pop up's

[john4clare]

having just upgraded from 98 to xp - better late than
never, pop up's are ruining our time on the net. we have
set the controlls but still they appear, we have blocked
emails, but pop up's still pop up, what more can we do.
have noticed an ad on one of them to link to a site where
you pay someone in another country for the privaledge of
them stopping pop up's for viagra, penis extensions or
porn which seem to be all that pop up's can offer, can
any one SANE offer any help and advise to get rid once
and for all of these awful things as we have small
children who also like to access Disney, Fox, etc.

[Sharon F]

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 11:55:22 -0800, john4clare wrote:

> having just upgraded from 98 to xp - better late than
> never, pop up's are ruining our time on the net. we have
> set the controlls but still they appear, we have blocked
> emails, but pop up's still pop up, what more can we do.
> have noticed an ad on one of them to link to a site where
> you pay someone in another country for the privaledge of
> them stopping pop up's for viagra, penis extensions or
> porn which seem to be all that pop up's can offer, can
> any one SANE offer any help and advise to get rid once
> and for all of these awful things as we have small
> children who also like to access Disney, Fox, etc.

If the popups are in "Messenger Service" windows, harden your firewall
settings. If they are in small IE windows, use a popup blocker.
--
Sharon F
MS MVP - Windows XP Shell/User

[Cerridwen]

john4clare wrote:
> having just upgraded from 98 to xp - better late than
> never, pop up's are ruining our time on the net. we have
> set the controlls but still they appear, we have blocked
> emails, but pop up's still pop up, what more can we do.
> have noticed an ad on one of them to link to a site where
> you pay someone in another country for the privaledge of
> them stopping pop up's for viagra, penis extensions or
> porn which seem to be all that pop up's can offer, can
> any one SANE offer any help and advise to get rid once
> and for all of these awful things as we have small
> children who also like to access Disney, Fox, etc.

Oh help yourself for Hades sake! Doesn't anyone know how to use a search
engine anymore?! http://groups.google.com and click 'advanced search'. I
think you can work out what to do from there.

[Shenan Stanley]

john4clare wrote:
> having just upgraded from 98 to xp - better late than
> never, pop up's are ruining our time on the net. we have
> set the controlls but still they appear, we have blocked
> emails, but pop up's still pop up, what more can we do.
> have noticed an ad on one of them to link to a site where
> you pay someone in another country for the privaledge of
> them stopping pop up's for viagra, penis extensions or
> porn which seem to be all that pop up's can offer, can
> any one SANE offer any help and advise to get rid once
> and for all of these awful things as we have small
> children who also like to access Disney, Fox, etc.

Turn on that firewall...
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/home/using/howto/homenet/icf.asp
(It has been reported that it now works with AOL 9.0+)


Make sure you have all the updates (critical) installed from:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
(Scan for updates, Review and Install)


Get rid of the spy/ad/mal-ware..
(Yes - using MORE than one of these..
I recommend at least the first three.)

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.net/

Lavasoft AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de

CWSShredder
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

Hijack This!
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/

I also like "The Cleaner" and "SpywareBlaster" and "SpywareGuard".
- http://www.moosoft.com/
- http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/

The first is a PAY product, but useable for 30 days - it has found and
eliminated problems in the past the others did not. The latter two are
prevention mechanisms. I like SpywareGuard for those with enough processor
to have something running like antivirus software - and it prevents browser
hijacking quite well.


And Assortment of Others:
http://www.merijn.org/downloads.html


After you cleanup your PC somewhat of spy/ad/mal-ware, verify your antivirus
software is updated and run a full scan of your computer. If you have no
antivirus software - get one NOW! Grisoft AntiVirus:
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php


Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to about
80 to 120MB (seems to be an optimal size for the normal user)
- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section,
do the following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the
"Amount of disk space to use:" to something between 80MB
and 120MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to
"Delete all offline contents" (the checkbox) and click
OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes or
more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer
- Re-open Internet Explorer.


Uninstall any software you do not use often/ever. (If you have something
installed but never use it, uninstall it.) If you go through Control
Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and see things you seldom if ever use, it is to
your advantage to remove it.

