Until this week I’ve never received pop-up ads while I’m working online. Now I am beseiged by them. All of them alert me that I am “unsafe” and urge me to buy their anti-pop-up protection.
Do pop-ups pose a danger, or are they just annoying? If dangerous, what solution do you propose? I use CompuServe, and the free Google toolbar that says it stops pop-ups does not seem to work.
A sudden rash of popups (especially if you’re getting them from sites that you’ve visited before without popups), is a good indication that spyware is on your computer (The Google toolbar is a great anti-popup tool, but it can’t stop spyware).
Go to http://www.lavasoftusa.com and download and run Ad-Aware. It should solve your problem.
Thanks. I’m wondering about a cheaper solution, though.
The pop-ups are, with only one exception, being sent to me by companies that want me to buy their anti-pop-up protection.
I am still curious whether pop-ups per se are dangerous. If not, I don’t care. If so, I do. If merely a nuisance, I’d rather reduce the nuisance for less money.
Shoshana, both Ad-Aware (from RealityChuck’s link) and SpyBot are completely free. They will get rid of popups.
And to answer the question in the thread title, browser popups could conceivably pose a threat, if they contain malicious Active-X controls or javascript and if your machine allows such things to run unchecked.
Pop-up from spyware or Windows messaging pop-up?
The later can be turned off relatively easily.
Fellow doper QED posted this site a while back, and the info is still up and accurate:
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/docs/messagepopup/
Follow the instructins, and you will have gotten rid of what those companies wanted you to pay money for.
Ad-Aware is free and is worth running. Mort’s post is a good question. If the title of the window contains “Windows Messenger” (I think, please correct me if I’m wrong), it’s coming from a service that Microsoft probably shouldn’t have left open. Another place that has a fix for it is Gibson Research. Follow the link and download/run a small program called ShootTheMessenger. Gibson Research also has some checks including Shields Up that scans the ports of your computer searching for openings.
Believe me, these popups if left unchecked will become more than annoying. They can get to the point of rendering your computer unable to run the programs you want. Do not leave these unchecked. Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad people out there trying to cause grief. If your computer is connected to the internet it is very important to have security. Places like the site mentioned above can help you.
Popups can’t harm you in any way that normal browser windows can’t. Malicious code resides on the server and needs to be loaded up by the browser to run. It doesn’t matter whether the malicious code loads up into the browser window or a popup. In other words, as long as you don’t visit untrusted, suspicious websites, you’re safe.
Sometimes I look at the Wierd URLs from the Straight Dope main page, assuming “untrusted, suspicious” websites won’t appear there. Or sometimes I click through from one to another, or follow Google references.
What should I be aware of?
You should be aware of porn, hacking, gambling websites. You should be aware of cheap-looking, shoddy search engine / portal websites that you’ve never heard of – especially ones that link to lots of porn, hacking, gambling websites.
Anything else is likely to be benign.
Thank you. I didn’t see the free version of Ad-Aware (I was looking at the Ad-aware Professional, I think). One question: I downloaded “Shoot the Messenger” and toggled Messenger to “off.” Is that sufficient, or do I need to have Shoot the Messenger on/running constantly? This may be a question with a painfully simple answer, but I don’t want to assume I know what I’m doing when I don’t!
Once should have done the job.
There is lots of talk about popups but none about popunders. These show up when you close your browser & then you have no idea where they came from.