A word of warning. Yesterday I got a popup at a site. It had a fake Thawte authentication certificate on it. I closed it down.
A few minutes later when I used google, and a new, minimized IE window appeared in the bottom bar of the PC. Then it tried to run an .exe file. Luckily I have GetRight download client installed, which catches .exe files when they try to run, and asks me if I want to download them. So I maximised the window, and the URL for this is “gopopup.com”, which is calling a “searchsquire.com” page. It’s fucking bastard bloody spyware, but AdAware didn’t manage to catch it. There’s now a motherfucking searchsquire.dll file in my WINNT\SYSTEM32, and I can’t delete it because it seems to run its bastard self at startup. Will have to take remedial action.
Anyway, I did a google search (aided by the fucking stupid popup window that won’t leave me alone), and found this on a google cache - can’t post the URL here, so do a search for “searchsquire” and it’s the cache of the second result down:
Lenny, go and fuck yourself you lying cunt. WARNING: If you go to the site and follow the “Download NOW”, it’ll install itself WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT.
I agree, but that’s not what originally happened to me - it was a popup from another site altogether, with this fake Thawte certificate on it, and a thing that said “click yes to complete this download” - which I didn’t do, I just closed the window.
Try rebooting in safe mode and move the file out. I wouldn’t delete it until you verify that everything works fine after its removal. You might also want to share your story with AdAware. I’m sure they would want their tool to catch this type of stuff.
jjimm, what version of IE are you using? You should upgrade if you have anything less than 6.0. My employer recently upgraded to 6.0 and I’ve hardly seen any popups since. The latest version seems to have a popup blocker included; I like it so much I that I upgraded at home this past weekend.
…but not one that’s practical for any of us on work machines or who don’t feel we have the patience, time or expertise to install something else.
Sorry. It’s just that so many “I have a problem with IE/Win98/XP (etc) threads” in GQ descend into “don’t use Windows” debates that are frankly unhelpful that I end up tetchy about it. I’m no fervent admirer of MS products, if it makes any difference.