Seriously Annoying Popups

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August 17th, 2003, 04:35 PM
domtheboy

Seriously Annoying Popups

Hi there

I'm getting really hacked off with a popup ad that keeps appearing and messing with online gaming sessions. The offender (www.endads.com) sends a popup ad that appears when I've got my firewall running and also when I've got internet explorer closed.

It's probably me being naive, but I thought that popups would only appear if you have an explorer window open. I must be wrong because the ad is still appearing - can anyone recommend anything that I can do to get rid of this ?

Thanx guys

Dom
August 17th, 2003, 04:53 PM
DeadAddict

I would run a popup killer http://software.xfx.net/utilities/popupkiller/index.php
http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000...tml?tag=lst-0-3
You can download Mozilla that has popup ad killer www.mozilla.org
August 17th, 2003, 04:54 PM
domtheboy

Thanks deadaddict, I'm dowloading it now. To help my own understanding, how do popups get through a firewall ? I mean a firewall is supposed to stop naughty data packets isn't it ?
August 17th, 2003, 05:05 PM
DeadAddict

The same way the server sends you the content of the page you are viewing a firewall only blocks traffic on specific ports.
August 17th, 2003, 06:55 PM
whitedragon

you also can install google tool bar that has as a new feature: popups killer..
One more time GO Google!!
August 17th, 2003, 07:12 PM
phishphreek

Another thing you may want to do is remove all spyware/adware.

adaware
spybot search and destroy

Also, disable the messanger service in your services. (unless you really need it...)
August 17th, 2003, 08:02 PM
thehorse13

...or simply use the Mozilla web browser which has popup blocking built in. :)
August 17th, 2003, 08:08 PM
nihil

I agree that the popup may be something running locally on your machine, so phishphreek80'S advice is good. I use both those products myself and am happy with them.

To disable the messenger service you might like to look at :

http://grc.com/default.htm

Steve Gibson has a tool called "shoot the messenger" as I recall. The site is worth a visit anyway, as there are a variety of tools and some intertesting articles.

Cheers,
August 17th, 2003, 08:10 PM
dcongram

domtheboy....to answer your question 'how do popups get through the firewall'.
They are using HTTP protocol port 80. This is allowed through your firewall.

Downloading pop-up killers is an excellent idea. But you must have some software 'installed' that is retrieving them. Such as 'Hotbar' 'Gator' or ?.

Go through your Add/Remove programs and see what is there.
August 17th, 2003, 10:50 PM
domtheboy

Hi all

Thanks very much for your replies - after posting last time I realised I hadn't mentioned something important that I think Nihil has kinda touched on.

The popup messages I have been receiving have been from two companies that are advertising anti pop up software (somewhat ironic I know). I visited one of their websites and it was, of course, a lengthy advert for their software. However, I was able to glean some info as their site said their software would "block Messenger popups sent via the built in Windows Messenging Service".

So from the look of things I need to get rid of messenger software. I'm gonna check out the site that Nihil has so kindly provided the link for, but I'm now just a bit teed off that using the messenger service means leaving a gaping security hole that spammers can exploit. Grrrrrrrrrr! :(

Anyway, thanks for the help people, + antipoints all round !
August 17th, 2003, 11:11 PM
darkes

This has been discussed before on this forum, but if you are running WinXP, then goto
Start -> Run, and type "services.msc" .

Look for "messenger", and change the Startup type to disabled.

I think it is this that is transmitting the pop ups you have described.
August 18th, 2003, 06:55 AM
Tedob1

the type of pop-ups their reffering to dont get threw a properly configured firewall.
August 18th, 2003, 08:48 AM
whizkid2300

Well I know your using a firewall so just configure your Firewall to not accept anything coming in from Port 80. I have Zone Alarm and I don't get that many pop-ups I mean think abou the ones that Yahoo usually emits I don't get any of those. So I don't know you could do either of those. http://scan.sygatetech.com/ I believe that you can test your firewall here.
August 18th, 2003, 02:29 PM
VicE$DoS$

Dom,

By any chance have you downloaded BearShare lately??
Let me know if you have mate.

Cheers
V$D$
August 18th, 2003, 03:59 PM
dspeidel

If I let the messenger service run I get a lot of annoying pop-ups from the net send command. I disabled that service and all those annoying pop-ups went away.

Cheers,

D
August 26th, 2003, 12:27 AM
domtheboy

Hi again - a general plea for help - is anyone else using McAffee Firewall v3.03 ? If so can they advise me how to block port 80 as was advised by Whizkid and Tedob ?
August 26th, 2003, 01:12 AM
White_Eskimo

Quote:

If so can they advise me how to block port 80 as was advised by Whizkid and Tedob ?

whoa! dont block your http port, you wont be able to use the internet! You will keep on recieving a 404 error. Tedob said:

Quote:

the type of pop-ups their reffering to dont get threw a properly configured firewall

Tedob didnt say block port 80, he just said to properly configure your firewall. I have never used McAffee Firewall v3.03, so i cant help you out there. However, if i were you, i would dump McAffee Firewall v3.03 and get Outpost Firewall 1.0. You can get that here:

http://www.agnitum.com/download/outpost1.html

Download the Old Outpost for free there and get it running. i think that you will be satisfied with the results. It has a built in pop-up blocker and i think it works quite well. Also, get another pop-up blocked called POW. i think you can get it from download.com. Go to download.com and type in POW and download it. Anyways, with all of this you should be pretty immune to pop-ups. Hope this helped :)

EDIT:

Quote:

Well I know your using a firewall so just configure your Firewall to not accept anything coming in from Port 80.

Wizkid, if you do that you wont be able to acces any http sites...
August 26th, 2003, 02:08 AM
Gump

Dom,

I recently had similar problems with my wifes laptop. She has the mcafee firewall on it. I ran Ad-Aware and Spybot but still had a problem with a program called infus.exe. It is an executeable that was polling out for more pop-ups!!! I then downloaded and ran "HiJack This" from :

http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/

And with that i was able to track the little buggers down and kill 'em. Once I found them I i had "HiJack This" fix the problem, then booted up in Safe mode and deleted the offending files. (Make sure you look over the log before you tell HJT to fix anything. It does not do the auto detect stuff like Adaware and spybot. If your not careful it will shut down all of your processes. Look through the log and you'll see what I mean, then tell it which ones to fix.)

All of that plus the new google toolbar (As previously mentioned) and nary a pop-up has raised it's ugly head in a week.

Hope this helps
August 26th, 2003, 05:39 AM
unvi$ible

you can try crazy browser.you will find it with google search.it is little bit slower but never any pop ups.good luck
August 26th, 2003, 05:47 AM
Palemoon

Well you have a few Alts to try one is Opera, the other is go to http:// www.google.com and install their tool bar it blocks popup's and a 3rd party if you get it there will not push their version of it. Googles version you can toggle popups at one click allow or not depending on the site. Do Not make things more comples then they are pple LOL :)
August 26th, 2003, 10:47 AM
Noia

Proxomitron, it's the only way to fly....er....surf....whatever.