--
<- Shenan ->
--

[John Stockdyk]

I would use HOSTS file downloadable from:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/

All the instructions are there. It works for me so it should for you as
well!

Regards,


john4clare wrote:

> having just upgraded from 98 to xp - better late than
> never, pop up's are ruining our time on the net. we have
> set the controlls but still they appear, we have blocked
> emails, but pop up's still pop up, what more can we do.
> have noticed an ad on one of them to link to a site where
> you pay someone in another country for the privaledge of
> them stopping pop up's for viagra, penis extensions or
> porn which seem to be all that pop up's can offer, can
> any one SANE offer any help and advise to get rid once
> and for all of these awful things as we have small
> children who also like to access Disney, Fox, etc.

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

There are at least three varieties of pop-ups, and the solutions
vary accordingly. Which specific type(s) is troubling you?

1) Does the title bar of these pop-ups read "Messenger Service?"

This type of spam has become quite common over the past several
months, and unintentionally serves as a valid security "alert." It
demonstrates that you haven't been taking sufficient precautions while
connected to the Internet. Your data probably hasn't been compromised
by these specific advertisements, but if you're open to this exploit,
you may well be open to other threats, such as the Blaster Worm that
recently swept cross the Internet. Install and use a decent,
properly configured firewall. (Merely disabling the messenger
service, as some people recommend, only hides the symptom, and does
little or nothing to truly secure your machine.) And ignoring or just
"putting up with" the security gap represented by these messages is
particularly foolish.

Messenger Service of Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;168893

Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet Advertisement
Appears
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=330904

Stopping Advertisements with Messenger Service Titles
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/communicate/stopspam.asp

Blocking Ads, Parasites, and Hijackers with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Whichever firewall you decide upon, be sure to ensure
UDP ports 135, 137, and 138 and TCP ports 135, 139, and 445 are _all_
blocked. You may also disable Inbound NetBIOS (NetBIOS over TCP/IP).
You'll have to follow the instructions from firewall's manufacturer
for the specific steps.

You can test your firewall at:

Symantec Security Check
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/vr_main.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym&plfid=23&pkj=GPVHGBYNCJEIMXQKCDT

Security Scan - Sygate Online Services
http://www.sygatetech.com/

Oh, and be especially wary of people who advise you to do nothing
more than disable the messenger service. Disabling the messenger
service, by itself, is a "head in the sand" approach to computer
security. The real problem is _not_ the messenger service pop-ups;
they're actually providing a useful, if annoying, service by acting as
a security alert. The true problem is the unsecured computer, and
you've been advised to merely turn off the warnings. How is this
helpful?

2) For regular Internet pop-ups, you might try the free 12Ghosts
Popup-killer from http://12ghosts.com/ghosts/popup.htm, Pop-Up Stopper
from http://www.panicware.com/, or the Google Toolbar from
http://toolbar.google.com/, which is what I use.

3) To deal with pop-ups caused by any sort of "adware" and/or
"spyware,"such as Gator, Comet Cursors, Xupiter, Bonzai Buddy, or
KaZaA, and their remnants, that you've deliberately (but without
understanding the consequences) installed, two products that are
quite effective (at finding and removing this type of scumware) are
Ad-Aware from www.lavasoft.de and SpyBot Search & Destroy from
www.safer-networking.org/. Both have free versions. It's even
possible to use SpyBot Search & Destroy to "immunize" your system
against most future intrusions. I use both and generally perform
manual scans every week or so to clean out cookies, etc.


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

"john4clare" > wrote in message
...
> having just upgraded from 98 to xp - better late than
> never, pop up's are ruining our time on the net. we have
> set the controlls but still they appear, we have blocked
> emails, but pop up's still pop up, what more can we do.
> have noticed an ad on one of them to link to a site where
> you pay someone in another country for the privaledge of
> them stopping pop up's for viagra, penis extensions or
> porn which seem to be all that pop up's can offer, can
> any one SANE offer any help and advise to get rid once
> and for all of these awful things as we have small
> children who also like to access Disney, Fox, etc.