Then you need a better browser (MSFT isn't exactly rigorous about this given their relationships with the people who create the popups in the first place; you'll note that many of them come through MSN). I had to switch to Firefox because of this hijacker-parasite I picked up and which nobody could get rid of and it is far superior to IE. And it's free.
Note also what I said to Maverick. A lot of these popups have the MS imprimatur, even though they don't come from MS, and it's next to impossible to get rid of them. But since I switched to Firefox, I haven't seen a one. FY, Microsoft!
Well, you assessed the problem correctly. Through some means, you have downloaded some "adware" onto your machine, which has now installed itself as a windows-based program and is monitoring the sites you visit, and then sending ads to you based upon your browsing habits. Most people get this sort of junk on their system from downloading trial software of all types. Basically here's how it works. You go to a site that has some sort of software to sell you. For the sake of argument, let's say it's a file sharing program so you can download MP3s. It doesn't have to be that though, it could be any type of software, even something trading related like front-end software for IB order entry. So you download the software and quickly click through all the legal stuff and installation prompts. Before you know it, you've installed the software and you're up and running. Unfortunately, buried in that legal agreement you clicked "Accept" on during the installation process, it says that you are also installing other software as well. Probably during the installation process, there was some small checkbox that you could have unchecked to prevent this, but they purposely made it really easy to miss. So in addition to the file sharing program, you could have installed 3 or 4 other programs which do all sorts of stuff without you knowing about it such as tracking the web sites you visit, how long you stay online, and other information that will help them develop a profile of you. Then, they use that data to start sending advertisements to you in the form of popups. Using a pop-up blocker in this case is really just using software to block other software on your machine from doing what its supposed to. In the end, you have all these programs running on your machine just to keep things feeling normal. The best thing to do is not waste your time installing popup blocking software, but instead remove the programs that are doing all this work behind your back. A friend of mine got a laptop a few weeks ago and it became almost totally worthless a few days ago. He gave it to me and wanted me to figure out what the problem was. Through whatever means, he had about 7 different adware/spyware programs running in the background on that machine which had totally slowed the peformance down to a crawl. The best way to get rid of these programs is to uninstall them from the control panel in Windows using the Add/Remove Programs icon. You may find you have a lot of adware and spyware installed on your system that you never even knew was on there. Some typical adware/spyware programs are "DealBag", "Gator", "Internet Search Tools", and "Insterstitial Ad delivery". Needless to say, it's a real pain in the butt getting a system cleaned up after it's been infected with a bunch of garbage programs.
Thanks Baron. That's exactly it. I think I got mine through Kaza awhile back. I started noticing it shortly after downloading it. Limewire does the same thing but it's not nearly as bad. I will look and see if I can find these programs and remove them. Thanks for the explanation.
If using XP, will a restore back to a clean point get rid of any Adware software that just got installed? I have found that anytime I get a sniff of something being wrong with my laptop, restoring back to a few weeks before seems to get rid of any problems. PS, Maverick. I also picked up a load of shit from Kazaa a while ago. System restore fixed the problem then.
Indahook, Sounds like your trading (broker execution platform) and surfing the net on the same computer... Highly not recommended. Instead of using your money to sue or to use up financial resources... Get a second computer. Use one computer strictly for trading and the other computer for surfing the net, games, chat communication et cetera. It's what I do. I also have Zone Alarm Pro, Pest Patrol and Ad-Aware on both desktops and my laptop. Never had any problems. I also disable the Microsoft Messenger thing on all 3 systems. However, prior to my current setup. I did everything from one computer... A pain in the royal butt. Look at it this way...a computer for critical work (trading) and a different computer for non-critical work... All part of treating our trading like a business. NihabaAshi
Yes..learned a lesson today (invaluable) Agreed...I admit to being overly complacent in the security department. That will change from this point going forward. Chris.
It can. Unfortunately, some of the bad advice one receives is to turn off the System Restore function when trying to expunge these programs. Since they're not that easily expunged, one winds up pretty much where he started, but his restoration date has been changed to that day.
Unfortunately, this is easier said than done, for a variety of reasons. It's unlikely that I will ever get rid of this hijacking parasite that I have. In the meantime, popup killers and a new browser enable me to get on with it. Plus, with the new browser, the machine's running faster, not slower.