For pop ups go to www.google.com and type pop up stopper in the search block. Google has a great stopper and even though it has spyware in it... they give you the choice of if you want it or not, when you are finishing the download.

Sounds like you should soon load one or more of the programs mentioned or soon your puter is going to be completely hijacked.

 

thats what im thinking.guess thats a good thing to do right now .thanks

 

To avoid spyware/snoopware, be vigilant and read things carefully when surfing. One common way to get spyware is when you are visiting a website, a small window pops up and tells you that you need to install something now in order to continue. If you just hit "yes" without reading into it, you may open your PC to evil spyware companies such as Gator, Webhancer, and Gain just to name a few. The nicer spyware companies (as if there really are any) will have something in the box that you can click on to read what you are getting; Gain tried to install on me yesterday and at least they were up front about what was going to happen. It was advertising based on my surfing prefs.

Another thing to be careful with is free software. Sometimes it's not really all that free as it may include spyware. Read about freeware before installing. One good sourse is http://www.download.com/; people can leave feedback on software (freeware) that you are considering. Take some of that feedback with a grain of salt to but I look for patterns in the feedback.

BTW, did you know that Real Player has spyware?????? I assume it still does unless something changed. I canned it long ago. Also, Win XP had a messenger in it (and it's not msn messenger) that you will want to get rid of in order to stop another form of popups. Read here http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/popalrt.htm If you do this, I'd disable the "alerter" while you're in there too.

 

thanks.your post was very informitive i appreciate the detail.my wife does the tech stuff for now but im learning.always had a computer around but didnt bother with it much.the thing i'm getting out of this post is i now know which questions to ask the computer tech guy where i bought the computer on what different software and downloads are best for my computer.you mentioned windows popups.i proably did hit one of those by mistake but they were comeing at me so fast it was unbelievable.this thread will be a good reference for me .i appreciate it.thank you

 

I have one called Spyhunter. I bought it before I found out about the free ones but I like it. It found two items in the registry and a few that were in cookies. After it cleaned them out I haven't had any more show up.

 

we tried that spyhunter download but by the time we did it was too late.this thing blindsided us.didnt even know what was happing until it was too late to correct it i couldn't imagine what was going on. our tech guy mentioned the spyhunter download but like i mentioned it was too late .my wife is checking on a few of these options now .we both have our own computers so she figures out the tech stuff ,then puts it into both computers.i started using the computer so much she made me buy my own.lol.i'm like a kid with a new toy thanks

 

I downloaded the two Spyware Blasters that I talked about in an erlier post here, on this machine at work. Then I also ran an Adaware scan. The scan found 218 new files to get rid of. On my puter at home, running all three regularly, I ran a scan last nite and found only 5 new files. So, some still get by, but they will soon be added to the scan files and be found and removed if you do regular updates.

SpywareBlaster and its companion, Spyware Guard, won't even allow known spyware to load on your computer and removes the baddies it knows of if already installed. Thats why I run all three at once. And Blaster runs constantly in the background.

Thereason I loaded all three is because of a Xupiter thing, which is exactly what you have...it hijacks your browser and takes you to where it wants to. You can sit and watch in the address bar when you click on a link...the address will suddenly change and take you off to where ever the hijacker is programmed to take you. With Xupiter, I had to completely reformat, but this was before I found SpywareBlaster. Xupiter is only one of the programs and it has a huge numberof variants, so you really have to be alert. One question though...do you download music from any site? Music loads are a geat place for crackers to hide bad files that are renamed. I think that is where I got Xupiter.

Since then I no longer download music from the net.

I have had NO problems since I loaded the programs I've told you about. There is also Spybot search and Destroy, which after looking at it today, is much the same as the ones I've told you about. Good luck... this garbage is as bad as getting a virus.

 

keeping my wife busy checking out the different downloads.its nice to have one of us that know what we are doing.i send these suggestions down to her ,she takes it from there.we should be all set by tonight.fasinating what you can learn here at FTE .these forums never cease to amaze me.thanks

 

You are very welcome. A lot of people don't believe that spyware and other things lurk out there like hackers. They another breed of the so many breeds of scum that rove the planet seeking victims.

 

I use Ad-Aware, WinPatrol (Scotty the dog) and a good firewall. Firewalls take some getting used to but they are helpful. I run Symantec's (Norton) firewall. You wouldn't believe some of the hacker's I've stopped . . . trying to get data, and bank info.