Not model airplanes but..........

Hey guys I need some help. I have a fairly new home computer that came with Norton Antivirus protection so I figured I was safe from all of the crazy worms, spam ect. Well I guess I was wrong because all of the sudden I get pop up after pop up, the computer has slowed way down and my home page keeps changing. Most of you guys probably know a lot more about computers than I do so I was hoping I could get some advice.

I know this isn't really model airplane related but it sure has made it tough for me to access SSW and the other C/L sites I usually browse.

Thanks

Rick,
This won't fix all your problems, but a good place to start is to clear your internet files and cookies. Click on "Tools" on you tool bar, then on "Internet Options". Delete both the internet files and cookies. Note, after you do this, you will have to sign in on SSW forum again.
Steve
The older I get, the better I used to fly!

LAST EDITED ON Apr-27-04 AT 09:33 AM (CDT)
 
First thing you need to do is click TOOLS at the top of the page, click internet options, click General, change your web page to something with has no pop ups like Google.

The next thing you need to do is DELETE all the COOKIES. Cookies are located in a directory in Windows.

Pop up come from several places, the web page your on and your internet service. Net Zero use to be the worse for pop ups a few years ago.

Some cookies are like viruses and write them self to your boot section of the hard drive. This stuff is illegal but people do it anyway. Once you have it, it is very hard to find and remove.

Click on search. Do a search for all .exe files. Open each file with a write program. If you see something in the program like, "I hate Bill Gates", or some BAD WORDS this is probaby something you don't need so delete it.

Check you start up menu if there is a strange file there that you never heard of delete it.

Run a good anti virus program if you think you have a virus.

Gary Weaver

I run "Spybot" and "Ad-aware" programs often get rid of some of the junk that sneaks in. At one time I had bug that caused certain words to turn into links to various advertisers. Didn't cause any other head-aches, just mostly an irritant.

Elwyn's right. Get AdAware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

It's very good at gettting rid of spyware, net-trackers and such that really slow computers down.

Also good is SpyBot: Search and Destroy as noted. It's at http://www.safer-networking.org/

Both have free and pay versions, but the free versions work great. I run these on my wife's computer every couple of days and usually pick up 10-40 new spybots or ad-ware each time. First time I ran them there were over 300 and she was complaining about how her "new" computer was so slow.

Yet another reason my home computer has Linux.

>Elwyn's right. Get AdAware
>http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
>
>It's very good at gettting rid of spyware, net-trackers and
>such that really slow computers down.
>
>Also good is SpyBot: Search and Destroy as noted. It's at
>http://www.safer-networking.org/
>
>Both have free and pay versions, but the free versions work
>great. I run these on my wife's computer every couple of
>days and usually pick up 10-40 new spybots or ad-ware each
>time. First time I ran them there were over 300 and she was
>complaining about how her "new" computer was so slow.
>
>Yet another reason my home computer has Linux.
>
>Randy

here's a link closer in... just need to click on the download icon

http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button

Your ISP should offer free pop up blockers you can download. Also, run disk defragmenter and scan disk. ( go to start, programs, accessories, system tools ). Make sure all programs you are not using are closed.
DRM

Rick:

If your home page is being changed when you re-start your computer, I think you have a spyware or trojan problem. I just went through an episode of a particularly nasty embedded spyware program that was changing my homepage to some off-brand search engine every time I restarted the computer. I use Norton Anti-Virus and Firewall - update multiple times per week - scanned several times, even in safe mode - no joy. I searched the registry and found the reference to the search page - deleted it - the spyware re-wrote it. I installed Spybot and ran it (a great program by the way) and it found some stuff, but the problem remained. I finally was able to download some Trojan removal tools on the Symantec web site and root it out that way. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of talented programmers (or script writers) out there who have too much time on their hands and find it a challenge to make people's lives more frustrating.

LAST EDITED ON Apr-27-04 AT 11:48 AM (CDT)
 
If its just pop-ups run the Spybot free software program and also Ad-ware. When you download Spybot make sure you also install the latest update for it.

I had a problem with my home page being changed everytime I started the computer. This is called a Hi-Jack, aka: Trojan. The one I was being sent to was Enjoysearch. Nasty home page!! I had to download CWShredder from Softpedia.com. That site has lots of free downloads. Hi-Jackers can be very dificult to remove. They get into your registry and re-write stuff. Very hard to find and edit yourself.

Oh Yeah, Enjoysearch is a website the Hi-Jacker sends you to. The Hi-Jacker is known as coolwebsearch. Guess where it sends you. It was developed by some Russians.

Here is another web site that has just about eveything for a newbie. This is an excellent source for all the PC stuff you will ever want or need. It has a good help section and I would put in your "favorites". http://www.komando.com Jim J. PS...I'm still learning.

Rick:
If you are using Internet Explorer, be not afraid! There are a TON of folks who do...it has almost an 80% share, and good software all works on it first.

Try "spybot" as a filter, and try using "google" as your homepage...there you will find a pretty neat and free pop-up blocker.

Put yourself onto an automatic update with your anti-virus program and check for free updates from Microsoft.

See Ya

LAST EDITED ON Apr-27-04 AT 01:40 PM (CDT)
 
Rick, the Norton anti-virus is just that. You have to get Norton internet secuity to eliminate popups and adds. Mine works just fine. I just had to install a renewal on my Gateway, and I don't have anything popping up and complete anti-virus protection. The Norton is available at Walmart for around $59.00 which includes EVERYTHING you need to be free of junk. I hope this will help. BTW, it also includes all updates by the day and much much more.