program was, bit I DO remember that it was really easy to spot and uninstall. Good luck! Fearless |
Wow! That was sound advice! Never heard of "anvirus" software. Could you provide some details on that? Perhaps you should learn to spell when typing before calling anyone else a "moron in front of the keyboard". 
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i'd rather not. next time you have a computer problem why don't you post it on the correct thread link then maybe i'd be more helpful |
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