I strongly dislike pop up advertising... I mean, how many times does one actually click on an ad (and I don't mean by accident)?

With new windows updates, a lot of pop ups are blocked by default. But I have noticed still that many people's computers are being slowed down by spyware and such to the point where clicking on the IE icon would mean certain death...

One method I've noticed to stopping the problem is not using internet explorer as your default browser. I downloaded Firefox, and have had no problems since. However, if you use firefox, you have to download all the plugins and such, which is a bit annoying but everytime there is a file on a webpage that requires a certain plugin, it will offer you a link to download it, so the issue can be solved. Also, it is open source.

There are hundreds of pop up blockers and spyware removal tools. I use Adaware 6.0. It works OK.

I found this site to be rather helpful when dealing with windows security issues. They have an extensive directory on other usefull tools, including linux security. I hope it will be of help... http://www.astalavista.com/index.php?section=dir

Please share other things that you might have found useful!

One very simple approach is to avoid porn or warez pages. These pages are usually laced with an incredible load of pop ups and various types of security breaching wares. General webpages are not such a big worry. Performing regular windows updates helps, but it would be better if one can install simple personal firewall which are freely available on the web. Although such programs are not 100% secured, but they can allow a computer user to identity and eradicate certain spyware.

Firefox helps, as does Adaware. Another thing to do is to not run as administrator on your windows machine. That way most spyware/adware that gets past those gates won't be able to infest as badly.

Funny thats what I do create user accounts and then delete them after say a week only taken important files away with me just to make sure nothing nasty trys to attack me frokm passed my gagillion programs to try and stop it.

Hi there,

Even though you might not like Internet Explorer, or microsoft itself for that matter, you can download a pretty good spyware remover right from microsoft. It's still in it's betat version, so it's free. Of course in 2 months it'll probalby cost 200$. Together with Spybot, AdAware, and microsoft, I've managed to get rid of most of my annoying spyware.

Cheers,

John

The Microsoft spyware removal tool was actually released recently. I work for the oncampus networking at my university and we deal with spyware problems on machines all the time. The Microsoft spyware removal tool's first release actually detected internet explorer as malicious software and would try to remove it. But they fixed that supposedly, just thought it was funny. There's a whole bunch of tools we use to get rid of spyware on the machines where I work, I'll list them all off for you guys. We can almost always remove anything using either these programs or just knowing good ways to do it manually (regedit). Here's the list:

Adaware
Spybot (we only use this cause our university bought a license from them, we actually recommend adaware over spybot)
Hijackthis! (have to know what you're doing)
CWshredder
Xcleaner
KazaaBeGone
BlubsterRemovalTool
And we always install firefox and set it to be their default browser because it is superior to internet explorer.

Since we are on the spyware issue, and start lost utilities. I have a couple that I use to clean up computers and I setup on "LUSERS" that are infected for the second time.
Apart from Adaware, Spybot S&D, CWShredder, and HiJackTHis I at times use.

About:Buster Website : www.malwarebytes.biz Forums : www.malwarebytes.biz/forum

LSP-FIX - Winsock 2 repair utility (Not a malware removal tool, but it can be used to correct Internet connection problems resulting from buggy or improperly-removed Layered Service Provider (LSP) software. http://cexx.org/lspfix.htm

MS JAva Removal tool to remove M$ version of Java and then install http://java.sun.com/ Microsoft removed this utility from their website, so you have to download it from the web, use a Google search or PM me for a copy.

SpywareBlaster3.2 and other tools from Grisoft.

Winpatrol another protective measure http://www.winpatrol.com/

Most utilities and tool should be used with care so you don't render the computer useless. There are forums the have a lot of specialists working and posting answers to people posting :HiJackThis" logs and that is safer than you just removing an entry because you don't recognize it and then remove a file that is needed.

Nils

Adaware By Lavasoft - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Spybot Search and Destroy - http://security.kolla.de/

To most effective and free Anti-spyware/adware programs.

and

spywareblaster

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

spyware guard

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

the new norton anti-virus gets rid of the any spyware that could cause damage to your pc. Or whats wrong with a good old firewall, that'd mean spyware was usless on your pc and the pop ups should stop.

All I've ever needed to use was Ad-Aware. Even when I was using IE, Ad-Aware took care of almost all the spyware on my computer. As for pop-up's though, I had no protection from them. I didn't want a stupid toolbar like the yahoo one and any others I tried were just crap. But since downloading Firefox I do not have any more issues with pop-up's, apart from the odd java one's that get past the blocker (one of the tests on that pop-up blocker test that was posted on these forums), so nowadays I don't have any problems with spyware. I still run Ad-Aware weekly though, just in case, and it sometimes picks up a few things but nothing to worry about too much. I also use Spybot, but no where near as much as I use Ad-Aware... I find Ad-Aware picks up everything Spybot does so there's no need at all to use it.
Then for the really annoying infections that neither Ad-Aware or Spybot can get rid of, I use HijackThis... posting my logs at http://forum.gladiator-antivirus.com/ .
HijackThis is always my last resort, and is very rarely needed. In fact I've only ever needed to use it twice. Since using Firefox I haven't touched it.
I've also had another problem with a file infecting my windows restore folder, this has happened to me twice as well. After some research the first time this happened I figured out that all you have to do is temporarily disable system restore to delete everything in the folder.