They all do this come and try this one ads. I suggest if you use Firefox as
the default browser that the first job is to install an ad blocker, it makes
sites like file hippo etc much less of a hassle.
There is one for IE but it only runs for a time and then wants to be payed
for, but tis cheap and seems to work well.
Brian

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Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
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"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...
In message , fred writes
In article , Martin Brown
writes
On 29/01/2014 09:16, Tim Lamb wrote:
In a momentary fit of insanity I allowed an offering of Explorer 8.0 (I
think) to download.

The only visible consequence is an overnight firing up of Explorer such
that I am greeted each morning with a Windows related advert.
Curiously the screen is prevented from entering sleep mode.

Today's offering was for a Windows driver scanner for a Brother
printer.

I am using XP with service pack 3. I know this system is about to be
unsupported so am becoming very nervous about anything uninvited!

Any thoughts?

Do you have another computer that you can use to make a bootable CD to
scan this machine for any known malware? Corrupting IE to make it show
adverts or hijack keystrokes is unfortunately all too common.

You can't trust the main machine any more. There are some tools that use
enough obfuscation that they might be able to detox an infected machine
without being noticed by the malware. I have found MalwareBytes to work
fairly well on other peoples infected PCs YMMV

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebyte...-10804572.html


Agreed that malwarebytes is the way to clear this, an excellent program,
well thought of, very thorough and even asks polite permission to update
itself before attempting to do so.

I prefer the direct download at:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

http://downloads.malwarebytes.org/mbam-download.php

Cnet frequently (although not in this case) put up their own 'trick'
download buttons to encourage you to install their own junkware.

It sounds like a fairly benign bit of adware, I'd download malwarebytes
then unplug the machine form the internet then boot in safe mode and do
their recommended scan.

Read the resulting report carefully and choose what you want rid of and
what you want to keep, the adware should be obvious.

Running their beta antirootkit scan overnight (very thorough) after you
have done this would be a good move too.

http://downloads.malwarebytes.org/file/mbar

I'd then run malwarebytes again after a day or so to make sure that a
hidden trigger has re-installed the malware.

Firefox would be a better day to day browser but I would pick up v21.0
from mozilla or oldversion.com as it has more accessible privacy features
than the latest version from Mozilla.

for windows:

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.....0b7/win32/en-
GB/Firefox%20Setup%2021.0b7.exe

or all o/ss

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla....leases/21.0b7/

HTH

Excellent Fred! I do use Firefox as default browser but keep Explorer as
an alternative for sites that limit your access.

I am going to struggle recognising what can safely be removed. Anyway no
online purchases or bank access FTTB.

--
Tim Lamb