Pop-up Blocker Help, Please

7/11/14

[pabianice]

I am being buried by pop-ups. Every third screen I see is another pop-up, using either IExplorer or Firefox. When I log into FR I get a flashing pop-up to the left of the screen from "WebCrawl." It has never been this bad before.

Recommendations, please for a blocker.

[SoFloFreeper]

sounds like you got a virus/trojan horse/bug of some sort in your system.

[Corporate Democrat]

It’s malware. It configures your browser to send you ads and to sites of their choosing. Get Malwarebytes and run a scan, it’s free.

[taildragger]

I think you have been infected by “Vondoo”... Nasty, I got rid of it once for a friend with the help of “Pro’s”, Malawarebytes and Combofix maybe your only friends @ this point....

[LonePalm]

Roger that.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[RedStateRocker]

Wipe the drive and reinstall your OS. then set it to disable cookies.

[Ingtar]

Malwarebytes works quite well, but my favorite A/V software leaves it with little to do most of the time.

[driftdiver]

Its more than ads, you have some kind of adware installed which is pushing these. Probably installed with that latest software you ran. Check firefox add ons and disable.

Run mawwarebytes and ccleaner. Run anti-virus scan

[wolfpat]

I want to echo everyone’s recommendation to install Malwarebytes.

But I find it works best if you run it after you’ve started up in Safe Mode with Networking.

[Boogieman]

A pop-up blocker will not help you, because you are infected with adware/viruses.

#1 Download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (free version):

https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/

#2 Download RKill (free):

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/rkill/

#3 Download Sophos Anti-Rootkit (trial version):

https://secure2.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-anti-rootkit/download.aspx

Restart your computer and press F8 before the Windows screen comes up to bring up the boot menu. Select “Safe Mode with Networking Support”.

When Windows starts up, run RKill first, this will stop any virus/malware processes that managed to start up in Safe Mode. Next, run MalwareBytes scan and remove anything that it finds. Then, run Sophos Anti-Rootkit to make sure that the bad stuff doesn’t just reinstall itself when you reboot.

95% of the time, that should fix your problems. If not, report back and we can try some other stuff.

[Boogieman]

TrendMicro is one of the better premium anti-viruses, but it still will not catch everything. Most attacks nowadays package so many viruses and trojans together, that it is nearly impossible for any one antivirus suite to detect and remove everything.

What will usually happen is that your paid anti-virus that runs all the time, like TrendMicro, will detect some of the malware and remove it, while leaving others in place. So when you see that “Virus detected and quarantined” thing pop up, you should really break out MalwareBytes and other free utilities and do a full scan to see what else is still infecting you. The premium antivirus is more like an “early warning system” than anything else.

[BereanBrain]

or you can install linux of mac os and get rid of 99% of the problem without having to be a sysadim

[arthurus]

I use mostly Opera now. Firefox is useless because the addons are so numerous as to make any site I go to visible for only seconds at a time. Sea Monkey which I have long used is truncating itself out of existence. I use Spybot and Malwarebytes. My ad blocker is apparently blocked. Opera, so far, is smooth and untroubled. How do advertisers profit from effectively shutting down internet access?

[USNBandit]

I will give a thumbs up for Spybot and AdBlocker for ease of use, reasonably effective. Your bigger concern will be if you are getting those kinds of popups to watch out for old "Virus detected, you need to update your anti-virus software" malware. Those viruses suck.

I am not that current on virus trends because I went to the dark side, paid the apple tax, became a fanboy, and whatever other derogatory terms people use for switching to Apple.

[Scrambler Bob]

M4L

[Radix]

Internet Explorer is no longer supported by Microsoft. Even when it was it was not very good at stopping malware.

Best solution is get an Apple computer. Next best is probably to use Google Chrome. If you sign up for G-mail you can get their browser.

Like it it not, Google is not going away. Once you have an e-mail account with them, you will never have to change it. It is for life. If your cable provider changes for whatever reason, the G-Mail will be there with the same address and your password(s.) they also support their browser. Meanwhile, I rarely use Google for searching as a matter of principle.

[Boogieman]

Yeah, and you could also put on skinny hipster jeans and hang out at the organic grocer acting superior to the little people.

[BereanBrain]

I guess you can put on your “old dude” glasses and read thick manuals.

While you are at it, please update your punch cards.

Windows is a dumping ground / open sore sinkhole for virus/malware.

That’s a fact. Nothing political. If you don’t like it, get it changed. Microsoft has had 20+ years to fix it, and won’t and/or can’t.

[Grams A]

I suggest getting ADAWARE”

We use Adaware and Malwarebytes and they seem to periodically really get a workout. The last couple of days seems like every site I log onto Adaware screening pops up. These are business sites which we have to use to get our work transmitted, not social. Somebody’s busy out there with the mischief.

[Grams A]

On you knees and bowdown to the Google overlords.....

But make sure you put on your burqua first and then repeat after me in Spanish.....”

[Hootowl99]

Actually, for an either/ or choice between Trend Micro and MalwareBytes, a better choice would be to keep TM and ditch MB. They are for completely different purposes with TM providing antivirus + firewall and MB being a malware cleaner after the computer is infected. Antivirus/firewall are defense against a malware infection occurring. Separate from a malware infection though, the are some varieties of ad pop ups that can get past the blocking and if this is too a annoying then AdAware is a good product to stomp them down a bit more.

For example, for my previous Windows 7 computer and for my current Windows 8.1 computer, I run TM and instead of MB use a registry maintenance program called ARO. Since switching to TM plus having Windows firewall enabled, I have never had a malware infection so ended up removing MB. In addition, I have the Internet Explorer firewall enabled, have the IE set to clear cookies and history when exiting plus the IE malware removal tool runs once per month during the routine update check.

A bonus is that for the TM yearly fee, it includes several licenses so I have TM running on the Windows PC laptop, my iPhone and an Apple MacBook Air. Heck, I even ran TM on my Kindle before it busted. Once on the Kindle, TM blocked installation of a new App when it detected embedded malware code.