[lxamon]

I have Windows XP and Internet Explorer 7, as protection software I have AVG free,Ad-ware and Spy Bot,all these suggested by you when I had trouble in getting rid off an annoying advertisement.They worked OK.Trouble now is that I cannot open some web sites.For what I read this could be due to those protection programs and I should fix them.How do I do that?? THANKS

[N0help4u]

When you use blocks they tend to block sites you do not want blocked.
I had that problem when my kids were little and I used the parental block it blocked the kids game sites that had any selling involved like the Hersheys and Crayola sites.

All you can really do is see if there is a place to click to turn the protection that is blocking it off while you want to use the site.

I don't know much about the protection stuff but I DO know that you can not use two anti virus programs or they conflict and cancel each other out.
Also Ad ware and Spy bot have spy ware in them that you want to avoid. Norton is bad too and McAfee they say doesn't protect you as much as it should.

Three sites you can check for free software are

PC Tools - Essential tools for your PC

Antivirus & Content Security Software | Securing Your Web World - Trend Micro USA

Kim Komando - downloads video TV GPS cameras computers reviews and opinion from The Kim Komando Show® & Web site

Award-winning Antivirus and Antispyware Security

[vingogly]

Also Ad ware and Spy bot have spy ware in them that you want to avoid. Norton is bad too and McAfee they say doesn't protect you as much as it should.

AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy don't contain spyware - they are spyware/adware removers and they work perfectly well as advertised. I'd be curious to know the source that's claiming they contain viruses. They are not replacements for a good anti-virus package, but supplements to it.

I agree, Norton is bad news - a lot of system problems I've seen over the years on Windows and Mac machines have been Norton related. McAfee is preferable to Norton. No anti-virus program will be 100% effective, because malware authors are constantly playing a catch-up game.

[N0help4u]

They messed up my computer and caused a virus.
Also I heard it on a local radio show house call computer doctor or something like that
Also have heard others had the same problem
Also found it stated on other sites

Not so much it causes a virus but it causes problems that lead to opening your computer to the risk of one. One of the main things I heard it does is collect then redistribute information about you

Other Options

Sometimes adware and spyware programs can become so embedded in your system that this can become too complex for you to deal with yourself. For example, your computer may not start up or even open its internet browser anymore. In these types of cases, you may want to contact a local computer technician who knows how to fix the problem.

The prevention of adware is better than the cure. You might want to learn about adware prevention so you can protect your computer from adware threats in the future.

Adware Removal Complications

Because adware is often used by the producers of free programs (freeware) to make a profit, the adware in effect sponsors the freeware. This being the case, many freeware programs will not work if your remove the adware that came with them. So if your freeware is more important to you than the annoyance and other problems associated with adware, you may choose not to remove it.

Sometimes you don't know for sure if a freeware program will stop working until you remove its adware. But there is a way to test whether removing adware will affect your freeware. Most adware cleaners give you an option called "Quarantine". This means the adware cleaner will not permanently delete adware files right away. Instead it will disable them and put them in a folder to be deleted later. This allows you to run programs after adware removal and make sure everything still works with the suspicious files removed. You can then go back into your adware cleaner and delete the suspicious files permanently. Or, if something is not working properly with the adware files quarantined, you can restore them. This lets you test the effects of adware removal on your programs without actually removing it.

However, if you choose the quarantine option and everything on your computer seems to be working well after the cleaning, make sure and go back into your adware cleaner and delete the adware files permanently.

Adware Removal: How to Remove Adware

Adware - Are Downloads Safe?

How to remove adware & spyware

[Lowtax4eva]

All of the programs you mentionned would not cause this, AVG, Ad-Aware and Spybot would not block a website, only pop-ups.

You have a net-nanny program if you can't access certain websites at all... or a virus but that is a lot less likely.

[N0help4u]

lxamon disagrees: other technician denies ad-ware and spybot contain spyware

As I said I do not know much about computers but I was trying to explain my experience with Ad ware, parental blocks and so forth. Other sites support that there are problems with Ad ware too which I did post links to.

[lxamon]

All of the programs you mentionned would not cause this, AVG, Ad-Aware and Spybot would not block a website, only pop-ups.

You have a net-nanny program if you can't access certain websites at all... or a virus but that is alot less likely.

Could you explain me what is a net-nanny program and how should I proceed .I don't think I have a virus because the computer works perfectly well otherwise

[vingogly]

I think there's some semantic confusion here between the bad software (adware) and the software that removes it (Ad-Aware and Spybot). Adware is software that installs pop-up ads on your machine; it's what the links are referring to. Ad-Aware is a program by Lavasoft that removes adware; so is Spybot Search & Destroy. I usually recommend using both since they tend to catch different things. I am not aware of either of these programs causing problems with PCs.

Nanny software is often used to block certain sites from surfing. Usually in households that have children. If you haven't installed nanny software, then you don't have any

[lxamon]

If I have not installed nanny programs and protection software won't block websites and probably no virus are involved I`ve decided to blame myself because when using spy bot and after a while the program asks me whether I accept the changes or not and really I don't know what exactly those programs are,so some times I said yes and some times I say no.Could that be the problem?(perhaps this could help:when trying to open Accuradio instead of opening it I get a message just saying;PHP vars Internet Explore:1 Vista--Javascritp vars 9,0124,o-and Player launch string)

[chuckhole]

I think there's some semantic confusion here between the bad software (adware) and the software that removes it (Ad-Aware and Spybot). Adware is software that installs pop-up ads on your machine; it's what the links are referring to. Ad-Aware is a program by Lavasoft that removes adware; so is Spybot Search & Destroy. I usually recommend using both since they tend to catch different things. I am not aware of either of these programs causing problems with PCs.

Nanny software is often used to block certain sites from surfing. Usually in households that have children. If you haven't installed nanny software, then you don't have any

And to add to the confusion, a few years ago (maybe 8 or so), there was an actual program called Ad-Ware and the web site and makers of this spyware program made it appear as if it was the Ad-Aware product by LavaSoft. It really gave Ad-Aware a bad name for a while. Some people apparently never forget this and still apply the bad reputation to Ad-Aware.

Note the difference in name - it is hard to tell: Ad-Ware - Ad-Aware.