Adguard

This morning before I went outside I sure had a lot of ads in my shortcuts. I couldn't rid rid of them. About ready to toss the pc out the window. Somebody told me to download Adguard. I downloaded it and ran it and to my surprise no ads. I looked at all of my shortcuts and not a ad no popup either. Every site in the bottom right hand corner there is an a. Must be a watchdog helping me. Just thought you might want to know. Even my E-Mail had ads.Thanks
Richard

That's great, Richard! But I still wonder if you've gotten rid of the actual infection. If you haven't, then I fear this only going to work for so long. Did you go through the steps I suggested in your original thread about your shortcuts having ads? If you haven't, then Adguard is only treating the symptoms, not getting rid of the infection. Hopefully, you disabled all your add-ons and extensions in all your browsers. AdwCleaner would have been the last thing you ran after you ran scans with CCleaner and Malwarebytes.

I did everything you suggested Draclvr. Let see what happens in the future. I hope I don't get anymore ads. So far it's acting like when I first got it. Just like a new pc. thanks
Richard

Woo hoo! That is great. I looked into AdGuard and it does look like a good tool.

I've got until the 15th. I sure will being buying it. MY computer is so much different now. How can just one app make so much of a difference. I've had it for two days and not a single ad or popup in any of my shortcuts. It doesn't seem much to some gamers but to me it does. Why don't you try it Draclvr. Do you have any ads showing up?
Richard

No, I never have any ads showing up because I keep my computers squeaky clean of adware and spyware which is what causes those popups. Adware and spyware on your computer was your problem.

For me anyway, I would never pay for something that could be prevented by keeping the bad stuff off my computer to start with. But if it's working for you, it might be worth it. I didn't look into how much it was, but I hope it's not much.

twenty dollars.

Yikes! That's more than a bit steep for me, but then I'm cheap. Is that a one time charge or do you have to pay for it every year? For me anyway, I'd just as soon keep my computer free of the adware and spyware that cause these darned things. I haven't had a popup ad in many, many years.

What are the only softwere do you use that's on your desktop. Nothing else.
This is all I have in my computer
ccleaner
AVG-free

Superantispyware
free edition

Malwarebytes
anti-malware

Add AdwCleaner in there and that's all I use. AdwCleaner won't be on your desktop though unless you put it there. It only runs when you tell it to after a reboot. It gets stuff I couldn't find anywhere on the computers I work on.

I always tell people though, that the #1 defense against adware, spyware and other malware is the user. Beware of what you download and where you download it from and just be smart on the internet and you will be good to go!

If AdwCleaner isn't on the desk top how do you run it? There are 14 web sites that have AdwCleaner. Which one to use.

I think I linked you to the one from bleepingcomputer.com in your original post - I know that one is right. You run it by locating it on your computer and double clicking it so it will run. But when you download it, it will run the first time. It requires you to restart your computer and then it runs on the boot up. Mine is located in the C: drive in the AdwCleaner folder. Let me see if I can get you the link from bleepingcomputer.com again.

EDIT: Here you go!

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

Once you find the application you can right click on it and send it to desktop as a shortcut.

I ran AdwCleaner yesterday and I had to reset all my passwords. I just ran it today and there isn't anything in the bottom half. My passwords were fine. Thanks
Richard

That's great! Maybe you finally got rid of your infection...

Question for you, How often do you run adwcleaner? Yesterday I disabled my adguard just to see if I have any funny popups on my pc. So far everything looks good.
Richard

I used to only run it on PCs that I am working on when the usual methods don't get everything. But now I run it on each and every one after I have gotten them as clean as possible. Sometimes it finds a stubborn little bugger in a hidden file and sometimes the others have gotten everything.

Since you had such a bad infection of adware and spyware, I would run it every couple of days for a week or so. If nothing shows up, then just keep it handy. And be careful of where you download from. I'll have to look for my posts about formerly reputable download sites such as CNET now including all kinds of this stuff in their downloaders. And BEWARE of free games anywhere... I think our Free Games Galore here at GB is good, but even then, watch out of "extras" being offered to you.

The other place to check often is your add-ons and extensions for unwanted additions. That's a prime place for this stuff to install.