Annoying Pop Up ads - how to kill them?

[Dr Nick Riviera]

Hi all

On my office lan at work I have on PC that has suddenly started to have advertisement windows popping up - not necessarily when IE is running.

We are on a 1mb ADSL connection that has a Alcatel router which has a firewall built in, but this 1 machine has out of the blue started to flash up advertisements.

I use Ad Aware 6 regularly to identify and remove any unwanted spyware etc, but it isn't stopping it.

Could anyone recommend how to stop this? I have used PopUp Stopper professional, which kills the windows instantly as they appear, but that doesn't stop the root problem (and IE needs to be running for it to work).

Any advice/help appreciated.

Nick

 

[dustjunky]

Edit - just read that you have used adaware already...

Have you got the latest adaware identities installed?

 

[Dr Nick Riviera]

Yeah I downloaded the latest file this morning. I am only using the freeware product though.

 

[Matt Horne]

try this.. go to grc.com and download the little app which checks for the windows messenger (not the msn service) which allows spam to be sent straight to your pc.. the little app also can turn this service off .. and it should sort you out.. theres also a couple of other useful apps worth using to turn off other windows functions.

Good site to get your firewall checked out as well..

HTH

Matt

 

[Matt Horne]

Also I would recommend spybot as well for checking for spyware.. it found lots that adaware missed..

Matt

 

[Matt Horne]

Heres the link for the Messenger stopper..

http://grc.com/stm/shootthemessenger.htm

 

[Dr Nick Riviera]

Matt
Cheers mate - the Messenger stop app seems to have fixed it. Will this remember my chosen setting after each boot or do I have to set it to OFF after each boot?

Also downloaded Spybot and it did indeed find a few things that Adaware ignored.

Thanks again

Nick

 

[Dr Nick Riviera]

Spoke too soon......

Ads appearing again now - the messenger is disabled. The only website I have visited is this one!!

Help!

Nick

 

[Matt Horne]

Hmmm.. are you using a software firewall ? if not try the sygate personal one.. as its free... install that and it should ask you whenever something tries to get outside onto the web.. and that should point to the program which is getting the ads.. or if its a external program hitting your PC it should block it and give you more information about whats doing it..

Maybe its a program or component which is not being caught by the spybot ??

The STM prog has basically turned off the service so you need not do it more than once.

How about updating your virus software definitions ? Maybe its a trojan horse program rather than just spyware ? again the firewall would detect it trying to access the web.. if you need virus software try AVG (just search on google) as they also have a free personal version which is constantly updated..

if you need more help just ask!

Matt

 

[Matt Horne]

Re-reading your original post.. I reckon it must be a trojan as the router firewall will not stop outgoing connections.. I would try the software firewall that will catch it.

Have you installed any free sofware recently? some have extra features built in which will download crap into you systems !
Though I am surprised spybot did not find it ?, this then points to a virus rather than standard spyware ??

good Luck

Matt

 

[Dr Nick Riviera]

Matt
Thanks again for your input. I have just run a scan of the whole PC with Norton Professional 2004 and it found several Threats. It deleted them.
Whilst the scan was ongoing, pop ups appeared a few times, and a couple of windows dialogs stating that "an error occured when trying the run the following script..." the www that's referenced is "clickspring.net"

So there's something iffy there - what's the next step do you think?

Should I re-install Windows fresh?

Cheers

Nick

 

[Matt Horne]

Try these.. its deffo spyware - just search for clickspring on google

http://computercops.biz/postt22759.html

http://www.psychicfred.com/clickspring.htm

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/7930675.htm

Have u updated adaware with the latest profiles ? they list clickspring in the march04 listings :

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/news/product/march04.shtml

It sounds like a real nasty bit of code.. I would browse the computercops site as I thnk that will have enough infor for you to get rid of it!

HTH

Matt

 

[Dr Nick Riviera]

Matt
Good man! One of the links you provided linked to another site that gave details of something called PurityScan. When I found an uninstaller for it and ran it, the problem stopped. I have since scanned the PC with Spybot, Adaware and swept for viruses, trojans and scripts and all seems clear (fingers are crossed).

Thanks again - forums like this are a godsend!!

Cheers

Nick

 

[Matt Horne]

Excellent!

Seems purityscan was some app to check for pron on the pc.. though really it seems just a vehicle to get the spyware on the machine

Glad it got sorted..

Matt