It would seem I have something on my computer that my combination of Ad-aware, Spybot, and AVG antivirus aren't finding. two days ago I got a Trojan Downloader warning from AVG. I had AVG "heal" the situation and then I promptly ran both spybot and ad-aware to make sure I didn't have any other surprises. I can now run all 3 and they come up clean, except for Cdilla on spybot... However, I still get popups at times. I also have the Google toolbar with it's pop-up blocker active.

Any suggestions?

I still get an occasional pop-up now even though I never used to. Actually they just seemed to start the other day some and it's only been one or two.

I think that they are just figuring out a way around the blockers.

Usually the adaware/spybot is for stuff that is tracking data on your computer not really causing pop-ups. That's normally tied into the individual website.


I would try a new pop-up blocker and see if that changes anything.

Several things to consider.

1. Negotiation: some developers of adware/spyware have contacted the companies that develop anti-spyware software and demonstrated that they stopped the spying behaviors in order to get delisted. Only that once they get delisted from the definitions they have restarted the spying behavior.
2. Java enabled: some web advertisers have started to use java to activate the pop-ups. Your browser may block the new windows but not the "floating images". Since so many legitimate web sites use java, disabling it completely is not an option to most users that browse those sites.
3. You get what you pay for. Although AVG is awesome for a free program, it's still free and it won't catch all your trojans. Try another option in the market, such as Trend-micro or McAffee. Both have online scanners and can help you.
4. Java classes can usually be found in compressed packages. Therefore, if you instruct the scanner to look into compressed files it will detect the malware but won't be able to delete it, if it's a malignant class.

hey try another antispyware like the microsoft one, its actually pretty good since they bought Giant antispyware and slapped a MS logo on it. lately, ive found that spyware and adaware are starting to miss stuff. in adawares case i think its intentional to get you to buy the full version.

Google Sunbelt Software's Counterspy...then do the free trial. Found a whole bunch of stuff Ad-Aware and Spybot just plain ignored. The only downside is that you have to pay for it if you want to keep using it past day 15.

Here's my method for de-junking computers. It's a little long and involved, but they usually come out pretty good.

1. Go to start, run, and type in msconfig. Disable anything that doesn't look good, google comes in handy for this. Just plop the name of the program and it'll probably tell you what she is.
2. Start up in safe mode. Go through your add/remove programs and remove anything that looks like spyware.
3. Go into your Program Files folder, and delete anything that looks like spyware. Don't forget Common Files, stuff likes to hide in there as well. If you're not real confident about what's supposed to be on a computer, you might want to skip this step.
4. Fire up Spybot, update it all, and let it run.
5. Fire up Ad-Aware, and do the same.
6. Download Microsoft's Antispy Beta, and ditto. It's on their website.
7. Go to trendmicro.com, click on free online scan/housecall. This can get rid of a lot of your troubles, as it scans for all kinds of viruses, as well as spyware, adware, and malware. Handy program. Sometimes it can't remove some files because they're in use, so if that happens, hit ctrl-alt-delete and open the task manager, see if you can find the offending process and kill it. If not, write down the path to the program that Housecall gives you, and we'll try to kill it later.
8. Go to macecraft.com, and download jv16 Powertools. In the registry tools section, hit registry scan, and remove everything it says is safe. You can select those all by going to something like 'select/all items that should be safe to remove' up there in the top of the window.
9. Hit up windowsupdate.com and grab all the critical updates.
10. Defrag. Disable the paging file and system restore if you're comfortable doing that, don't if you're not.

Doing roughly the same thing here, I've fixed numerous 15-30 minute booters to where they ran like almost new. It's long and arduous, but it works when you can't just nuke your system. And remember, the smallest file can cause you loads of popup hell and system suckage, so try not to overlook anything.

Thanks guys, I'll try all this when I get home. BANZAI!!!!!

1. Open window.
2. Toss.

That's how I feel sometimes!

Customers tend to get pretty pissed. Then it goes something like this. Them > < Me

Spiff pretty much sums it up. Only thing I would add is to delete the temporary internet files in Internet Options (be sure to check the box to delete offline content), and to delete the temp system files by clicking start/run and typing %temp% and selecting everything that shows up in that window and deleting it. Just be sure to empty the recycle bin afterwards. If something is in use, rebooting the comp and trying again should knock the file loose for deletion. Heck, while you're at it, might as well delete the stuff in the prefetch folder for win xp if you haven't done so for awhile.

Tyrinon. EVERYTHING that comes up temp? folders and such? I remember doing that once and having severe problems afterword to the point of a format and reload of everything...

Well, that's what I do when I clean out the hd. I delete everything in the %temp% folder (along with other junk) and empty the recycle bin. The idea of a temp folder is to contain temporary files. Temp files should not be vital system files that would harm the system by deleting them. After all, the files are temporary.

I do not want anything bad to happen to your system, so if you are not comfortable with deleting the files due to your past experience, then please don't do it.

I apologize that I was not much help to you at this time.

Tyr! Noooo sad face friend. You all have been a big help! I figured it out. The Temp files you are talking about are the ones just associated with my profile, the ones I deleted before were in the actual WINNT\Temp directory. Different animals.

Further question..... Is msconfig a windows XP thing? I'm stuck in the near past and running Win2k on all my systems.

Thanks guys, I'm running good now!

I'm just glad that I'm no longer in my Nirvana where running AVG/Ad-aware/Spybot was good enough... I was suprised. the Trend site found yet another virus and 12 more pieces of spyware. SCARY...

Thanks for the vote of confidence Arch.

I believe that msconfig is an xp thing. BTW, what version of Ad-aware are you using? I believe they are up to build 1.06r1 or something like that. Hey, you are right, this spyware stuff is getting scary.

Aye Arch, sorry, msconfig is win98 and XP. For whatever reason, it didn't make it into the versions inbetween, I think. Stupid Microsoft.

And yeah, that Trendmicro scan is absolutely the coolest thing I've seen for cleaning your system out in a long time.