Does anyone know why I would all of a sudden be getting

[Indiana_Dem]

pop-up ads on my computer everytime I go to a different page? I came home from work and now I keep getting all these annoying pop-up ads.

[ET Awful]

1. Spyware my friend

Go to www.lavasoft.de and download ad aware and run it. It should fix your problem right away.

If that doesn't work, look for Spybot Search & Destroy, which is a bit more robust.

That's the most likely problem, you may have visited a website that installed malicious software or it may have installed along with some other software you downloaded. Have you installed any new downloaded programs lately? Like a Christmas screensaver or anything of the sort?

[trotsky]

2. Agreed.

Get both products if you can - they each will catch a few things that the other misses. Spybot can be downloaded from http://security.kolla.de.

Spybot also has a nice feature which can "immunize" Internet Explorer by blocking the installation of future adware/spyware/crapware.

To help block regular pop-ups, I highly recommend the Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com). I use the Mozilla browser myself, which has a built-in pop-up blocker, but the Google Toolbar does a great job blocking them in IE.

[AngryAmish]

3. Do as Above

I did and it cleared right up

[spooky3]

4. does anyone know of free Mac spybot-like software?

[Indiana_Dem]

5. Thanks!

I did it and it worked!! Whew! That was driving me crazy! I never had that happen before. I never downloaded anything and my daughter said she didn't but who knows. But really, thanks.

[trotsky]

6. It's way too easy to get that stuff on there.

Sometimes when you install a useful and legit piece of software there's a tiny bit of fineprint (and who reads the fineprint?) that says they will collect data from your computer for advertising purposes. And that opens the door.

Neither you nor your daughter should feel "guilty" about anything - the spyware makers are extremely sneaky in their craft.

Although it is generally a good idea to avoid file-sharing programs like Kazaa or Morpheus, because a lot of "trojan" programs are floating around on them.

[Renew Deal]

7. Spyware

Download Ad-Aware. Update it and run it.

http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10214379.html?tag=pop

Then download Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.2 Update adn run it.

http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10194058.html?tag=lst-0-2

Fix all of your problems. There will probably be between 100-400.

Use both. One or the other isn't good enough.