Pop-up Ads

[MarianT]

Starting yesterday, I've been getting a number of pop-up ads even after signing in. They really interfere with navigation around the forum. Is this a problem with the forum or with my computer?

[Trip]

Do the pop-ups appear on any other site?

[MarianT]

I was just going to post and say that they did. So it's not a problem on this site -- maybe on my browser?

[Carl]

I was just going to post and say that they did. So it's not a problem on this site -- maybe on my browser?

It sounds like you have a form of adware that serves ads whenever you view websites to hide itself, and it can harm the reputation of a site if a user thinks it's coming from them, so glad you determined it's not just us! These can even appear as popups without the browser open in the worst cases, and some of the ads are tasteless to say the least.

If you've recently installed a new program, you may want to look down your list of installed programs through the Control Panel to see if there are any programs you don't use that sound suspicious or related to advertising/shopping. These often come attached to installs of free programs that get their money by letting these annoying software tag along for the install process. 99% of the time we are able to prevent the install but many people simply click next/agree etc. and don't watch for those types of programs. This is good practice, anyway.

I recommend you first try Combofix  as a tool to remove it. Almost every antivirus I've used is absolutely useless, and people often spend $50-100 for them and even pay for subscriptions to find that when they need it, it fails them, but combofix is awesome and free. Combofix will look at DLL files within windows for things that have been changed and remove the changes, which often fixes all problems with the machine. I have done computer jobs in the past where all I did was run this program and felt guilty to accept money for the job If that doesn't work, try Malwarebytes Anti-Malware which is good in general for cleaning up infections you don't even notice. It may at the very least give you the name of the problem, if it cannot remove it. Then, you may find a tool to remove that specific type of adware from your PC. Wish you luck, and let me know if combofix works. I like to hear that, for it helps me further recommend it to people as the best type of antivirus I've found.

I have had infections like this so bad that it was less time consuming to back up my data and install a fresh copy of Windows rather than spend several hours working on a fix for it. Ultimately, that will be up to you and your level of experience with computers.

Edit: I just noticed Combofix isn't working on windows 8.1 right now, for whatever reason. They likely need to update it. If you're using that, fall back to Malwarebytes and cross your fingers.

[MarianT]

Carl,

Thanks for the advice! When you described what might have happened, I remembered that I had accidentally clicked on an ad while trying to get the SimGameSelector. I thought I had uninstalled what I'd picked up, but apparently there was something I missed. Going through my program files, I uninstalled a couple of programs with a recent date. That seems to have worked. So sorry to have cast aspersions on the site, but perhaps the thread can be helpful to some other non-tech-savvy person.
Thanks again for the help -- you're the greatest!

Marian

[Carl]

I'm really glad I could help you realize what was wrong! I am also sure this thread might come in handy for someone too, combofix is a wonderful program (though it might look a little scary to use as it's very minimalist) and cleaning out installed program files is plain good practice to keep your PC clean. A lot of those apps have background checkers for updates, and the programs themselves are absolute trash as you could see. Thankfully, some of them will come out easily and obey windows commands to uninstall - others simply disappear from the list, then you have to whip out a good program like those I recommended

I'll leave it on this board, just in case someone else has this problem and might see that it's been noted before. I don't participate in ad programs that deliver popups. Sometimes a rogue advertiser breaks terms on google or another ad company and they are generally removed pretty fast as it is breaking terms of use.

[Deklitch]

Further to what Carl says in his first post about adware and similar unwanted programs, I just wanted to make a couple of comments which may also be helpful. There is generally an option with software upgrades and/or other software available for download to choose either the 'standard' or the 'custom' installation. Advice from sites that give tutorials on how to remove such unwanted programs is to always choose the 'custom' installation, as that gives the downloader the choice of what they download. So, if they give the option to download a browser or something, and it is not what you're actually wanting, untick the box so you don't install something accidentally that you don't want and which could take you a fair bit of time/effort to remove. Programs you have on disks that you have to install, and which also give you a 'custom' or a 'standard' install option do not necessarily have the same risk as online downloads, but it is probably a good practice to choose the 'custom' option here as well.

One additional point I have read, which I feel should be mentioned in here is that Virus Protection programs are not good at picking up these unwanted programs as being viruses or the like because the user has agreed to download them. As Carl says, take the time to read things if you download things from online, rather than clicking through. Sometimes there are additional items to download that are described as 'helpful' a page or two through the download process, more often than not THEY ARE NOT in anyway helpful or desirable and should not be installed for the safety and integrity of your computer.

Carl, thanks for posting about Combofix, I'll be sure to download it myself, and make sure I don't download anything that's unwanted. 

Marian, I hope your computer continues to behave for you.

[DanBrunetu]

I also recommend Adblock Plus plugin for getting rid of those annoying adds while surfing on the web ...

[MarianT]

I just want to say thanks again to Carl and the others who made suggestions.

Also, the ads on the Forum are usually quite well-behaved and unobtrusive, so when I started having a different kind of ad, I knew something was wrong. I just didn't know whether I needed to alert Forum administrators or whether I was having an individual problem.