Help! Getting Pop-Ups on Firefox!!!!

[Chris Freeland]

One of the reasons I use the FireFox web brouser is for the built in pop-up blocker which worked flawlessly until a few days ago. Now when I get on line using my FireFox browser and not even opening IE, popups will open IE and will come on by them selves. These pop-ups are quite annoying and take a long time to respond when I attempt to close them. This seams to only be happening when using my daughters laptop and not on my desk top, any one know of some good free or low cost software to do battle with what ever has attached itself to this computer and causing this annoying problem? :mad:

[HappyGoLucky]

One of the reasons I use the FireFox web brouser is for the built in pop-up blocker which worked flawlessly until a few days ago. Now when I get on line using my FireFox browser and not even opening IE, popups will open IE and will come on by them selves. These pop-ups are quite annoying and take a long time to respond when I attempt to close them. This seams to only be happening when using my daughters laptop and not on my desk top, any one know of some good free or low cost software to do battle with what ever has attached itself to this computer and causing this annoying problem? :mad:
Sounds like you have some sort of trojan or virus, possibly in the form of an activex applet. You say the popups are opening IE. What is your default browser, IE or Firefox?

Have you run any adware/spamware checker like AdAware or Spybot? AdAware has a very good free version, Spybot Search & Destroy is always free. They both will search out any malware that might be on your computer. What you describe is NOT normal and would not be happening simply because of Firefox.

I run Firefox and have it as my default browser. I typically use one of the latest optimized nightly builds of Firefox, currently this one:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040610 Firefox/0.8.0+ (MOOX-AV)

That signifies it is an Aviary/Branch build based on the June 10,2004 codebase, built by MOOX.

Currently there are several different codebases, the Trunk which comprises the "bleeding edge" as far as features and functions, but it can be VERY buggy. The Branch, which is a an offshoot of the trunk that is being debugged and made more stable and ready for the real world. A new part of the Branch is the Aviary, which is being designed as a future Release version that will be made readily available for the general public. They all should be considered "beta", though. Then there are the official Release Candidates from Mozilla.org that are pretty much debugged and ready for the average user. They won't be the most optimized or cutting edge, but can be more forgiving and stable.

[Mark Holtz]

It's also possible that the pages are using some new code to get around the pop-up blockers.

[MarkA]

If they're opening IE it's almost definitely adware/spyware/trojan horses/virii

Check out Ad-aware and Spybot Search and Destroy for help removing them.

[Chris Freeland]

Thanks guys, I will try your suggestions when I can pry my daughters laptop from her hands long enough to do a download. ;)

[Chris Freeland]

I loaded a free sample of Spy Sweeper, it did detect and eliminated a Trojan it seams to have reduced the problem some but it did not eliminate it all together. Now it seams I will go for a while with no problem and then I will get a bunch of these pop-ups all at once.

[Chris Freeland]

Sounds like you have some sort of trojan or virus, possibly in the form of an activex applet. You say the popups are opening IE. What is your default browser, IE or Firefox?

Have you run any adware/spamware checker like AdAware or Spybot? AdAware has a very good free version, Spybot Search & Destroy is always free. They both will search out any malware that might be on your computer. What you describe is NOT normal and would not be happening simply because of Firefox.

I run Firefox and have it as my default browser. I typically use one of the latest optimized nightly builds of Firefox, currently this one:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040610 Firefox/0.8.0+ (MOOX-AV)

That signifies it is an Aviary/Branch build based on the June 10,2004 codebase, built by MOOX.

Currently there are several different codebases, the Trunk which comprises the "bleeding edge" as far as features and functions, but it can be VERY buggy. The Branch, which is a an offshoot of the trunk that is being debugged and made more stable and ready for the real world. A new part of the Branch is the Aviary, which is being designed as a future Release version that will be made readily available for the general public. They all should be considered "beta", though. Then there are the official Release Candidates from Mozilla.org that are pretty much debugged and ready for the average user. They won't be the most optimized or cutting edge, but can be more forgiving and stable.


If they're opening IE it's almost definitely adware/spyware/trojan horses/virii

Check out Ad-aware and Spybot Search and Destroy for help removing them.

I tried this, it reduced but did not eliminate the problem. I have since invested in and installed both Win Cleaner and Zone Pro 4, which reduced the problem some more but a few are still getting through and opening IE even when using Firefox.

[HappyGoLucky]

I tried this, it reduced but did not eliminate the problem. I have since invested in and installed both Win Cleaner and Zone Pro 4, which reduced the problem some more but a few are still getting through and opening IE even when using Firefox.
Something is seriously miscombobulated on your computer. That should not happen. I've never seen that happen on any of the computers I've set up with Firefox.

[Chris Freeland]

Something is seriously miscombobulated on your computer. That should not happen. I've never seen that happen on any of the computers I've set up with Firefox.

This is my teenage daughters laptop who is real big into AOL instant messanger and a couple others, I do not know what junk over the months that she has downloaded and would not know where to begin to possibly delete some of it without upsetting her. I have a gut feeling that it is related to these instant messanger services in some way but do not know for sure. I do not have this problem with my desktop which also has AOL instant messanger on it.

[HappyGoLucky]

This is my teenage daughters laptop who is real big into AOL instant messanger and a couple others, I do not know what junk over the months that she has downloaded and would not know where to begin to possibly delete some of it without upsetting her. I have a gut feeling that it is related to these instant messanger services in some way but do not know for sure. I do not have this problem with my desktop which also has AOL instant messanger on it.
Hmmm, one thing to check is whether the Messenger Service is enabled on that computer. This is not the same as Windows Messenger, the IM application, but is instead a service that comes with Windows and is designed for network environments. Hackers and spammers have figured out a way to use that service for their own nefarious ends, so unless you're on a corporate network that requires it, you should completely disable that service.

Also, the AOL Instant Messenger and some of the other IM applications do have popup advertising modules and other annoying things. I use Trillian, which is an IM application that does NOT have those and it works on all of the major IM platforms. So, my one instance of Trillian allows me to IM people on AOL, Yahoo, ICQ, and MSN, instead of having to run the IM programs for each one of those. You can check it out at http://www.trillian.cc

[cdru]

I recommend downloading SpySweeper, AdAware AND SpyBot:S&D. There are things that one catches that the others miss. Scan using all three, reboot, then scan again until everything comes up clean. A router will help take care of the messenger popups as well as disabling the messenger service. Antivirus is also a must.

I worked on a friends computer for close to 6 hours getting off all the digital crap littered about that was infecting it. Don't expect a 1-scan solution.