I ran Adaware on my computer. Then I ran a virus program that did a full scan. I set my browser to No-Popups. My son was using the computer to go to a kids site and a pop-up came up. Any advice? We are using xp home edition.

I had the same problem once and found out that the virus scanner and pop up blocker were the problems. I suggest you go out and buy a licsensed one like Norton anti-virus.

Sounds like a classic spyware infection!
Time to do some serious maintenance on your machine:

Here's my usual C&P for cases like this:


When was the last time you did some serious maintenance on your system ?

System maintenance includes:
Defrag
FULL patching
Virus scanning
Spyware scanning
removal of rubish files

Defrag is an inbuilt function in XP.
Open My Computer > Right click C: > Tools Tab and its there.

To make sure everything is running fine run both anti virus and anti spyware apps in normal AND safe modes. (make sure that they are updated first ! ;)) (AVG (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1) is good and free AV)
(A couple of good removal tools are Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/) and Adaware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/))

ALso an on line virus and spyware scanner is Trend Housecall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/)

Just a note: actively running two AV's on one machine can cause problems.
So if you are thinking about it make sure your current one is disabled first.
Same thing applies to online scanners as well.

Removal of junk files is easy with CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com) a free app that does exactly what

If all this fails then a repair install may be in order:

Here's (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx) the official Micro$oft way of doing it,
and Here's (http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138) one with screen shots.

Basically this installs windows over the top of your current setup.
So you don't loose any information you already have.

This lot should resolve your issue.

Here is another way. When you get a pop up, grab the domain name the pop up is coming from, then do a who is search. This will give you the owner of the domain name and the company that hosts the site.
Write a complaint letter to the web host and the pop ups will stop...

For example: The domain name to this site is - www.askmehelpdesk.com anything that is after the .com ignore...

Search with this URL: WHOIS Search provides domain registration information from Network Solutions (http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp;jsessionid=15e94d31be9adaffffffffac64edf 87b60c02:q+FW)

Sorry Superfed, but that is a complete waste of time, as spyware merchants WILL completely ignore you and try and sell you more rubbish.

You don't have to buy anti-virus, download AVG anti-virus and anti-spyware for free (www.avg.com)

Sorry Superfed, but that is a complete waste of time, as spyware merchants WILL completely ignore you and try and sell you more rubbish.
It worked for me.

You have to realize this; a pop up is coming from a web page and web pages are hosted by web site hosting companies. The web site host companies have terms of service their clients must ad hear to. If you complain to the web host that their clients site is in violations of terms of services, they will clear the matter up fast.

Unless the pop ups are coming from a web site that has their own personal server, then my suggestion won't work.

I'm sorry, but have you never heard of cross domain scripting, drive by malware infection or any other of a myriad of infection routes that are commonly used by spam merchants.

You are obviously one of a small handful of lucky people that managed to get a web host to remove some adverts.

If it is one of those you just can't get rid of like Spycrush or Virusprotectpro you can get smitfraudfix it's great I have used it for both of these viruses and it worked on both and it's free on the internet. These viruses take your internet and all sorts of nasty things Hope this is of value to someone.

Does anyone actually bother to read my maintenance tips, all this is coverd there!!

CurlyBen, No, I never heard of that stuff.
I had constant PORN pop ups coming from Internet explore the first time and the second time it was spam adverts. I made a list of all the domain names that were popping up and I complained to all the web hosts and the pop ups stopped within a few days.

But I am no expert.