The specs: Windows XP with Internet Explorer 6.

 

 

 

What: Pages keep popping up when I am visiting websites, there is no discretion, they appear at any website I am on when it is first navigated to. The pop-ups contain obsure search engines with obscure terms, and sometimes just the regular old, "win a free computer," or, "find your true love". The pop-up blocker is turned on.

 

 

 

Where: A window the size of my current window, directly overtop of the website I have navigated to.

 

 

 

The Catch: I am not able to install anything on my computer; this means no Ad-Aware or Mozilla Firefox or IE 7.

 

 

 

So...

 

 

 

How would I go about searching for/removing/preventing these pop-ups, and is there a way to delete the source of the trouble without a program designed specifically for that. :ohnoes:

 

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Mensilater

Umm, can I ask why you can't install anything? If it's school/work, I'd let your boss/sysad know, or if it's something with your parents, I don't see why they wouldn't let you fix something like that :?

Yeah you're pretty much SOL if you can't install anything, seriously.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm going to go on a limb and say its your parents machine. Why can't you just install something like Ad aware, run it so you can get rid of whatever adware is on your machine, and then uninstall the program?

Try rolling back XP to one of the restore points dated before the spyware got onto your system.

The problem with adware is that, unlike viruses that usually have unique effects, there is literally THOUSANDS of different types of adware that do the exact same thing. Without a program to tell, your chances of getting the right manual uninstallation instructions is very low.

Well, thanks for the help. :D I suppose I'll just see if I can find a way to get some sort of software on here. I guess this can be locked now.

If you have some type of hardware or software problem preventing you from installing programs, we might be able to help with that.

It all really depends on the machine. If it is a school/work computer let an IT person take care of it, if its your home PC you should put it into your own hands if your parents won't listen.

Something you might want to consider is to try a HiJackThis log. This program was required to be used by us to determine whether our computers were safe enough to be allowed to be Crew/Staff/etc. It doesn't need to be installed and is just a simple Executable File. If needed, there are a couple of techies around these boards (and one of the Admins might be able to hook you up with a trusted one) who can tell you what to do to fix this problem. This is by all means no guarantee for success, but given your claim to the inability to install programs, that's the best I can offer.

If your going to use hijack this, I would suggest going Here I have asked for help there before and found them to be a very helpful bunch. Be sure to read the stickies before posting a hijack this log.

 

 

 

Also, if ou are unable to install a program due to this spyware, it's worth trying to install it in safe mode, it might not work but it's worth a go.

 

 

 

oober

It appears to have stopped doing the pop-ups. It's probably lurking around stealing my password, but as long as it's not annoying me, I'm good. Once I get back home I'll get an IT guy to take a closer look at it. Thanks again. :D