web browser pop up ads. Are these viruses?

[Solodays]

Have you ever been to a site where something pops up asking you "congrats, enter to win $1000" ..etc.. where it leaves you no choice but to click either "OK'' or "cancel"? I normally dont click anything i just restart my pc.

but this time this thing won't go away it's stuck on my firefox homepage everytime i start up firefox leaving me no choice but to click either ok or cancel.

what should i do? will i get infected once i click "ok" or "Cancel"?

 

[Quiksilver]

Sounds like the normal pop-up ad to me and it just happens to be embedded on your homepage. Why are you using firefox is you don't have the adblock plus extension installed anyway....

 

[Solodays]

How can it be normal when it completely hijack my homepage?

I thought firefox already came packed with all the goodies. didnt know you need to install extra extensions.

 

[Quiksilver]

Now you didn't mention it hi-jacked your homepage. You just said that there was a popup on your homepage.

That would be spyware. Download and Install Spyboy search and destory and run it.

Also just check add/remove programs it could have an uninstaller.

 

[Solodays]

I was surfing the net and this thing pop up, never click it, just restart my pc, start up firefox again and there it is again on my homepage, now i can't use firefox unless i click on this ad. im using a diff broswer at the moment.

i use ad-ware and spybot w/ the latest updates and it can't seem to get rid of it.

and im not sure if i should just click it or not.

 

[khelben1979]

If you're going hunting for spyware, this is a good link: http://www.download.com/Spywar...4-0.html?tag=ltcol;nav

I have personally made some testing and you'll find my reviews here: http://www.download.com/3642-8...3021553.html?pn=1&sb=0

Maybe this can be of interest to you?

 

[CrazyLazy]

Originally posted by: Solodays
I was surfing the net and this thing pop up, never click it, just restart my pc, start up firefox again and there it is again on my homepage, now i can't use firefox unless i click on this ad. im using a diff broswer at the moment.

i use ad-ware and spybot w/ the latest updates and it can't seem to get rid of it.

and im not sure if i should just click it or not.

Wow you restart your pc every time you go online? You have spyware, clicking it isn't going to help.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Solodays
I was surfing the net and this thing pop up, never click it, just restart my pc, start up firefox again and there it is again on my homepage, now i can't use firefox unless i click on this ad. im using a diff broswer at the moment.

i use ad-ware and spybot w/ the latest updates and it can't seem to get rid of it.

and im not sure if i should just click it or not.

Maybe the site has a stupid ad built right into it. What site is this? Just give domain name (like, mechbgon.com), don't post a clickable link to it.

As for preventing infection, if you want some tips, here are some prevention tips.

 

[Solodays]

hm..i dont remember the site name now, i already remove and reinstall firefox, if it is indeed a virus i hope this will get rid of it since spybot and ad-aware couldn't detect it. the pop-up everytime i open up firefox is gone now, i just hope it doesn't linger on my pc.

what do you think? will removing and reinstalling firefox remove any viruses if there are any, will this do the job?

 

[Quiksilver]

Uninstalling and then reinstalling a browser isn't going to remove spyware or viruses. It's just going to delay the problem.
You need a good anti-spyware program like spybot search and destroy and lavasoft's ad-aware with all the bonus options like deep scan turned on. It's also bets to run them both sames some programs could miss something.
Then you will need a good anti-virus. They're plenty of free ones available now. I think the best out available now is Avira (has highest detection rates) but on the downside during every update for it will prompt you with an small ad for their premium version; but there are workarounds to circumvent that. Once again you will also have to turn on a few bonus detections for this too, like joke programs, dialers, etc. It's all in the settings.
Finally, get a program like Crap Cleaner and clear all your cookies, temp files,etc. at least once a month. Then setup Firefox with Adblock Plus extension.

 

[Solodays]

i already said ive scan w/ spybot and ad-aware w/ latest updates and it couldn't seem to get rid of the pop-up everytime i open up firefox, but Uninstalling and reinstalling worked, its gone now. i just wanna know if it's still here on my pc or not. or is it even a virus or spyware to start with.

 

[Sylvanas]

Adblock plus for Firefox