Pop ups making me nuts !

[TRAVLINLOT]

Pop ups are making me crazy! I have Yahoo DSL, and use AOL. Pop up blocker on AOL seems to work and I have blocker "on" in Yahoo too. I keep getting Microsoft Internet Explorer Pop ups. I use a couple of different Spyware programs which I run very often (they seem of no help) pop ups still come up......... H E L P !!!! I dont use MSN at all for that reason, is there some way to disable it completely?

[Boston Guy]

I seriously recommend that you change browsers. This problem will disappear completely if you change to Firefox.

 

I'm a guy who has used AOL for years and years and years (much to the chagrin and annoyance of some of my colleagues in the computer industry) -- as well as lots of other ISP's -- and I still use AOL dialup to connect to the Internet when on the road and not in a place where a high-speed connection is available.

 

I stopped using the internal AOL browser a long time ago -- it's just a subset of IE, so I chose to use the real thing instead of the subset. Even if I first connect to the Internet via AOL, using IE is better than using the internal AOL subset browser.

 

But using Firefox is a lot better than IE, for a variety of reasons, one of which is that popups become a problem of the past. Firefox stops them dead but does give you the option to let a pearticular site show popups if you really want them.

 

Installing Firefox is dead simple. The process if fast, easy and requires no technical knowledge at all. I've been using it for months now and don't have one complaint.

 

If you want to install firefox, or simply learn more about it, go here:

 

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

 

Good luck!

BG

[TRAVLINLOT]

Sounds good, but a couple of questions. I'm still an AOL user via my DSL, and still want Yahoo (its tied to my ISP - SNET), usually have both running. Perhaps the basic question is, can I have a different browser than my ISP, without complications? Sorry if these questions seem silly, but I do need help.........:-)

[Boston Guy]

When it comes to technology, there are no silly questions (almost ) and I'm happy to help if I can.

 

You absolutely can have a different browser running than the one supplied by your ISP. When you start up the browser in AOL, it simply connects to the Internet using the TCP/IP connection that is established when you dial into AOL. You can use IE or Firefox or any of the other browsers out there to do the same thing and they will all do it better than AOL's internal subset browsers.

 

When you dial into AOL, their systems answer the telephone and connect you to the Internet through their network. With your DSL high-speed connection, you are connecting to the Internet without going through AOL's network. Either way, you have access to the Internet and can use any program that's compatible with your operating system to access Internet resources.

 

There are lots of people who have very strong opinions on this browser or that and you can find out more info than you probably want to know by searching Google for "browser". But I've found Firefox to be great and it's grabbed close to 10% market share in very short time.

 

Some people like it because it's an open-source tool supported by a world-wide consortia and they don't like supporting Microsoft's "evil empire." I like it because I think it's a better browser.

 

Before using it, I didn't think I'd make much use of the tabbed interface (it's like having multiple pages open in Internet Explorer, all at the same time, and going back and forth between them by clicking on tabs just underneath the tool bar at the top). Trust me, it took me about two hours of use to become sold on tabbed browsing.

 

If you have more questions or if I haven't answered this one clearly enough, fire away!

 

BG

[TRAVLINLOT]

I downloaded and fired it up, its great! However, I still get (a few)of those freekin Internet Explorer pop ups? Remember, I have bockers in AOL, Yahoo and Firefox too. Can this still happen, even though I've set my default browser to FireFox ?? Could I have done something wrong? I'm only posting this (and not sending you private messages) because (hopefully) someone else as "browser-impared" as I might learn along with me.......:-)

[Boston Guy]

First, I'm glad you like Firefox. :-)

 

Second, I'm not sure I understand exactly what you are seeing.

 

If you are browsing in Firefox, are you still getting popups? If yes, are they coming up in Firefox windows or Internet Explorere windows? (You can tell the difference by looking at the little icon in upper left corner of the window.)

 

If Firefox, what kind of site are you browsing that is causing the popups to appear?

 

Bg

[eastbayguy]

If you are running FireFox, and are still getting Internet Explorer popups, you have probably been infested with some sort of spyware. My favorite spyware detector/eradicator is SpyBot. It is a shareware program, written by a guy in Germany. Do some googling, and make sure you download SpyBot directly from the guy's site in Germany if that's what you decide to use.

 

There are other spyware detectors and eradicators out there. Another option is http://www.pcpitstop.com. No installation required, but run their total diagnostic package at least twice to be sure you get rid of all spyware. (Long story as to why.)

 

Good luck. Getting rid of spyware can be more difficult than getting rid of some venereal diseases. (Or so they tell me... )

 

--EBG

[Boston Guy]

>Good luck. Getting rid of spyware can be more difficult than

>getting rid of some venereal diseases. (Or so they tell me...

>)

 

LOL... I had a very bad infestation last year on an older laptop that I use for odd things now and then. It got infected when I was surfing the web looking for something and accidentally clicked on a wrong link. It was running XP and it literally took me hours to clean it out: I finally realized that processes running in the background were constantly checking for the existence of about 24 separate spyware-type programs and, as soon as one was deleted, would recreate it. What a pain in the neck. Once I realized what was going on, though, it was enough to fix.

 

I agree with your recommendation for Spybot. I've also had good luck with Spyware Blaster and Ad Aware. But I've become a fan of Hijack This!: you can find things with it that the others just miss.

 

BG

[+ deej]

For what it's worth folks, the timeframe from connecting a PC to the internet and getting infected is about 45 minutes now. I've built a new PC from scratch and had a worm infestation while connecting to Windows Update to download latest service packs.

 

I have a CD that I carry when I go to friends' houses when they ask "can you just take a look" ... it has all of the programs mentioned on this thread. If they don't have up-to-date anit-virus software they get the fire & brimstone lecture.

 

One other tool to toss into the fray is the Google toolbar. It stops some popups that slip through the other defenses.

 

And I STILL get occasional popups and popunders. (E-online.com used to be so notorious for this I stopped going there.)

[Guest Adono]

>....Another option is http://www.pcpitstop.com. No installation

>required, but run their total diagnostic package at least

>twice to be sure you get rid of all spyware. (Long story as

>to why.)

>

This was pretty funny in the context of the original request. I went to check out pcpitstop, not having heard of it before. I run Panicware's pop-up stopper, which works great nearly always, and have it set to make a noise when it blocks something. So I clicked on the pcpitstop link and got no fewer than Five (5) popup blocking sounds, followed by an error message about a Javascript that wasn't running properly, presumably because it had been blocked. I left immediately.

 

I figure any site that aims at helping us naive users out but allows all that on its own site is not where I want to prowl around.

[TRAVLINLOT]

RE: Pop ups making me nuts ! -- NOT ANYMORE !!

 

COMPLETELY CURED! I'm amazed, no more popups, blockers working fine. I'm using (per recommendation) FireFox as my browser (only) and AOL too. I downloaded/purchased a Registry cleaning software its VERY worth the twenty-seven dollars. When I got my registry cleaned up (which I do often) all my problems have seemed to disappear, my PC is back to its original speed and I'm a happy camper........ Hope it continues. Thanks to all who added to my post, you all were a great help!