Do you guys get pop up ads?
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You can get Adblock for Chrome as well. I use it so I have never noticed any ads here even before I became a supporting member.
Used firefox for a long time. I stopped because for some reason every search I would enter would redirect me to a 'websearch' engine (wasn't always this way, it just started happening from out of nowhere). Tried everything I could think of to solve this, but to no avail. Ultimately it's what made me switch to Chrome.
I'm no PC Pro, but I'd say more than reasonably competent, and every bit of research I did would say I had to modify my registry to fix what I just described with firefox. Out of laziness and lack of confidence I just installed Chrome.
Might want to try "Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware", they have a free version but you have to look on their site for it. Takes care of a LOT of browser add-on's. Wife gets this crap all the time from some game site she goes to, I run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and most of the time it fixes the problem. JMHO
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Burnie
I was recently deluged with popups unconnected ECF. It turned I clicked the wrong thing while downloading Acrobat Reader. After much futzing around, I had an inspiration and used the windows restore function for the day prior to the occurrence. All fixed! I imagine other operating systems have a similar function.
Ditto. At the end, I had so much trouble with FF I just gave up. Had Chrome at one time, went back to it. It took some getting used to after years of FF. IE is the worst, though, imo. SO BAD for me.
IT tech support here. sounds like malware, depending on which infection (almost irrelevent not days unless its a band new one that just came out) it could be tough to remove without assistance. now there are so many tools made to remove the infections, i second the download and run malwarebytes anti-malware (Mbam), you dont need to use the free trial or purchase it for the realtime scanner, just install, let it run a quick scan (depending on how much stuff you have can take 5 minutes to a half hour.. longest i have had it take was 3 hours with a computer using 4 terabytes of storage space), and it will list what it can find. then check what you want removed and it may ask you to restart your computer, allow it and it will finish and should remove the infection. if not there are a few forums out there that offer good tech support for free (not sure ECF wants me to say which ones, or offer tech support on here, so ill leave my comment off here).
Yea I'm a geek, nerd, whatever, not IT, but I have removed my fair share of crap from friends & family's computers. Mbam gets a lot of it, but sometimes not all, and some still re installs on reboot, but I figured that was a good place to start. Hope you get it fixed, if not google your problem and look at some of the tech forums for further help.
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Burnie
There are no pop-up ads on ECF.
Some usergroups do see ads, but they are just the normal banners at the top, and on some pages after the first post. We don't allow offensive colours or image changes, or flashy banner ads, so they are fairly easy on the eye. In fact some people who don't see them when logged-out go to another browser as a guest visitor just to see what the vendors are advertising at the moment.
What you have is a type of malware on your PC called adware. Generally it is restricted to one of the browsers, but some of them will affect all browsers on the computer. As Burnie and Topdogie advised above, the simplest fix is to download Malwarebytes scanner and remove the adware.
Here is the link for it:
Malwarebytes : Malwarebytes Anti-Malware FREE
There are many excellent resources on this site, one of the web's best free security resources pages and forum, which is especially useful for beginners:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-trojan-scanner-trojan-remover.htm
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-spyware-and-adware-remover.htm
Can I suggest that after you run the scan/s, you post the list here so we can help you, if it is not obvious to you what is alien / safe to remove? Another option is to google any file you see that you don't recognise - this can often bring up useful info.
Some usergroups do see ads, but they are just the normal banners at the top, and on some pages after the first post. We don't allow offensive colours or image changes, or flashy banner ads, so they are fairly easy on the eye. In fact some people who don't see them when logged-out go to another browser as a guest visitor just to see what the vendors are advertising at the moment.
What you have is a type of malware on your PC called adware. Generally it is restricted to one of the browsers, but some of them will affect all browsers on the computer. As Burnie and Topdogie advised above, the simplest fix is to download Malwarebytes scanner and remove the adware.
Here is the link for it:
Malwarebytes : Malwarebytes Anti-Malware FREE
There are many excellent resources on this site, one of the web's best free security resources pages and forum, which is especially useful for beginners:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-trojan-scanner-trojan-remover.htm
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-spyware-and-adware-remover.htm
Can I suggest that after you run the scan/s, you post the list here so we can help you, if it is not obvious to you what is alien / safe to remove? Another option is to google any file you see that you don't recognise - this can often bring up useful info.
Firefox with Ghostery Add-on. No ads. Ever. I agree it sounds like adware, unfortunately 
I'd like to ad that the OP didn't state which VERSION of Windows they are running. I remotely support our team of freelancers if/when they have technical problems. One of my users got an OEM Windows 8 install recently, and it came bundled with an app that would launch full browser tabs (any Browser) with related content when she was looking at certain sites. Was driving her crazy. In the end, I un-installed 7 of these stupid OEM apps. Not malware per-se, but annoying all the same.
When users start seeing pop-ups, new browser tabs, new search engines, etc etc it's typically malware that was bundled with a possibly USEFUL app, and their install could have been avoided by simply "opting out" during the install process. I'm driven no ends crazy by the ignorance apparent with so many computer users. On the other hand, you either get "the faith", or your don't.
Running FF with Anti-Script and Ad-Block, avoiding scammy sites, and being very careful with apps you download will keep your computer safe to a large degree. Browse, and Vape, on!
When users start seeing pop-ups, new browser tabs, new search engines, etc etc it's typically malware that was bundled with a possibly USEFUL app, and their install could have been avoided by simply "opting out" during the install process. I'm driven no ends crazy by the ignorance apparent with so many computer users. On the other hand, you either get "the faith", or your don't.
Running FF with Anti-Script and Ad-Block, avoiding scammy sites, and being very careful with apps you download will keep your computer safe to a large degree. Browse, and Vape, on!
No popups here, ever, but I run OSX Snow Leopard on a Dell netbook, use the Chrome browser with AdBlockerPlus and Don'tTrackMe plug-ins.
Your mileage may vary.
Your mileage may vary.
Try not to let it upset you too much. I guess I could've mentioned that I'm using Windows 7 64 Bit (if that actually matters for this issue). I don't typically install add-ons, but when I do I opt out of everything except what I'm installing. If there is no opt out option, control panel is usually my next stop.
Thanks for all the replies everyone. It appears that the pop ups are gone.
Well gosh! First, the fact you know to go to the control panel and probably Add/Remove programs is great! If only all my freelancers could and would do that safely. It would save me a world of grief. While your exact OS isn't as much of an issue, in my experience (The machine I'm using to type this is an office loan because I work from home mostly, and its an HP OEM Windows 7 install) most if not all "Name" brand computers come with all these stupid "apps" that they put on the install, which either run in the background and suck up memory and or CPU, or work for like a month and then nag you to buy (or gawd forbid both).
These days the first thing I do when I remotely support that sort of machine is to get rid of all that crap. I recently freed up 17% CPU usage by doing this process on one of my freelancers machines. Since it's an older laptop, this made a huge difference and the freelancer is thrilled.
Yes, bloatware is one of the first things to go every time i set up a new machine. Good point about the manufacturer add ons though. This PC and I have a long standing relationship and that crap is long gone.
I so totally laughed when I read that. I'm the same way. I name my machines from a long list of mythological gods, my thumbdrives even get names. Each machine has it's own personality and learning all it's quirks is part and parcel of ownership. Hmmmm. I thinking I am developing the same sort of "relationship" with my first vaperizer too. I guess computer geekery isn't the only technology one can become obessive over.
For me, when I ran Windows on a regular basis, running msconfig was always my first step in de-cluttering, especially to disable the bloatware that launched at start-up.
True. But if I can just remove it altogether, that's usually my first plan of action.
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