Plague Of Pop-ups In WinXp-3, Firefox.

In recent weeks I've been plagued with full page pop ups in programs I
access every day. The most common one is telling me my Browser is out
of date (Firefox) which it isn't. There is usually a smaller screen in
the centre which wants my to click on it to solve the problem. I just
close the screen and go back to the page I was accessing. I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?

On 2/2/2014 10:32 AM, Barry Bruyea wrote:
In recent weeks I've been plagued with full page pop ups in programs I
access every day. The most common one is telling me my Browser is out
of date (Firefox) which it isn't. There is usually a smaller screen in
the centre which wants my to click on it to solve the problem. I just
close the screen and go back to the page I was accessing. I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?


Yes, but only when I go to kenken.com. So I'm sure that the kenken.com
website has been either hacked or sold out.
--
Cheers, Bob

Barry Bruyea wrote:
In recent weeks I've been plagued with full page pop ups in programs I
access every day. The most common one is telling me my Browser is out
of date (Firefox) which it isn't. There is usually a smaller screen in
the centre which wants my to click on it to solve the problem. I just
close the screen and go back to the page I was accessing. I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?

Try AdwCleaner.

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

use one of the two blue buttons, not the idiotic larger
green button above them. I hate stuff like that. The blue
buttons lead to the download.

If you examine the "log" from that tool, it will list
the prefs.js of Firefox. I initially assumed there was
something wrong with my prefs.js. It turns out, that
is only an important entry, if there are lines of text
immediately below the pointer to prefs.js (the path to it).
The scanner will list the errant lines in prefs.js, if
it actually finds something. The tool is apparently
not clever enough, to remove that line if nothing is found.
So don't immediately panic if you see prefs.js, just look
right below it for the trouble (if any).

That tool works on a subset of all adware. It won't
cure cancer or the common cold. Still, it kills the most
common adwares, and may help you.

The tool works in two steps: "Scan" and "Clean"
Read the web page above, for caveats about things or situations
where you might not want to clean. Apparently, one adware bundled
with a freebie program, the freebie stops working if you kill
the adware. Which to me, makes the whole package an adware
and suitable for deletion. Adware should never be tethered to
other programs, else "into the pit, it goes".

I tested that program, in a virtual machine the first time,
just because I'm not a very trusting person. And nothing I
saw there made me suspicious.

Have fun,
Paul

Per Barry Bruyea:
I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?

Define "Complete Check".....

*Something* is causing that behavior.
--
Pete Cresswell

On 02/02/2014 09:32 AM, Barry Bruyea wrote:
In recent weeks I've been plagued with full page pop ups in programs I
access every day. The most common one is telling me my Browser is out
of date (Firefox) which it isn't. There is usually a smaller screen in
the centre which wants my to click on it to solve the problem. I just
close the screen and go back to the page I was accessing. I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?




Exactly what kind of a check did you run?

"Barry Bruyea" wrote in message ...
In recent weeks I've been plagued with full page pop ups in programs I
access every day. The most common one is telling me my Browser is out
of date (Firefox) which it isn't. There is usually a smaller screen in
the centre which wants my to click on it to solve the problem. I just
close the screen and go back to the page I was accessing. I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...r-incompatible

Ben

On Sun, 02 Feb 2014 12:53:51 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

Per Barry Bruyea:
I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?

Define "Complete Check".....

*Something* is causing that behavior.

You're putting me on!

Barry Bruyea wrote:
In recent weeks I've been plagued with full page pop ups in programs I
access every day. The most common one is telling me my Browser is out
of date (Firefox) which it isn't. There is usually a smaller screen in
the centre which wants my to click on it to solve the problem. I just
close the screen and go back to the page I was accessing. I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?

Not enough info.
By "program", do you mean MS Word, Nero 6, GhostScript, etc?
By "complete check", do you mean scanning with several Linux boot
cd's for viruses, trojans, malware, rootkits, etc?

On Sun, 02 Feb 2014 15:59:10 -0600, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Barry Bruyea wrote:
In recent weeks I've been plagued with full page pop ups in programs I
access every day. The most common one is telling me my Browser is out
of date (Firefox) which it isn't. There is usually a smaller screen in
the centre which wants my to click on it to solve the problem. I just
close the screen and go back to the page I was accessing. I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?

Not enough info.
By "program", do you mean MS Word, Nero 6, GhostScript, etc?
By "complete check", do you mean scanning with several Linux boot
cd's for viruses, trojans, malware, rootkits, etc?

Yes.

Barry Bruyea wrote:
On Sun, 02 Feb 2014 15:59:10 -0600, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Barry Bruyea wrote:
In recent weeks I've been plagued with full page pop ups in programs I
access every day. The most common one is telling me my Browser is out
of date (Firefox) which it isn't. There is usually a smaller screen in
the centre which wants my to click on it to solve the problem. I just
close the screen and go back to the page I was accessing. I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?
Not enough info.
By "program", do you mean MS Word, Nero 6, GhostScript, etc?
By "complete check", do you mean scanning with several Linux boot
cd's for viruses, trojans, malware, rootkits, etc?

Yes.


Come to think of it, I think I got one of those.
Not the exact same one as you, but similar.

In my case, the affected browser was Seamonkey.
The prompt (scareware) is rendered by the browser.

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\
SeaMonkey\Profiles\random8.default

Cache --- where the web pages go
mozilla-media-cache
OfflineCache
startupCache --- my trouble was in here

The file in there, is Javascript based, has something
to do with extensions, and regenerates if the file in
that folder is deleted. The regenerated file was about
1/3rd the size of what I found in there originally. Once
it was removed, I was "clean" again.

The purpose of being in a startupCache, is so "clearing
the cache" couldn't get it. I cleared the Cache, using
the option in the GUI, and that didn't fix it. I've had the
odd issue with browsers before, where clearing the cache
was enough.

What I'd like to know, is how it got into that
folder and file in the first place. The symptoms
have not recurred.

A scan did *not* detect it. If I'd clicked the button
to "update my browser", I'm sure the results would
have been hilarious... and time consuming.

Firefox does not have that folder, so this is not going
to help you. But you can try disabling all your extensions
or plugins, and retest. Just in case it's one of those
hijacked plugins (auto-update pushes out a hijacker).
If a plugin or extension auto-updates, there could be
trouble. The "bad guys" are buying the code and rights
to an extension, so they can insert stuff and push out
an auto-update, to infect all the browsers using that
item. One developer was paid $1000, to turn over
source code, and the bad guys used that one,
loaded their code into it, claimed a "new version"
was available, and people sucked it up.

Paul

Barry Bruyea wrote:
On Sun, 02 Feb 2014 15:59:10 -0600, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Barry Bruyea wrote:
In recent weeks I've been plagued with full page pop ups in programs I
access every day. The most common one is telling me my Browser is out
of date (Firefox) which it isn't. There is usually a smaller screen in
the centre which wants my to click on it to solve the problem. I just
close the screen and go back to the page I was accessing. I've done a
complete check of my computer and it has turned up nothing. Anyone
else having this happen?
Not enough info.
By "program", do you mean MS Word, Nero 6, GhostScript, etc?
By "complete check", do you mean scanning with several Linux boot
cd's for viruses, trojans, malware, rootkits, etc?

Yes.

Sounds like your computer has a virus, trojan, malware, or rootkit,
and your several different Linux boot cd's did not find it.
Therefore the scanners think its a legitimate program.
You might be able to track it with Wireshark.
As the other Paul said, check all the startup locations.
Also, check the hosts file for a hijacker.