Obnoxious ads!

[Paul Hird]

How can I eliminate these obnoxious flashing ads on either side of the forum borders. I have all pop-ups blocked on my system but can't seem to eliminate them. I love this site and all of the great topics to learn from, but these ads are just too visible, flashing in my face non stop. These could be a deal breaker for me.

[Scott Tichenor]

How can I eliminate these obnoxious flashing ads on either side of the forum borders. I have all pop-ups blocked on my system but can't seem to eliminate them. I love this site and all of the great topics to learn from, but these ads are just too visible, flashing in my face non stop. These could be a deal breaker for me.

You have a virus on your personal computer. There are no pop-ups, flashing ads or anything else on the forum or anywhere else on this site. Suggest you call professional help like a Geeks on Wheels, etc. These can be very difficult to deal with.

[Gene Summers]

<bad advice>

Please steer clear of this area which is for support, not advice that is simply wrong and will achieve nothing to resolve the problem.

[Rodney Riley]

The one thing... correction ONE of the things I love about this site is how clean and free of added annoying stuff like other sites have. Thanks Scott, I know you could make more money by allowing them.

[Paul Hird]

What?

<bad advice>

Please steer clear of this area which is for support, not advice that is simply wrong and will achieve nothing to resolve the problem.

[MikeEdgerton]

That was a message from the site owner to someone that gave you some bad advice.

[Paul Hird]

Thanks, was a little confused.

[Tom Wright]

Some adware is both sneaky and easily removed. I had a version that caused pop-up videos, and stuck around even if I did a restore to a previous time. But it also gave itself away by showing up in the "installed programs" list in control panel (PC), under "add/remove software". I noted the name by holding the mouse over the offending ad, and it showed a URL in the info bar at the bottom of Firefox. I simply uninstalled the adware in the "installed programs" list. Problem solved.

If you can identify the software name, do a search for advice for removing it. Try a restore if you're comfortable doing that.

[MikeEdgerton]

That only works if the malware wants you to be able to uninstall it. Most sneakware doesn't want to afford you that option.

[Jim Garber]

I downloaded some "free" video editing software and it was oddly bundled with some malware search engine that overrode google, bing and whatever in its favor. That seems like a stupid thing to do even for free software. I would rather pay a small amount that have to be incoveniencesd by some stupid popups. it took me a good half hour to find out what the problem was, download other software to rid the machine of it and get rid of the stupid thing. Sheesh!

[Loretta Callahan]

Might I recommend my favorite malware removal software? (assuming you're using a Windows machine ... not a Mac): Malwarebytes. They have a free version. Their software saved me at least $100 when I got a very nasty bug. http://www.malwarebytes.org/

I presume you use some kind of antivirus program, like AVG on a regular basis. If not ... I recommend you do so as soon as possible. Malwarebytes removes infections not all antivirus programs tackle.

Good luck.

Also, my experience at the cafe has always been one of no flashing obnoxious ads.

[Jim Garber]

Actually I was directed to that very software to rid my PC at work of that obnoxious malware. It did do the trick tho.

[Paul Hird]

Since I started the thread I should say that I identified the web site on my computer, "Bettersurf.com" and disabled it. Problem solved.

Thanks for all the feedback.

P.S. I should have mentioned, I did this through the "Manage add ons" area of internet options under the tools menu.

[Jim Adwell]

It's possible the malware is still on your computer, though. I would run Malwarebytes anyway and see what it finds, just to be safe.

[buchrob]

Highly unlikely that ONLY this site is causing a problem. It's unusually CLEAN. If you have problems elsewhere as well, don't dump on this site. Moderators have more important things to do than to try and mis-diagnose your computer several light years away.

Do a clean install of Firefox, install Adblock Plus and NoScript.

[houseworker]

Clear instructions on how to remove this particular nuisance can be found here.

[Bertram Henze]

I did this through the "Manage add ons" area of internet options under the tools menu.

It's possible the malware is still on your computer, though. I would run Malwarebytes anyway and see what it finds, just to be safe.

Yep, the true malware might still be installed on your computer and spawn its add-on into the browser again. A look into the system control environment (where you can reinstall/remove Software from your computer) might be in order.

[Paul Hird]

Wow, having a bad day buchrob? I was not dumping on anyone. just trying to get to the root of a problem I was having. Thankfully there are those on this site that are trying to be helpful!