Is it just me?
 

everytime i click to bring the expats window in view.. i hit some whitespace above the 'ads by google' and open up a new ad... invisible ads now? grrrrr

Re: Is it just me?
 

Sigh

And the extra windows telling me to reset my PC clock or that I am the millionth customer (actually that only happens at work, we don't allow pop ups at home!!)

Clare

Re: Is it just me?
 

I experienced the same problem, until I donated $9.99 (US$ that is) to BritishExpats (paid subscription). No more adds for me! :D

Re: Is it just me?
 

Yep, that solved my problem about pop-ups, but my Mac has been acting funny ever since I installed Norton anti-virus because of the worm threat, but only on the forum. I got a message this morning that one of messages in Aids in the UK may be contaminated and not to open it.

My Mac is also freezing (did it at least 3 times yesterday while on the forum) ended with a system failure - don't know what the problem is....where is that new notebook of mine.

Re: Is it just me?
 

Don't leave it outside at night! :D

Re: Is it just me?
 

My computer was really slow for a while. I had Spybot and kept running it. Then my friendly neighbourhood computer guy told me I should be running Ad-aware too. So I went to download.com and got Adaware and found 190 baddies on my computer. And I had just run Spybot - so he's obviously correct. My computer is much faster now.

I suppose (hope) some time in the future there will be something invented that stops all that garbage before it even gets to your computer so you don't have to run anything. Maybe Norton are working on it as we speak.

I suppose if you have a gazillion computers and even 1 percent of them don't block the popups - perhaps its worth it. Maybe of the 1 percent maybe .01 percent of them actually read the popups. I never did even before I got a popup blocker.

Re: Is it just me?
 

Sounds like me an hour ago! I successfully used Spybot for the last year or so. but today my computer decided to run soooo slow. also couldnt delete certain files (claimed they were in use - but by what???) downloaded and ran adaware (which i used to use awhile back) and it picked up loads of stuff spybot didnt see...

much faster now ... id love to know who does read the pop ups tho! :)

Re: Is it just me?
 

I have a pop up blocker. Every page I open on this, and 3 other forums I visit, I get a blocked page message. Which freezes everything until I click that it's read.
It's a pain, but at least I know my pc is safe.

Re: Is it just me?
 

Isn't there somewhere an option so that you don't have to click to acknowledge blocked pages?

Re: Is it just me?
 

Probably; But I'm a total Luddite when it comes to computers. My 13 year old son knows more than I do.

Re: Is it just me?
 

I followed this advice and Ad-aware has just found 407 files which Spybot missed.
Sobering thought.

Re: Is it just me?
 

indeed. it was the same when i installed ad-aware - caught a whole bunch spybot didnt.. same with the anti-viruses. i had norton for the longest time. then downloaded AVG and it picked up stuff norton didnt...

Re: Is it just me?
 

They all look for different things. The viruses are detected based on virus definitions so you have to make sure you always have the latest virus definitions otherwise it won't detect them. It's the same for detecting the trojan type viruses, they depend on definitions and also rules which block certain types of communication on ports known to be used by those programmes. The firewall will block connections based on rules as well. If you have one like Norton Firewall or free ones like zone alarm etc. you can set it to blcok every program on your computer accessing the internet until you give it permission. So that way even when software makes it onto your computer that you didn't want, if you don't give it permission while it will still run and use up system resources it can't connect to the internet and do anything. Spyware and advert software is different again and anti virus software won't find those because they don't match virus definitions and also they are mostly legitimately installed, in that you have clicked on a weblink or installed some free version of software which is ad supported and just clicked yes through everything and it installs one of the ad programs that is 3rd party. That's when you need programs like ad-aware which scans for specific programs that are known to be the advert or spyware programmes. One thing to bear in mind is some free software you might install with ad support may be dependant on that to run. So say you install an application that has a paid registration fee or a free ad supported version and you click yes and install it then you get the annoying adverts and run adaware and delete the ad software you may find the application you installed either doesn't work anymore or reinstalls the ad software to work.

On the invisible advert note if you are using Norton security suite then it has an advert blocking feature which blocks adverts by stopping the browser downloading the info, such as images etc from the adverts source. However the code is still there on the page. So you don't see the adverts and don't get annoyed by their flashing etc but they are still there if you click on them.

Drew

Re: Is it just me?
 

i think they do have different definitions. i keep all my anti-virus and firewall programs up to date. and im very meticulous about what's installed on my pc. got the disk for telus broadband earlier this month and almost had a fit when it decided to install an e-client for me! nothankyouverymuch

i dont have norton security, tho i am using netscape. it has a built in pop up blocker, but i never came across it not downloading any ads.. or maybe this is the first!

Re: Is it just me?
 

There was an online ad supplier that was compromised by hackers in the last few days. Could be that some of the ads came from them.

There's an article on The Register about it for those who want for information.

http://www.theregister.com/2004/11/2...fra_statement/
http://www.theregister.com/2004/11/2...server_attack/