Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Pop-up Ads

Problem: User reports lots of pop-up ads and slow response time. The system seems to hang for awhile and then runs momentarily, hangs, runs, etc.

Solution: If the machine will run long enough to download some tools, do the following. If not, it might be time for a rebuild:
  1. Download and install the free copy of Ad-Aware from Lavasoft. When the product has completed installation and is ready to run, make sure to choose the option to look for updates. It will go back to their web site and automatically download the latest definitions, and then begin running. It will locate/identify objects (processes, registry entries, directories and files) that are known to be associated with ads that you don't want to see. It will then give the option to delete the objects.
  2. Download and install the shareware copy of Spybot Search and Destroy from PepiMK Software (Patrick M. Kolla). Go through the dialog and search for bots. The software will identify and list the problem applications and give you the chance to delete them.
  3. Download and install the Google Toolbar from the Google web site. It blocks ads that it knows about and gives you the option to allow them, or block them, on a piecemeal basis.

These 3 things usually clean up the system well enough to work. You might have to re-run the first 2 occasionally to keep the definitions up to date.

If there are still some rogue tasks running, causing slow response time you might have to dig a little deeper. I'll give the standard disclaimer: Editing the registry incorrectly can cause permanent damage to the operating system and render it unusable. If you decide to remove or change anything, you do it at your own risk!

Investigate the Run keys in the registry and take the appropriate action to get rid of tasks that should not be running on the system. I won't give detailed instructions for this. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, DON'T. Ask for expert help:

  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • There might be other Run keys to check; I declare this an incomplete list.

No comments: