Question for Firefox users out there

[dampscribbler]

I keep getting pop-ups (just a couple a day), even though my blocker is turned on. They all say zedo.com -- is there a way I can make sure they're blocked?

Comments

[geeklibrarian.livejournal.com]

I'm going to guess that you have some nasty ad-ware installed on your system. When was the last time you used Ad-Aware and/or Spybot Search and Destroy to check?

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good idea, I haven't done that in a couple of weeks. I'll try it. (I use both, though not very regularly.)

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

Sure enough, AdAware found 7 critical objects, one of which was zedo. Maybe this will get the system running faster again. It's been slow lately. Eric's using it as an excuse to justify getting FiOs.

[chgriffen.livejournal.com]

Modern popup servers have found ways to bypass the blocking that Firefox and IE do. However, there's a way to turn off 99% of all ads, popup and even banners, which makes your surfing not only safer but also faster:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

The download and install instructions are about a third down on that page. It's from the Microsoft MVPs (Most Valued Professionals program), which is a reputable organization.

Other than that, yeah, there might be spyware on your system as the poster above indicated. There are several good free programs you can find via googling on the internet, such as AdAware and Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Christian!

[misterx.livejournal.com]

Actually researching your question was very educational.

I found this site... it lets you test popup blockers using 27 different methods to try and popup a window.

Mozilla only failed three... #'s 12 (false popup window... actually a css layer), #21 (pops an "add bookmark" dialog... supposedly this is the correct behavior but it's annoying), #22 (pops a download file dialog... this is what I want it to do, so I don't really count this one), and #22 (popup fired by Java).

Out of these, #22 is the only real popup. #12 is very annoying, because I get a lot of these, but I question how this could be fixed without breaking various menu systems and other legitimate uses. One bullet I dodged that you might not is one fired by Flash... I use Flashblock to avoid annoying "punch the monkey" banners and other flash based ads.

I'm off to investigate how to prevent Java popups.

[misterx.livejournal.com]

oops, here's the link to the test site: http://www.kephyr.com/popupkillertest/test/test1.html

[misterx.livejournal.com]

This might do it... http://www.noscript.net . I'm going to test it.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

How did your test go? I'll probably install this as soon as I get a few minutes. I read a bit about it last night before bed, but my brain was foggy so I wanted to wait.

[misterx.livejournal.com]

I uninstalled it. I think the same fog had me. I didn't feel like dealing with it.