I have recently bought a new Hewlett Packard printer and since installing it I keep getting GAIN adserver pop ups when Im on the net. The problem is these adverts take ages to load which make using the net very very very slow.

Any ideas of how to stop this happening?

Thanks. :?

[b]

You could try popup blockers, here's one I use:
http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/pow.htm

There's quite a few other useful goodies on analogx, and their all free

I think you probably have some "spy ware" software on your computer. This is a very controversial practice where advertisers run software on your computer (normally without consent) which then loads adverts when you go online.

Luckly there is some excellent (and free!) software which can scan your entire computer and remove any such "spy ware". Get it here:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Cheers and welcome both of you to SheffieldForum!

Another thing you might want to check is whether there's any programs running that might force the popup to show.

Typically they'll go into this key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run

(You can get programs that do this, can't remember any names tho')

@geoff: Cheers for t'welcome

Thanks so much. I will give them a try - fingers crossed!!

Originally posted by "fronbow"

(You can get programs that do this, can't remember any names tho')
The program I suggested above does this kind of thing :wink:

Are you sure? The last time I used ad-aware it only sought out spyware, it didn't allow me to check thru' the 'hidden' (ie in the registry) startup programs...or have I misunderstood?!

Ad-aware scans your registry now for programs that load up when windows start. A lot of programs that are hidden in your start-up files are actually "spy ware" - and therefore ad-aware gets rid of them for you.

kewl (as the young'uns say!)

I've got it knocking around here somewhere ;)
Not that I need it, I'm pretty much up on 'annoying software' and ways to get around it ;)


Cheers

Originally posted by "geoffbowen"

I think you probably have some "spy ware" software on your computer. This is a very controversial practice where advertisers run software on your computer (normally without consent) which then loads adverts when you go online.

Luckly there is some excellent (and free!) software which can scan your entire computer and remove any such "spy ware". Get it here:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Cheers and welcome both of you to SheffieldForum!
Do these programs come with free live updates on them, because the problem is that spyware is always changing and new threads emerging which means the ad removers also have to be updated regularly.

From what I remember, AdAware used to do an engine update every month or so (basically a text file with new rules!), but I did hear that they'd stopped for some reason?
Just looked on the site, and there's no mention of updates ;(

Originally posted by "fronbow"

From what I remember, AdAware used to do an engine update every month or so (basically a text file with new rules!), but I did hear that they'd stopped for some reason?
Just looked on the site, and there's no mention of updates ;(

I just downloaded the one from above. It seems okay and yes it does seem to contain live updates. One thing that looks slightly worrying is that it appears to be removing dll files which I am not so sure about. ON the whole my PC is still working fine so far and now running alot quicker once again.

Yeah, the dlls should be just known spyware components. If you use apps like opera, kazaa, getright, gozilla, flashget (or any that are ad-sponsored!) then you might want to check to see if these still work!

They should still work. These spyware programs are normally forced upon you during the installation process of programs like Kazaa. However, they are not actually linked to their operation and therefore removing the spyware shouldn't effect the original program.

But sometimes it does! In which case you would need to find a "fix" ;)

Try Spybot as well, it's free. What one doesn't find, the other should.

Spybot's at
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/

Best of luck. :)

Use Ad-Aware SE and Spybot search and destroy for removing spyware/adware from your system. Download links and set up instructions can be found Here (http://xthost.info/vidster9/HTML/7876/index.html).

I would also recommend using a safer browser such as Firefox 1.3 (http://www.mozilla.org) to help combat the pop ups ;)

I always had problems with programs such as Ad Aware.

I know this is Microsoft, and it's a Beta until July, but it seems to work for me MS Beta Adware Blocker (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=321CD7A2-6A57-4C57-A8BD-DBF62EDA9671&displaylang=en).

I have a few pop-up blockers installed on my pc, including XP SP2, Yahoo toolbar, MSN toolbar, and Google. Rarely have any pop-ups anymore....it's great....uninterrupted surfing....lol

:razz: