Many customers have called with complaints about pop-up advertisements and want to know how to eliminate them. Others have called wondering why their Internet connection is so slow. Both of these problems are often symptoms of a computer infected with spyware. This page provides some explanation and things you can do to correct these problems. While spyware may be considered a near relative of a computer virus, programs such as Norton and McAffee anti-virus are not designed to deal with spyware at the present time.
You need to have an up-to-date antivirus program in addition to the measures discussed below to fully protect your computer.

There are two general ways that pop-up ads can appear on your computer:

1. Web sites will include pop-up ads in their pages much like commercials on television. When you visit a web site that uses pop-ups,  you will receive the pop-up as part of the regular web content.

2. One or more small programs, called "spyware" or "adware" have been installed on the customer's computer and are actually going out to the Internet and collecting pop-up ads to be displayed on the computer at a later time. When an Internet connection is being used by one or more spyware programs to download advertising it's no wonder the connection seems slow when web surfing! True to it's name, spyware may even track where you go on the Internet in an attempt to tailor advertising to your specific interests. Spyware software is usually installed in the background, unknown to the computer user. Many file or music sharing programs (such as Kazaa and Gnutella) include spyware software along with their standard installations. Some websites will install spyware while you are browsing their sites. Often times, spyware is so poorly written that it will cause the computer to lock-up or even crash. You do not want spyware on your computer and should make every effort to remove it.

There are two things that need to be done to prevent pop-ups and spyware:

1. Use a pop-up blocker when browsing the Internet.

2. Run a spyware scanner regularly on your PC to detect and remove existing spyware.

The programs listed below should eliminate most of the pop-up ads and spyware commonly found on the Internet. Normally, we recommend that customers use one of the pop-up blockers and run Ad-Aware on a regular basis.

Some pop-ups can be good!  Web sites may use pop-up windows to display information you want to view.  For example, Dell Computers often promotes their weekly specials in pop-up windows, as do shopping sites like buy.com and other popular online retailers.  Many sites which make heavy use of multimedia (such as sites for movie promotion, automobiles, popular clothiers, and soft drinks) may also launch a separate window to display the content of their site.  You may not be able to view this content if you do not allow the site to launch certain pop-up windows. Pop-up blockers usually provide a "temporarily allow" or "white list" feature that lets you allow sites of your choice to present pop-up windows.

Pop-up Blockers

WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU USE ONLY ONE OF THESE PROGRAMS AT A TIME.  Running multiple pop-up blockers may make it very difficult to allow the "good" pop-up windows discussed earlier.

*UPDATE*

The latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer has a very good pop-up blocker built in to it. Open Internet Explorer and click on the "Tools" menu. If the second item on this menu is "Pop-up Blocker", you have it! Be sure to turn off or uninstall any third-party pop-up blockers you may have previously been using.

Here are several good third-party pop-up blockers. Click on the link to reach the program web site.

Google Toolbar 2.0 - Free! - The Google Toolbar adds a toolbar at the top of the Internet Explorer window to allow you to easily search the Google search engine.  The new 2.0 version also blocks pop-up ads.  It works with Internet Explorer versions 5.5 and newer and all versions of Windows.

PopThis! - There are free and retail versions available.  This program integrates with Internet Explorer 5.01 or newer. The settings are available on the 'Tools' menu. Internet Explorer 5.01 or newer and Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, or XP are required.

Pop-up Stopper - There are free and retail versions available.  To download the free version, go here.  This program runs separately from Internet programs and displays an icon in the system tray next to the time. Pop-up Stopper works with Internet Explorer 5.0 or newer and Netscape 4.0 or newer on Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP systems.

Batista Pop-up Zapper for OS X - A 5 day trial version is available, $29.95 to purchase.  For use with Macintosh and Internet Explorer only.  Pop-up Zapper Lite (also $29.95 to purchase) is available for OS 8.5, 8.6 or 9.0 and for use with Netscape or Internet Explorer.  (We have not used this product and have no first hand experience with it.)

Spyware Scanners

Ad-Aware

*UPDATE*

If you currently have Ad-Aware installed on your computer, please be sure that you are using the latest version, Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition 1.05.  If you are using an older version you will not be able to update it with the latest reference file and will not be able to remove the newest spyware.

This program will scan your computer (Windows computers only) and remove software identified as "adware" or "spyware".  Unwanted Internet Explorer search bars, odd and suddenly changing "home pages", and random dialing/connecting to the Internet are behaviors that may indicate the presence of this software. 

You can find more information about Ad-Aware at www.lavasoftusa.com, and download the installation program from Download.com.

Once downloaded and installed, open Ad-Aware and click the "Check for Updates" link in the bottom right hand corner and then "Connect" to update the definition set. (If this step causes any errors, skip it and continue with the instructions.)  Then, click "Scan Now" on the right side of the screen and click "Next".

When the scan is complete, click "Next" or "Continue" and Ad-Aware should present a list of found items. If you have the Kazaa Media Desktop installed on your computer, Ad-Aware may identify one of these files in its scan. You will need to find the file listed as being located in the "C:\Program Files\Kazaa" (or "C:\Progra~1\Kazaa") folder, right click on it and click 'Add to ignore list'. Right-click on one of the items and click "Check/Select All" (be sure to uncheck the Kazaa file if it was listed) then click "Finish" to remove the selected items.

When the scan is complete, restart your computer and try connecting to the Internet with Internet Explorer.

Note: The free "Personal" version of Ad-Aware includes buttons or links to advanced features that are only available in the "Plus" or "Professional" versions, which must be purchased. One advanced feature that may be of interest to the general public is called "Ad-Watch" which provides continuous background spyware scanning  much like what anti-virus programs do for viruses. Diligent use of manual scanning with the "Personal" version seems to be adequate but for those who are forgetful there is Ad-Watch.

Spybot Search and Destroy

Another program to search for and remove "spyware" and "adware".  Spybot will occasionally identify some items that Ad-Aware overlooks (and vice-versa.)  You can obtain Spybot at their website.  Be sure to search for updates before performing a scan of your system.

Disclaimer
This page is for informational purposes only.  The software mentioned on this page are in no way produced by or in cooperation with Runestone Internet Services or any of its affiliates or partners.  Though we have had favorable experiences with the software we have used, certain programs and operating systems may interact or conflict in unexpected ways and you use these products at your own risk.  Runestone Internet Services is not and will not be held responsible or liable for any undesirable consequence of installing these software packages on your computer.  Any issues of support, recovery, or reimbursement must be addressed directly to the software vendor.

This document was last updated:  Monday, January 03, 2005 10:07 AM