getting rid of the porn pop-ups!

clemmo · 07-24-2003, 05:07 PM

I'm new to tech support forums and must say I'm one step above a techno idiot. My computer is a Dell XPS R350 and is now 5 years old. Recently it seems the **** thing has been invaded by the most vile pornographic pop-ups and screens that lead you down a path wherein you have to turn the computer off to release yourself from their prison. I've tried deleting cookies and history but nothing works. They just keep coming back. What is happening and how can I rid myself of this plague. Do I need to go out and get a new computer? Is there anyway of perhaps stripping the hard drive clean and re-installing everything. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

**Fox** · 07-24-2003, 06:07 PM

Here's what I suggest you do:

1. When starting up your PC, hold F8. This will bring you into safe mode where windows will be running at a minimum.

2. Download Spybot search and destroy here

run that program and have it fix anything it finds.

What you most likely have on your computer is a piece of spyware. Do the porn windows open up unprompted or do they only occur when internet explorer opens?

clemmo · 07-24-2003, 06:38 PM

The windows open unprompted while I'm on line. I took your advice and tried to download Spybot search software but I kept receiving the following message: the plug in did not initialize properly. what's with that?

**Fox** · 07-24-2003, 08:20 PM

Hmm...very cryptic error message; I did a search with that and spybot and only a few non-helpful sites came up. Try downloading Ad-aware instead. Do these windows appear to come from internet explorer (the would have the IE logo on the top left if they did)? You definately have a piece of spyware on your computer. If you can't get Ad-aware to work, try doing this:

Go to start->run-> type in "msconfig" (without quotes), and click the 'startup' tab. Look through there and see if any of the program names look suspicious. Try this if ad-aware does not work or does not fix the problem.

clemmo · 07-25-2003, 03:22 AM

Thank you Fox. I will do so and report back as to how I made out. Probably won't get to it till later.

07-24-2003, 05:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
clemmo Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: new york Posts: 9 OS: win98	getting rid of the porn pop-ups! I'm new to tech support forums and must say I'm one step above a techno idiot. My computer is a Dell XPS R350 and is now 5 years old. Recently it seems the **** thing has been invaded by the most vile pornographic pop-ups and screens that lead you down a path wherein you have to turn the computer off to release yourself from their prison. I've tried deleting cookies and history but nothing works. They just keep coming back. What is happening and how can I rid myself of this plague. Do I need to go out and get a new computer? Is there anyway of perhaps stripping the hard drive clean and re-installing everything. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

07-24-2003, 06:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
Fox TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: NJ Posts: 7,752 OS: XP Pro, CentOS My System	Here's what I suggest you do: 1. When starting up your PC, hold F8. This will bring you into safe mode where windows will be running at a minimum. 2. Download Spybot search and destroy here run that program and have it fix anything it finds. What you most likely have on your computer is a piece of spyware. Do the porn windows open up unprompted or do they only occur when internet explorer opens?

07-24-2003, 06:38 PM	#3 (permalink)
clemmo Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: new york Posts: 9 OS: win98	The windows open unprompted while I'm on line. I took your advice and tried to download Spybot search software but I kept receiving the following message: the plug in did not initialize properly. what's with that?

07-24-2003, 08:20 PM	#4 (permalink)
Fox TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: NJ Posts: 7,752 OS: XP Pro, CentOS My System	Hmm...very cryptic error message; I did a search with that and spybot and only a few non-helpful sites came up. Try downloading Ad-aware instead. Do these windows appear to come from internet explorer (the would have the IE logo on the top left if they did)? You definately have a piece of spyware on your computer. If you can't get Ad-aware to work, try doing this: Go to start->run-> type in "msconfig" (without quotes), and click the 'startup' tab. Look through there and see if any of the program names look suspicious. Try this if ad-aware does not work or does not fix the problem.

07-25-2003, 03:22 AM	#5 (permalink)
clemmo Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: new york Posts: 9 OS: win98	Thank you Fox. I will do so and report back as to how I made out. Probably won't get to it till later.