Odd popup--won't go away

[Knothead]

I'm typing this with a popup taking up about 1/6 of my screen--it showed up in the lower right hand corner, it's white with pink edges and is titled "Privacy Alert..." yadda yadda...it has a red button that doesn't do anything, it won't click and drag, minimise, and in general doesn't respond to anything I do.

It won't "bury" under a new screen, and I can't get rid of it.

Oddly, it also displays only part of its message.

What is this thing? How do I get rid of it?

[vass0922]

HEY Double Postman!

What OS are you in?
You could reboot but thats no fun

May want to try AdAware (www.lavasoft.de) if it appears to be a real application.
If its just an internet explorer popup then you maybe able to hit CTRL+ALT+DEL (JUST ONCE lol) and kill internet explorer (End Task)

[Droppyale]

alt - F4

if not, then ctrl - alt - del

vass said it right..

run Adaware.

[nomaxim]

Tsk,tsk,tsk, Knot you should know better then to double post!

Might want to try a A/V run too, just to be sure. (Might be something like one of those nasty low threat' J/S No Close' thingers?)

[Knothead]

Firstly, Vass, thanks for 'handling' that double thread. Dunno what happened there.

Okay, I did alt-F4, no go. Cont-Alt-Del neither. So I re-booted, now it's gone. YAY!

As this is not my computer, I hesitate to install a proggie (like AdAware) on it, but I will definitely show this to my cousin, and inquire about it. I've heard of AdAware, but until now, never thought it was needed.

Man, I have never seen popups like on this computer! I mean, all the time, But THAT thing was the popup from hell, man!

Yeah, nomaxim, I've heard of double posts, but double threads?!?


yep, leave it to your friendly neighborhood Knothead...

Todd:

After this clears up, move to opera as your browser and you will be happy. Its free at www.opera.com and has a much nicer interface and stops pop ups.

Or, alternatively, try Avant Browser also free at www.avantbrowser.com

Both are excellent alternatives to IE.

[meese]

shahani,

Do you think that popup could be the messenger vulnerability? Would the messenger bug also infect Opera users? I'm just curious.

[samwichse]

If it's colored with images, it's not a messenger popup.

I was getting those darned things (they make them about 5 windows long now, you get them all at once on top of each other) at work, where the account I was using had no admin rights and I couldn't disable messenger or install a firewall. ARGH.

I agree with the suggestion of Opera... none of that "install software" crap.

Sam

[vass0922]

Knot if he's getting an excessive amount of popups... especially if he gets popups here at TIMO then it's 99% probability he's blasted with spyware.

[wavefront]

shahani:
You didn't mention Mozilla as an alternative to IE.
I think Mozilla is very nice and it has won many accolades.
Get it here.