Venturous Randy Posted January 20, 2015 #1 Posted January 20, 2015 I am so aggravated with my computer. I had Avast free version and got so tired of the box popping up telling me that it had detected something that I removed it(I thought) and installed Malwarebytes Premium that I paid for. In the last couple of days I started having major ads pop up from every angle, even to the point of having an ad with most every single post on VR, not one per thread, but on each post. I was able to copy some of the addresses and add them to the restricted list, but that did not help. I ran scans and that did not help. So, I went back to an earlier restore point and then I lost my Malwarebytes icon and had the free version of Avast back. Then with Avast back, it immediately identified the ad problem and removed it. Great. I then went back into Malwarebytes and reinstalled an updated version, but I am now again routinely getting these Avast popups alerting me that I can not turn off. I hate to uninstall Avast, but the warnings are really annoying. I appreciate any suggestions, but I have very minimal computer skills. Randy
Venturous Randy Posted January 20, 2015 Author #3 Posted January 20, 2015 Browser and version of Operating System? I am now using Firefox and that is a big improvement over Internet Explorer. I am using Windows 7 Premium. Randy
cowpuc Posted January 20, 2015 #4 Posted January 20, 2015 Firefox, upper righthand corner , notice the 3 little straight bars. Looks like = only one more bar, click on that, select options in window, select "content" in next window, check "block pop ups".. click on "ok" when done
videoarizona Posted January 20, 2015 #6 Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) Where are you downloading Avast from? Some third party companies add advertising to the download. Avast Free does have some pop-ups, but they are minimal. If you go with the paid versions, they aren't there...Avast uses the pop-ups to promote their products, never a third party product. I'm unclear what kind of pop-ups you are having. They could also be from your browser as Cowpuc mentions.... Regardless, I'll launch into an explanation anyway.... Third party ads...are in your system due to a download that you allowed at some point. It's a form of a benign virus....ie...non-destructive. Can also include a keylogger and a small backdoor program that doesn't get removed by some virus protection programs. The keylogger sends info about your on-line habits and they tailor the ads to your tastes (they think). The backdoor calls home to mama when you delete or uninstall it's main program and when you sign back on the internet, it then downloads the same little bad program again into your system. Back where you started from... Multiple ways to get rid of them if they are third party and not Avast. You should only download Avast from their website. Malwarebytes is very good for most malware, CCleaner (crap cleaner is a great free cleaner for getting rid of crap. Download it only from CCleaner - PC Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download. Search around the site for the free version or google search and only click on the link from the Avast web site... +++++++++++ The concept here is to run the Malware program in safe mode. Reboot in safe mode. Run avast in safe mode. Then reboot in normal mode and see if everything is gone. If not, write down the ads and Google them. If they are virus/malware ads...they will be listed as such with the way to remove them. Follow that advice...but do NOT buy any product to do so!!! That is more of the same...you will get re-infected. In some cases, you may want to tell Avast to run prior to next bootup...ie...next time you turn computer on. This will scan the drives BEFORE any rootkit or malware can run....hopefully finding the baddie and getting rid of it. In almost every case, I've been able to find and remove various root kit virus's and malware using Google search and then doing the manual way of deleting the programs and the registry links. Do save a backup of your registry. and do a restore of operating system as well. Yes, it's a pain...but can be done with limited experience and computer knowledge. If you don't feel comfortable, take your machine to a small local store with a young kid working there...he can run a thorough test using his programs to root out the issues. I did that as well...cost me $75 and worked great when I couldn't handle it. Young geeks love this sort of challenge! Hope this helps....OH...send a note to Avast letting them know your problem as well. They will take a while to respond in some cases as you are using the "free" version. But they "may" give you some help. david Edited January 20, 2015 by videoarizona clarification
cowpuc Posted January 20, 2015 #7 Posted January 20, 2015 David is right on target,, just wanna go thru some steps to clean things up before installing more software..
cowpuc Posted January 20, 2015 #8 Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) Dont know where ya went bro but the next move is: Reselect that three bar icon again, at very bottom of screen is a "?", click on ?, click on Troubleshooting Info, click on "Refresh Firefox" in upper right corner, click on finish.. When Firefox returns, choose to stay on the new window of Firefox, come back to VR and see if Pop Ups are better.. Edited January 20, 2015 by cowpuc
Flyinfool Posted January 20, 2015 #9 Posted January 20, 2015 One other thing to be aware of. While Malewarebytes is a great program for removing malware once it is on your computer, it does not offer protection from getting it in the first place. You still need an anti virus program like your Avast to try to stop it from getting there in the first place. There is no single program that is able to kill all viruses, that is why you often need several in your arsenal.
comingbackdown Posted January 20, 2015 #10 Posted January 20, 2015 Avast is okay for a free AV program, but it's far from invincible. I'd run these in order to make sure you're clean, all can be found on Bleeping Computer. Rkill, TDSS Killer, AdwCleaner, CCleaner. With what you've already run, that should pretty much ensure you're good. If you have anything pop on Rkill or the TDSS tool, post what it detected. AdwCleaner is meant to remove adware and other such junk. It also wouldn't hurt to see if you have any pending updates.
