What's up with all these tedious new links

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Today all the stories I look up have VERY IRRITATING pop-up links all over the place and it is not pleasing.
Do I get rid of them or is a new 'feature' .... which I hate already.

(I am using Internet Explorer if that makes a difference??)

Please fix it if you can
Alys P

Comments

pop up's

BC docent use them
sounds like you are infected
get and use anti virus and male-ware program and run it

don't

dont know what to say i have never got them here

I E has settings for that in advanced options

some freeware has the add settings imbedded in the program

if this is something that just started then there has to bee something new on your system

Agreed

You've probably been infected.

Antivirus/anti-malware program is essential.

Some of these

are kind of hard to remove. Download the free version of Super Anti Spyware, and also the free version of Malwarebytes, start them and let them download their latest pattern files. Then, either disconnect your network cable or turn off your wi-fi (whichever is relevant), and do a full scan with Super Anti Spyware first, then after removing everything it finds, reboot and repeat the process with Malwarebytes. If it's still there after doing this, you'll have to use one of the regular virus protection programs' "deep infection" tool. Warning, if you get a popup telling you your computer is infected, and it suggests using a virus removal program you don't know, DO NOT follow the link! That's part of what you're infected with, and it's just there to suck money from your bank account.

Most of the better consumer network providers these days provide their customers with free access to one of the big three virus protection suites, but you usually have to go search their website to find it.

Good luck

Popups on BC

I had the same problem on my private PC, it lives in the closet with me, a download of free Super Anti Spyware has just cleaned out 126 ad tracking cookies that got round "Avast" anti-virus and it seems to have done the job. Sadly this as it is an older slower machine under Vista optimised for MS FSX (my other vice)and to which the rest of the family have no access has to have Avast a free and simpler antivirus which seems to do the basic job. It may be of note that BC when run on my "public" machine with Norton has never had the problem and any attempt to insert such is detected or cleaned in routine scans.
Avast also seems to keep malware at bay, but as a survival policy, I browse the net and BC in Chrome Incognito mode which of course means that unless I accept it malware type programmes are not cached or anything and my visits here on either machine are not recorded. As for known Malware attack the only time I have seen a fake FBI warning screen demanding money (I am in UK)which locked the screen shutting chrome and restarting the PC killed it for good it as thanks to incognito mode it clearly only had a "virtual" not actual toe hold in the memory

Looks round the closet door :)

Nightjar

Not on our end.

erin's picture

Seriously, this is not something we would do and we've been offered money to do them.

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

tedious links - ANTI MALWARE program

EMSISOFT anti-malware is one of the top three (out of twenty) anti-malware programs.

It is better than either of the well known programs (M or ?) and the first 30 days are (or were) free for the full featured program.

Download it, install it, run the update to get the latest malware signatures then run the program.
The first time through it could take a couple of hours but gets faster each time.

Whatever you do, DON'T PANIC if it find a lot of things and lists them. Allow it to finish then it will ask you if you want to quarantine those items or to remove them. If you are uncertain then quarantine them. They will be checked when you run the program again or if you schedule automatic runs they will be checked at that time.

Set the updates for daily and for a while the scan should probably be daily.

If you choose to remove them and not all of the detected items are removed then quarantine those that remain. If they are not dangerous the program will automatically reinstate them at one of the next scans. If they are still in quarantine a week later then they may be deleted as line-items one at a time out of the quarantine folder.

I have used Emsisoft for seven years and it is a very superior program. Do things get past it? Yes, occasionally, but not much and not often. Lately some of the most virulent malware has been spread through face-book.

Have I been seeing pop-ups on BCTS? No.

BE AWARE HOWEVER, that if you recently installed new software from the internet there are usually MANY additional programs installed with that one you wanted. They are automatically checked for install so you MUST read all the information screens which pop up during your software installation and remove the checks of the boxes concerning extra programs (such as BiNG) or refuse the additional programs when given that choice.

POP UPS are usually the result of some of those additional programs and are usually ad packages of one kind or another. One site which is rampant with these is a recipe site for which I have forgetted the name so be careful when downloading recipies.

Anesidora

as a computer tech

Teresa L.'s picture

NO antivirus/malware program is perfect. it is like a doctor, until they have seen the virus, they can not fix it or protect against it so there is ALWAYS risk when connected to anything except you own computer.

that being said i use: Avast (free version) Malware bytes (paid so it works all the time, the free is just as good, but only scans, does not "protect") and spybot-search and destroy. not as happy with that one, so i might try the emi soft above, depending on the payment structure (one time or yearly) Malware bytes is a one time fee, normally 25-30, but you can find it on sale sometimes, i got 4 copies at tigerdirect for 10 each.

one program is usually not enough, i use ones i know work, and better for some things etc. yes Norton, microsoft, and Mccafee are NOT recommended in my opinion, they have so much bloat ware, it defeats the purpose of "protecting" and keeping it running well. also be careful of those programs that claim to speed up your computer, some work, some work real well, but again, they become bloat ware. use them then uninstall, to free up the resources THEY are bogarting, lol

hope this helps

Teresa L.

Teresa L.

In defence of endpoint protection software

persephone's picture

The following is an excerpt from a short story Nancy and I recently collaborated on.

“He had antivirus. I remember him bragging to everyone who would listen about how he downloaded it for free.” Edward interjected.
Tommy snorted into his beer whilst even Andy couldn’t hide his grin. “You get what you pay for Eddie,” Tommy considered his opinion as he took a long pull on his pint.
“But it was still supposed to protect him from viruses!” Edward snapped.
Even as Tommy opened his mouth a sharp kick to his ankle put paid to whatever further opinion he had been about to air. Instead Andy posed Edward a question ignoring the reproachful look of his colleague.
“Edward it’s like this. Think of the Internet as a battlefield.”
Edward nodded cautiously.
“Like any soldier who’s switched on, it's a good idea to wear body armour when you’re about and about outside the wire. Right?”
“That makes sense,” he agreed.
“As Tommy said, you get what you pay for, and even then,” Andy concluded as a ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “Even then, you still have to know when to duck,” he quickly added before taking a sip of his drink.

When you buy an endpoint protection package you are not paying for the software. Heck - I'll give you that for free! What you are paying for is the intelligence network that continuously monitors, hunts and identifies countermeasures to the 20,000,000 bits of malicious code out there which are growing at a rate of over a million a year.

Persephone

Non sum qualis eram

Honestly, SB S&D's false

thliwent's picture

Honestly, SB S&D's false positive and miss rates shot up from a couple of years back, I can't trust it any more.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is highly recommended, and in fact was created by a friend of mine.

Avast is a good free AV, but so is Microsoft Security Essentials. I know that most people want to feel that because it's from Microsoft it can't be good, but it actually is a pretty solid piece of software.

If you're looking to pay for an antivirus package I'd suggest ESET's NOD32. Very solid program, good detection rates, and minimal system impact.

Source: 'Retired' Malware Expert, former teacher/expert of one of the original forum-based malware removal schools.

I too had these annoying pop-ups-

Every webpage view would pop up another. Geez, talk about annoying.

I ended up using Malwarebytes free program to check my system. I can't remember how many hundreds of the ad-ware virii it found in my system. But it cleaned them all out! No more pop-ups!

I ended up buying the Malwarebytes program because it did such a good job. And I discovered that it updates every day so I stay current. I have to say I am extremely pleased with this program.

Cicero2K

'Otium cum Dignitate'