OK, I ignored my own advice and decided to be stupid...

[XCorvis]

I work on 100's of systems some on a domain some off. I find it to be far and away the best (right now).

I use to swear by Search and Destroy with Lavasoft. Was a great combo. I had to deal with malware almost every single day. With Defender deployed I have to deal with malware about once a month. That makes it a priceless tool and I have seen nothing negative about it to date other than the: M$ sucks! *shrug*

Basically if you have a legit copy of Windows XP you should at least give it a go.

I know nothing about their virus software…

Defender was poorly ranked among anti-spyware apps for a while, but seems to be a little better now. Just poking around I can see a wide variety of reviews, some saying it blocked less than 50% of the malware it encountered, some saying it was the best free product available. In any case, it's better than nothing. I work on a college campus. With Firefox, Spybot S&D immunizations and Symmantec AV, we have virtually no spyware anymore. That's including on faculty/staff machines with full admin rights.

The real advantage Defender has over Spybot and free Adaware is that it has a real-time scanning component so that it can block incoming spyware, not just detect it after it's too late. That alone is a fantastic feature.

 

[hafrogman]

If you're running XP, I always find that a system restore works wonders if you've got a restore point before you clicked the ad. No need to back up data, but if you've installed any programs since then you'll have to redo that.

 

[werk]

I've had those things a few times. It seems like the ones that adaware and spybot don't catch are really tough buggers. I looked for a common root in the pop-ups, like they all say advip or adserv or adfinder or something like that, then just search google for nerd forums telling me what to do to clear it up. Failing at that, I started looking in my running processes, you'll usually be able to spot it.

I've even had to go so far as to run a program I downloaded from a faceless ftp site some nerd had set up to remove the malware because it wouldn't let me deinstall it any other way. Talk about making your butt pucker. Worked great tho!

Nerds of the world, please, for the love of all that is holy, only use your powers for good, never for evil.

 

[The Lost Muse]

If worst comes to worst, find out what the name of the process is that is causing these popups in the first place. It is possible to create a program that will supress the process. The down side? It's more of a bandaid then a permanent fix

 

[noretoc]

Hijack This! ! get a log, post it on a website with comp nerds and let them tell you what to delete. It has gotten rid of so many things for me that adaware, spybot didn't touch.

 

[Wycen]

Hijack This! ! get a log, post it on a website with comp nerds and let them tell you what to delete. It has gotten rid of so many things for me that adaware, spybot didn't touch.

This is my recommendation as well, but use with caution. If you remove something your computer needs, you can make matter worse. It doesn't single out just the bad stuff, FYI, it lists everything running.

 

[ssampier]

Hijack This is a great tool, but the cautions are well put. Hijack This doesn't automatically remove anything, it's just a great tool to help remove the cause of the disease once you find where it lives.

I'm gutsy, I learned how to remove most spyware by trial and error. I do not suggest you do the same. :\

 

[Ranger REG]

If you're running XP, I always find that a system restore works wonders if you've got a restore point before you clicked the ad. No need to back up data, but if you've installed any programs since then you'll have to redo that.

Unfortunately, my XP's System Restore hasn't work for three years. And I have absolutely no idea how to fix it.

 

[BOZ]

OK, i'm back. i've run adaware and SB S&D several times each, and while they treat the symptoms they have yet to cure the disease.

A couple of quick thoughts. Definately try spybot search and destroy. First try immunizing your system with it. Then, make sure you use the advanced mode and there are some pretty good tools in there for getting pesky bugs out of your start up files and tracking down malicious active x files.

is there anything in the image below that i need to remove? i don't know how to recognize problems of this sort.

 

[BOZ]

Sometimes these things are generated by an IE Add-On. Check your Add-On manager to see if something was installed.

how do i do this?