Getting spyware popups and advertisements too...& I have the Symantec antivirus installed& active

Hi, I keep getting popups on my desktop.  One says " Warning. your computer contains various signs of viruses and malware programs presence.  Your system requires immediate antivirus check!  SpywareRemover will perform a quick and free scanning of your PC viruses and malicious programs"   Then it gives me the option to click OK or Cancel.  I use the ctrl alt delete function to end it. I currently have the Symantec software on it.  How and why am I continuing to get this.  Also, when I'm using IE, I will get other IE pop ups opening that are all different types of advertisements (not all anti virus software ads I don't think). Anyway, what can I do?  I've already made sure my popups were disabled.  Symantac did give me a pop up once that indicated there were 2 Trojans that were quarantined. Thanks,  Yolanda

There are many spyware and antivirus programs out there. My favorites to use are by AVG (Search for AVG anti spyware) and Spybot search and destroy.  I also use CA Anti Virus / Anti Spyware as well.    I don't know exactly what type of operating system you are using, so you will want to check the web site for compatibility with your operating system.  I remember when I first experienced all those darn popups even when I did not load up a web browser.  You have to constantly scan for spyware. I set up my scanner to run on a daily basis.  That will also slow your machine down immensely. Beware of the spyware scanners that popup and say that you have spyware on your machine and all you have to do is pay 19.95 and get their little cleaner.  In my opinion those are just spyware programs that pose as spyware cleaners.  Also, make sure that you have some sort of firewall up on your machine so that can be used to guard against hackers and other viruses.

Thanks so much clroberts.   How do I check for firewalls?  Maybe I deactivated it by mistake somehow.  My symantec is set to run every night at 3AMEST.  It's been doing fine for the last 6 months or so I've had it so I don't  know why it's not working now.  But maybe I do need to check my firewalls.

Thanks

Okay I found it.  My windows firewall is on.  I have Windows XP.  I'm sitll getting popups.  What can I do about all these "spyware" popups?    Thanks

Hi Yolanda,

Try scans with these two programs in the following order:

Please disable other security software that may cause conflicts with the scans. (Don't forget to enable it afterward.)

Instructions on how to do that are HERE.

Please download to your desktop Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from Here or Here 

Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application.

• Make sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, then click Finish.
• If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
• Once the program has loaded, select "Perform Quick Scan", then click Scan.
• The scan may take some time to finish,so please be patient.
• When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
• Make sure that everything is checked
  Click Remove Selected.
• When disinfection is completed, a log will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart.(See Extra Note)
• The log is automatically saved by MBAM and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.

Extra Notes:
If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove,you will be presented with 1 of 2 prompts,click OK to either and let MBAM proceed with the disinfection process,if asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately.
* If you are unable to download or install MBAM on your computer, see if you can use a friend's or family member's computer to download MBAM. Use this update link here to manually download the update. Once downloaded, rename the program installer "mbam-setup.exe" file to something else like "yolanda.exe". Copy the installer file and the update file to a CD or flash drive. Transfer the file to the infected computer. Install the "yolanda.exe" file, then run the update so that you will have the current definitions. After that, run a full system scan and select to have the program REMOVE whatever it finds.

**If you need to re-install MBAM but encounter issue in re-installing, try using the MBAM Cleanup Utility by downloading it from http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam-clean.exe

Download and scan with Super Anti-Spyware Free for Home Users. It is available HERE:
*Double-click SUPERAntiSypware.exe and use the default settings for installation.
* An icon will be created on your desktop. Double-click that icon to launch the program.
* If asked to update the program definitions, click "Yes". If not, update the definitions before scanning by selecting "Check for Updates". (If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download and unzip them from here.)
* Under "Configuration and Preferences", click the Preferences button.
* Click the Scanning Control tab.
* Under Scanner Options make sure the following are checked (leave all others unchecked):

Close browsers before scanning.
Scan for tracking cookies.
Terminate memory threats before quarantining.

* Click the "Close" button to leave the control center screen.
* Back on the main screen, under "Scan for Harmful Software" click Scan your computer.
* On the left, make sure you check C:\Fixed Drive.
* On the right, under "Complete Scan", choose Perform Complete Scan.
* Click "Next" to start the scan. Please be patient while it scans your computer.
* After the scan is complete, a Scan Summary box will appear with potentially harmful items that were detected. Click "OK".
* Make sure everything has a checkmark next to it and click "Next".
* A notification will appear that "Quarantine and Removal is Complete". Click "OK" and then click the "Finish" button to return to the main menu.
* If asked if you want to reboot, click "Yes".

If that does not fix the problem, it might be good to post a log for review on the Malware Removal Forum.

Be sure to read instructions at the top of the forum.

Yolanda, I think your comments were right on the money! One addition item I would ad is getting a copy of The Ultimate Boot CD, which is free open source software. There are several anti-virus products that you can use after booting up the PC with the CD. Sometimes I found not having XP running helps to clean stubborn viruses and spyware products. This CD also has numerous other features that I absolutely love! No, I am not a salesman! I just stumbled on this product a couple of weeks ago and have found it to be invaluable when fixing PC's.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Regards,

John

Okay this is really weird...after I posted my above reply when I got home, I could no longer get onto the forums.  I kept getting a message saying the page I requested could not be found, either the page is offline or an upload error occured.  I closed IE and reopened.  I was able to get onto the support dell website and the community home page but as soon as I clicked on the Dell Forums link, I got the error.  This was from both my laptop and desktop computers.  I tried literally for like 5 hours.  I'm at work now and now I can get on...I now feel like the virus doesn't want me to get the information from here ...LOL  So needless to say, i was unable to get back on  here to click on the hyperlink in Bugbatters message above. 

I was hoping it was a global problem with the Dell community Forums website but not sure.

I will try again when I get home.

the problem was here... this forum was comatose for over 12 hrs...  :emotion-6:

ky331: Oh good...glad it wasn't just me then..:emotion-2:

Okay Bugbatter.  I installed the Malwarebyte successfully and it seems to have gone through okay.  There were some infected files that had to be deleted upon reboot so I did let it restart immediately.

Do I still need to do the second step you listed, the Super AntiSpyware also?

Thanks

Sorry...one more thing.  Do I delete the malwarebyte & SuperAntispyware after I've used them?   Thanks

Duplicate post deleted.

That seems to be happening a lot today.:emotion-7:

Yes, It would be good to run Super Anti-Spyware as well. That looks for different kinds of things.

Okay..thanks   Will do!  :emotion-21:

These are excellent programs and I would advise you to keep them both, update them daily, and do a scan two or three times a month. A quickscan will usually suffice and saves wear and tear on your HD.

I agree with dalem29.  In addition, there are a couple of other reasons for keeping them:

1. If you continue to have problems we will ask to see the logs that they have produced.

2. Those scanners look for different things, so they compliment each other.