Twice now a mysterious airplane advertisement page popped when I left a thread. Am I imagining things? Or is there pop ups? Can we turn them off?

you probably have some sort of spyware installed on your computer. If the page says "Whats related" that is a spyware program. Get Spybot and get rid of all the spyware on your computer. It will help a ton.

Wouldn't the spyware program be in windows,maybe in internet logs or maybe cookies ?.

I am currently following the advice of tamccain.

I downloaded the trial version of spy bot and running it. So far it says it has found 112 spyware files, but that was all found in the cookies. It has been running for about 4 or 5 minutes and hasn't found anything any where else yet .....


The internet is awsome, its too bad people have to invade your computer.

Look at it this way,it's not only some people but companys that want to track you so they can gear up for advertisement and send you junk email.
Hope you can get them all.

Also get adaware by lavasoft (search google for lavasoft), it removed a lot of stuff as well.

This entire world is in bad shape. People out for themselves with no respect or value for others...

This is kinda off topic but it has really been bothering me. I have been watching specials on TV about the geneside and torture that went on in Iraq. Seeing the beheading video of Nick Berge..

It just makes me so thankful that I live in a place where we don't have to fear those sort of things. I am worrying about a silly pop up and those people fear for their lives and are being tortured.

It just makes me realize how so very fortunate I am to have been born in America. This hobby is merely icing on the cake.

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.

Wings

There was some sort of thing on my computer that was allowing things to be downloaded without my approval. I had like 6 or 8 programs downloaded onto my computer without me approving it. I was not happy.

On what wings said,
You are right, somewhere our priorities are a little wierd. We get all bent out of shape about trivial things, and then the things that matter we seem to ignore. Something is wrong there.

I have both AdAware and SpyBot. I run them once a week to make sure the "junk" is off my machine. Since I started using them my spam has dropped about 30% - 40%.

Another thing you can do to reduce your spam is to get a "throw away" email address (Hotmail, Bigfoot, etc.) Use the throw away address for when it asks for an email address. Only use your correct address IF YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO (if you order something, your friends, etc.) NEVER RESPOND TO SPAM AND NEVER USE THE "CANCEL THE EMAIL/FUTURE SENDINGS", IT CONFIRMS YOUR EMAIL AS VALID AND THE ADDRESS WILL BE SOLD TO OTHERS.

Yeah, your 'can spam act' worked for about a week!
Now, We are looking at teh same thing.

Pitty, that there ar the few that have to ruin it for teh rest of us.

Consideration, compassion, and resprct ofr toehres, a dying trait of us..

rcu has it set up so if you dont allow popups and cookies you cant view the product articles. I for one have stopped reading these. Its a sad day when RCU forces you to read advertizements.

I haven't had any pop up adds come up on my pc. I have comcast service. Maybe they have an anti-pop up add built in to the software.

I am using Google pop up blocker and have not had any trouble.

If by Product Articles, you mean the reviews, I have no problems using Netscape with the pop up blocker.

That spy bot kinda annoyed me. It gave me a free scan alright. But then you have to buy the darn thing to clean what they've found.

I deleted all my cookies which took care of 95% of what it found. I sent my IE settings so I am always prompted before accepting a cookie. I think that will help. But there was a few others that are still on my pc. Pop ups don't bug be enough at this time to fork out 40 bucks. I could spend that money on something airplane related .


Wings

The actual program Spybot-Search and Destroy is a free program. It does not make you purchase the program in order to use it. I use it all the time on both of my machines and have never had to buy the program. I am not sure, maybe you downloaded a different program than what I have. Go to download.com and type in Spybot and you will find it easily.

Or get it directly from their website to be absolutely sure. (they just released their newest version, 1.3, like 3 days ago.) Even people who already have spybot S&D should get the new one.

[link=http://www.safer-networking.org]www.safer-networking.org[/link]

Thanks,

There must be two versions of spybot. This one is you gave me is free. I appreciate it!


Wings

I had a program that remembered my passwords and such,spybot took it away but i don't mind.

Very important, make sure to update windows. You need to do this because if not programs can be automatically installed on your computer. The latest updates did away with that from what I remember. And yes Spybot is a FREE program, as someone said before goto www.download.com and type in spybot in the search. Download.com is good for alot of free software. Another thing you can download is Zone Alarm. The basic version is free and works great as a personal firewall.. nothing will access your computer or the internet unless you let it.. Also get an updated virus scanner or at least update your definitions... there are SO MANY viruses going around right now its sick, and some even install themselves on your computer.. dont need to download a thing. Spend the $20 at best buy or comp usa or whatever.. its worth it. I just had to do a major overhaul to my computer because I let all these things go.. so had lots of info to share :P

All this stuff will take you an hour to get accomplished and it will be worth it! trust me!

I have Spybot, and Adaware ( free versions) + all the Mcafee Anti Virus stuff, My Hotmail still gets a bit of spam, but it's not bad now.

The reason I'm so security conscious now is because I was caught out by a hacker just before last Christmas, and ended up with a massive phone bill and had to format my C drive!

My free version of Spybot can't be updated anymore for some reason, so I may have to download a newer version.


WINGS - Check your PM (private mail)

I have my own computer business that specializes in supporting small businesses. Here is what I recommend to them:

1. [link=http://toolbar.google.com]Google toolbar[/link] - stops most pop-ups.
2. Custom hosts file. [link=http://www.everythingisnt.com/hosts.html]One version here.[/link] This blocks most ads on webpages. Add additional entries to the bottom (like utopia.rcuniverse.com)
3. Antivirus and firewall. For ease of use, I generally recommend Norton Internet Security, but there are some good free ones also.
4. Spyware removal tools. Adaware and Spybot-Search & Destroy. I tend to use both. Adaware first, then uninstall and run Spybot.

Hope this helps you as you surf the net.