Just a little PSA...
Jan. 5th, 2004 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rusty_haloI've had two complaints about people getting pop-up advertisements when they visit my site. Guys, this has nothing to do with me. All About Spike has no pop-up advertisements and never will. If you're getting pop-ups, it's because you've got adware and/or spyware on your computer.
You get these if, say, your security settings are low and you visit a site like fanfiction.net, which has ads that try to automatically download and install spyware programs on your computer. Or you download a program like, say, Kazaa, which comes with a ton of spyware programs bundled in that automatically install themselves when you install Kazaa. (More info here or here or here). Or if you've ever downloaded that awful Comet Cursor thing, for example, you're pretty much guaranteed to have spyware on your computer.
Spyware doesn't just cause annoying pop-ups, either; if uses up your system resources and slows down your computer. It can be used for all sorts of malicious activity, like tracking your internet use by advertisers or stealing your personal information, which may eventually lead to identity theft.
There are many programs, some free and some that you pay for, that will scan your computer for adware/spyware and remove it for you. Do a search on yahoo or download.com and you'll find some; AdAware is a good one to try.
You get these if, say, your security settings are low and you visit a site like fanfiction.net, which has ads that try to automatically download and install spyware programs on your computer. Or you download a program like, say, Kazaa, which comes with a ton of spyware programs bundled in that automatically install themselves when you install Kazaa. (More info here or here or here). Or if you've ever downloaded that awful Comet Cursor thing, for example, you're pretty much guaranteed to have spyware on your computer.
Spyware doesn't just cause annoying pop-ups, either; if uses up your system resources and slows down your computer. It can be used for all sorts of malicious activity, like tracking your internet use by advertisers or stealing your personal information, which may eventually lead to identity theft.
There are many programs, some free and some that you pay for, that will scan your computer for adware/spyware and remove it for you. Do a search on yahoo or download.com and you'll find some; AdAware is a good one to try.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-05 05:21 pm (UTC)I've had similar complaints from visitors to my site and spend ages explaining there are no pop-ups generated by the site itself.
I have officially sanctioned pop-up and spyware blocking software on my work PC and laptop and I still have to run AdAware two or three times a week.
It's amazing what slips through the net ... I'm deleting 30 or 40 illegal items a time.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-05 06:55 pm (UTC)The most frustrating thing to me is that it looks like it's coming from my site. Gah! I would never, ever do something so hideous as allow pop-up porn ads.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-05 05:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-05 05:36 pm (UTC)That should take care of the pop-ups, but it's still a good idea to run an adware/spyware removal program to stop other malicious activity of which a user may be unaware.
stop other malicious activity of which a user may be unaware.
Date: 2004-01-05 05:40 pm (UTC)Re: stop other malicious activity of which a user may be unaware.
Date: 2004-01-05 05:46 pm (UTC)AdAware really is a good one to try, and
These programs will scan your computer and tell you what spyware you have. You'll be shocked; it's often stuff that you had no idea about. Removing these programs makes your computer safer and can also help it run significantly faster.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-05 06:02 pm (UTC)Anything that makes my machine run faster than it's present pace is going to bring it out of the donkey and cart era and into the internal combustion engine age. (I despair of ever reaching the digital age,I really do, since I installed XP)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-05 05:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-05 05:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-05 06:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-05 06:58 pm (UTC)It sounds like you definitely have spyware or adware running that AdAware is failing to detect. You might want to pick a specific phrase or URL that's associated with the pop-up and then do a search on it to try and find a removal tool for that particular program. For example, there's a list of spyware programs and how to remove them here.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-05 07:06 pm (UTC)