Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Pop Ups on PBoss

Is anyone else currently getting a pop up called "Tech Depot Your Online Technology Superstore" on this site? Damn thing is annoying. Don't anyone buy anything from these people; their marketing sucks. They have parasitized our PBoss forum.

Last night I cleaned all my "cookies" off my computer and now I'm getting this "pop up" again and this is the only internet site I visited this morning. Done for now, I'm leaving to delete "cookies" again.

Bill, click the attached link. It's a popup killer and it's free. Spybot search and destroy.
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html?part=104443&subj=dlpage&tag=button

Bill, I use AOL as my service provider, and they have anti-pop up stuff you can turn on.

I think a lot of providers should have this.

I used to have pop up problems in general, but not after the newest AOL software. I don't ever get pop-ups now.

i'm not having any problems. Bill check under my computer , under programs . see if it's in there and delete it. gator is great for that. goback best protection you can have.

I don't think that pop up has anything to do with Pond Boss site. You most likely have spyware on your computer. Search for spybot search and destroy on your search tool. It is a very good spyware killer and free.

Waddaya know, a subject on which I actually have some knowledge. Spybot search and destroy is good but I have found that it is best to run a second program called adaware. You can download adaware here:

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button

just copy and paste that into the browser address window. For both of these programs you need to "update" the definitions file. In Ad Aware, click on check for updates now before you run the program. Then you will need to put a check in the box beside all of the problems that adaware found.

With Spybot click on the check for updates button before running the software. When it finishes you will need to click on fix problems.

For the run of the mill popups that you may get on normal websites like Foxnews or CNN, you can download the Google Toolbar from toolbar.google.com and click on download.

Thumbs up Randy!
I would also recommend downloading ZoneAlarm firewall which is also free. I have the pro. version but the free version is good!

Bill,
Though it is moot, Tuzz is most likely correct. That Popup has nothing to do with the PB site. If you had visited any site the same thing would have happened.

Ken, Tuzz and Ric - My "control panel", "add remove programs" was clean of spyware; I checked that before deleating all my cookies. And I thought "loosing my cookies" days were over long ago!

Now this evening I am not geting any pop-ups and I did not download any of the recommended spyware or adware preventions yet.

Do you suppose our web-site manager has anything to do with blockages of these damn adware pop-up parasites?

PS Thanks to all for all the helpful hints.

Bill, have you added any new programs such as a browser tool bar or gator ewallet? Many programs like those contain some sort of spyware that can cause the problem you are having. I have played the spyware/pop up game for a few years now and have defeated it sucessfully with the installation adaware6.0, which you can get at http://www.lavasoft.de/ . I have had much greater luck with this program than any of the others, I do sometimes run spybot, but adaware seems to get everything that spybot misses. Norton antivirus 2004 also has a good spyware feature. You might want to run a windows update also. Best of luck.

BTW, if you ever want to get rid of ALL the cookies on your system shoot me an email, you would be surprised at how many actually reside on your system and deleting the cookies you see, or in the internet options doesn't even come close.

Bill and all; I get no pop ups on my home computer but get a lot of Trojan viruses, pop ups and ads on my work PC. I'm running Pest Patrol, Ad-Aware and Nod 32 at work. I've about figured that the amateur teen age virus coders are better than the anti-virus pros. Of course, they are in a reactive or after the fact defense mode.

lild - No new programs added except for Norton Antiv. 2004 and Kodak Easy share which came in a CD with the camera. I may email you for info to delete hidden cookies. Thanks again to all.

I very rarely have a problem with popups/virus infections/trojans etc. I hope the info below will help those with this type of problem.
Keep up with the windows critical updates.
Keep your Anti-virus software up to date and run it at least weekly.
Be very cautious about what attachments you open that come in your email.
"Free Software", especially that which is offered from a website usually Isn't free. There is almost always a catch. Usually adware or spyware is downloaded at the same time without your knowledge.
Like Ric said ZoneAlarm is a free software firewall, but if you are on a broadband (cable or DSL) connection and you have a router between your PC and the Internet then a software firewall isn't really necessary.

With that said, even though I haven't experienced any popup ads on PB, LOTS of otherwise reputable sites (Fox, CNN, etc)do employ popups as a source of revenue. My previous note about the Google Toolbar applies. It will stop 99.99% of all popups.

I just got a po-up for a free play station 2... What the hell is going on here?????

Guys,
Spyware and adware don't install themselves in a nice way that legit programs do. That's why they are called "spyware". They hide!!!! You won't likely see them in the Control Panel Add/Remove programs area.
I would recommend that everyone has free spybot search and destroy and or adware to keep these thieves at bay. They can be a lot more than just annoying. You can have banking passwords and other important data stolen if not careful.

ZoneAlarm is also a good idea if you want to see if a virus or rouge program is trying to acccess the internet while you are doing something else. It can be annoying for a while as every program that goes to the internet will initially be blocked and yo have to ok it. Even updates to programs will initially have to be okayed access.

The way you get these things is to crawl around on web sites that you probably know you should avoid. You know which ones I mean .. Guys!!

The other way is to click links that spam software is teasing you to visit so you get some drugs cheap or show you ways to grow your manhood, etc.

You need to practice safe computing.
Need a updated virus scanning software, spyware remover and if you are on line a lot or have broadband you need some sort of firewall. The firewall can be software or hardware based. Zone Alarm is a good software firewall. If you have a router it will help protect against virus and worm invasions. Unfortunately none of these is fool proof but you would be crazy not to have at least these basics tools to protect your computers. I'm in computer business for over 20 years. Just now learning the pondmiester business. Good Luck.

Another excellent firewall is IPCOP www.ipcop.org. You need a dedicated old computer to use it anything above a 486 works fine and it has a dial-on-demand feature that is excellent. Now we can have all 4 computers on the home network up at the same time if we want. Before only one computer at a time could access the internet. I'm sure Tuzz has heard of it. I also use it on the network and cable modem here at work. I downloaded Spybot yesterday and noticed the difference on the wife's computer unfortunately those of us that run Linux and Mozilla for a browser are outta luck.

Bob

I never get popups from any site anywhere. I don't have any of these extra add-on cluttering programs installed. I simply use the latest Netscape/Mozilla based browser and have the pop-up option set to block. Very simply and straight forward with none of the security risks that are inherent in IE.

Thumbs Up to Tuzz!! More Good Info, some of which I didn't think to include in my previous post. The last time I has spyware on this PC was when I let my Niece get on the internet.