MiCarl Posted January 20, 2015 #11 Posted January 20, 2015 Not that it will help you clean up your current mess, here are the things I do to prevent problems from occurring (listed in what I think is order most to least importance): 1) Most of the time I use an account that doesn't have administrative access. That way malicious software cannot install itself without you providing an administrator password. If you can use your windows computer without a user name and password you likely only have an administrative account and you're at risk of accidentally installing something you don't want. 2) I'm very cautious about email attachments. I make sure they are something I expect, from someone I know and the file type matches what it purports to be. 3) AVG free is installed. 4) I've installed an ad blocking hosts file (google it). Not only does this cut down on pop-ups and some malicious sites it can speed up web browsing. I've found that when pages load slow it's often because they contain ads served from slow hosts. 5) I have my browser set to block pop-ups
Venturous Randy Posted January 21, 2015 Author #12 Posted January 21, 2015 Dont know where ya went bro but the next move is: Reselect that three bar icon again, at very bottom of screen is a "?", click on ?, click on Troubleshooting Info, click on "Refresh Firefox" in upper right corner, click on finish.. When Firefox returns, choose to stay on the new window of Firefox, come back to VR and see if Pop Ups are better.. Hey, we took the little Miata over in NC and had a blast with the top down(tomorrow is Linda's birthday) I checked and the pop up box is already checked. My problem at this time is the Avast pop up that keeps telling me that a "Threat has Been Detected". I usually just check the X to make it go down. While I have been reading these posts and typing this, the Avast pop up has happened about eight times. I will try to do this and see what I get. Randy
Venturous Randy Posted January 21, 2015 Author #13 Posted January 21, 2015 OK, I just done the "Refresh Firefox" and we will see what that does. Thanks guys, I will keep messing with this and maybe I will learn something. Randy
Venturous Randy Posted January 21, 2015 Author #14 Posted January 21, 2015 Well, it has been almost two hours since I did the "Refresh Firefox" that puc suggested and have not had a single Avast pop up telling me that a "Threat has been detected". Still looking at the other suggestions. Thanks everyone for your comments. Randy
Flyinfool Posted January 21, 2015 #15 Posted January 21, 2015 If it is only Avast popups that you are getting then you may need to turn them off in Avast. Open Avast Goto "Settings" Goto "Popups" Set "Info popups" and "Update popups" to 1 Goto "Silent/Gaming Mode" Check both boxes. This may help with slowing down the Avast popups.
videoarizona Posted January 21, 2015 #16 Posted January 21, 2015 The only problem with the free version of Avast....
Venturous Randy Posted January 22, 2015 Author #17 Posted January 22, 2015 After I did the last post, my computer really slowed down. Before I turned it off, I did a Malwarebytes scan and several things popped up. Cleared them and turned it off. I started it up this morning and it is working very good all day and no pop ups. Randy
cowpuc Posted January 22, 2015 #18 Posted January 22, 2015 Sounds good Rand!! When was the last time you erased history in both Firefox and Explorer (not a bad idea to figure out any forgotten passwords that you computer is remembering for you before you do),, cleaned the caches, dumped the recycle bin, did a defrag and a system restore?
Ozlander Posted January 22, 2015 #19 Posted January 22, 2015 Somebody pointed me to HitmanPro 3, it's free for thirty days. Found a bunch of crap that my other programs missed. HitmanPro 3 (32-bit) - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com
cowpuc Posted January 22, 2015 #20 Posted January 22, 2015 Somebody pointed me to HitmanPro 3, it's free for thirty days. Found a bunch of crap that my other programs missed. HitmanPro 3 (32-bit) - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com I gotta echo what Oz is saying!! It was not very long ago that I was having EXACTLY the same problems as Randy was having.. Same thing happened to me Oz, folks here at VR were all over it trying to help.. I know Ben Rollins (thanks Ben) was one of the folks who had me download something, it may have been the Hitman.. I know I downloaded that and I downloaded CCleaner and both helped a lot (apology's for not being able to remember who else responded to that emergency thread).. In the midst of that whole mess,, someone explained to me how to "Refresh Firefox" and THAT really really did it - THANKS AGAIN TO ALL THOSE FOLKS!! Gotta LOVE VR for all the instant help we can be to each other!!! I know one thing,, those pop ups are a pain in the duppa :smash2:and being rid of em is a blessing:fnd_(16):!!!
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