(Computer) Geek Level Question

[Purple Panic]

I'm having three issues with my online usage of Internet Explorer (assuming these issues are connected to IE, I'm not sure).

The first is that little by little, links that were not intended to be there by the creator of the web pages that I visit are appearing on said web pages. When you wave over them with your mouse they pop up text at the bottom of the window that says "goto: (link)". For example, if the word is "forum," it says "goto: forum." I want to get rid of these.

The second is that I seem to have an instant pop-up that is not attached to any specific website, but seems to pop up every two or three pages. It's just a series of ads, commonly titled "Simply the Best" or "No Purchase Necessary!" I could install a pop-up blocker, but I'm stubborn and want to get rid of it at the source, because it's obviously attached to my computer, rather than any one website. AdAware does not detect it, nor does Norton Anti-Virus. Deleting all of my cookies and temporary internet files did not remove it.

The third is that whenever I visit a search engine (any search engine) and do a search, I get a second window that pops up that supposedly "searches the search engines" and finds me lots of annoying advertisements featuring that for which I am searching and very little content. Same deal with the pop-up blocker, AdAware, Norton, cookies and temp files. Nothing gets rid of it.


Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as I've tried everything and I'm out of them. I could just scrap IE on my home computer, but I can't do that on my work computer, since I'm not supposed to install anything on it.

Thanks in advance!

-Purp

[JoeBob]

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Download AdAware, and get rid of whatever spyware is installed. That'll help.

[Purple Panic]

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Download AdAware, and get rid of whatever spyware is installed. That'll help.

I did that. It doesn't help. At all.

[B3RACER1a]

www.google.com and download the google toolbar. I had the same problem, but no popups anymore.

Also, go get the latest updates from microsoft.

[Lizzerd]

I had something similar with the second search window popping up. Seemed to show up a lot of times when I did a search within a website, too. I installed AdAware and it took care of the problem. Run it again, and make sure you deleted what you think you deleted. Look for something called "gator" in particular.

[MAXAR RE]

I was experiencing a similar issue to what you describe. Un-beknownst to me, I had a trojan program installed on my system that would replace every second link in any website with links to pr0n or wierd search pages.

I run Norton Anti Virus Corporate Edition 8.1, and it didn't detect it as a virus. I ran Ad Aware, and it didn't find it either. I performed a repair as well as a reinstall of Internet Explorer and this also did not resolve.

Finally, installed Pest Patrol and it was able to detect and remove it. Now I run Pest patrol weekly on all my boxes. You can test to see if Pest Patrol will find the spyware causing your issue by doing the online scan from their website: http://www.pestpatrol.com/Downloads/Eval/DownloadHomeEvalNew.asp

WARNING -- Pest Patrol will report several of the primary files for MSN Messenger and other IM clients as possible "rats" or similar possible threats. DO NOT DELETE THESE if you use your IM clients, or you will have to reinstall them.

[Cam]

Just use Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org/) :gomer:

[nz_climber]

Just use Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org/) :gomer:

That would have been my answer :D

[Insomniac]

Just use Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org/) :gomer:

I would've specified FireFox. :)

Also, you can't disable the link text in your status bar without disabling JS in IE.

[nz_climber]

I would've specified FireFox. :)

Also, you can't disable the link text in your status bar without disabling JS in IE.

I would have said firebird, but looks like they changed the name with out telling me :gomer:

[solpadeine]

Another vote for Mozilla's FireFox here. Add the Adblock extension to it and start cleaning up the pages you visit. No more annoying ads everywhere. Plus it's much faster than IE and you don't give MS any more business.

[Insomniac]

I would have said firebird, but looks like they changed the name with out telling me :gomer:

Hehe, you should upgrade. It is so fast.

[Insomniac]

Another vote for Mozilla's FireFox here. Add the Adblock extension to it and start cleaning up the pages you visit. No more annoying ads everywhere. Plus it's much faster than IE and you don't give MS any more business.

Except you run it on Windows. :0

[indyfan31]

The description of Firefox sounds a lot like Apple's Safari which I use on my laptop. Tabbed browsing, no popups, and instant Google.

[solpadeine]

Except you run it on Windows. :0

Ya don't have to. Mac, Linux supported too. :)

[nz_climber]

Hehe, you should upgrade. It is so fast.

Yeah i have :)

[Insomniac]

Ya don't have to. Mac, Linux supported too. :)

I just meant for most people. Escape from M$ is only a pipe dream. ;)

[Insomniac]

Yeah i have :)

I'm hooking people on it left and right. The extensions really interest them.

[racer2c]

The description of Firefox sounds a lot like Apple's Safari which I use on my laptop. Tabbed browsing, no popups, and instant Google.

Firefox is fast. I've noticed some problems it has handling some script, but not enough to ding it. It doesn't do tabbed browsing though. If it does, I don't see how to turn it on in the options. Opera was the one who really started the tabbed browsing a few years ago.

Edit: Tabbed browsing is an extension. Duh.

[Insomniac]

Firefox is fast. I've noticed some problems it has handling some script, but not enough to ding it. It doesn't do tabbed browsing though. If it does, I don't see how to turn it on in the options. Opera was the one who really started the tabbed browsing a few years ago.

Firefox hides the tabs until you have more than one tab. Either hit Ctrl+T, right click a link and open in new tab or middle click a link.

[nz_climber]

I'm hooking people on it left and right. The extensions really interest them.

Yeah im hooked, have been since i installed mozilla about a 6mths ago, then onto firebird, now firefox :)

[Insomniac]

Edit: Tabbed browsing is an extension. Duh.

It is part of Firefox. The extensions enhance it.

[ChampcarShark]

Another vote for Firefox here, it is the greatest advance since Netscape.

Anyways, I use the google toolbar in addition to Spybot S&D

You can download from here.
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download

I got a nasty program installed and had to make changes to the registry to get rid of the annoying popups that google could not block. Spybot helped by pinpointing the registry items that could be removed.