Instant Downloads from Websites

I've found a solution -- well not for removal but prevention. Mozilla! It prevents pop-ups but allows more than one browser window to be open at the same time. I even visited the same site that tried to install something, this evening, and it couldn't do it.

I love it when I can answer my own question.

use spybot to remove the adware.

I'll give that a try, safecracker -- thanks.

Welcome to A2K, by the way!

Which browser version were you using? If IE 6.0 you should also be able to tweak the settings so no software or files can be downloaded onto your PC without prompting you for approval.

Also, if you don't have firewall software on your PC, I recommend you give it some serious consideration.

That download could have easily been a virus laden mess for your PC.

firewall hardware is a much better choice

Hi Butrflynet -- It was IE6 and I had it set up to prompt me for downloads. Very weird. I'm very lucky that it wasn't virus laden -- just seemed to be an advertising bug.

We actually have a firewall on our router, but I'm thinking that having another on my pc is good advice. I don't know anything about firewall hardware -- how does that work, safecracker? Your moniker makes me think that you might be a great person to learn about security from!

As much as I used to hate Netscape, though, I love this new browser. No popups!

Able2Know and Google do not use popup advertising so you have/had scumware on your computer.

Craven, before posting this I looked through the computer forum and saw your comment that when A2K starts using pop-ups, it will be the day it shuts down. I had a feeling that you wouldn't change your mind and stoop that low!

The firewall sits between a local area network (LAN) and the Internet and acts like a gatekeeper. A properly configured firewall protects the network by selectively allowing authorized traffic to flow in both directions. A hardware firewall is more secure and in most cases more configurable. If you feel the need you can route all traffic through a proxy Get a VPN application if it's a business. Turn off WAN ping response on any machine you set a router firewall up on and you will be as safe as possible. I recommend using some software in addition to the hardware but I'm over cautious. As far as learning about security from me it's a safe bet to say I know a lil lol

Uhhhhhh......that sounds really complicated, SC. heehee

I probably need to check the configuration on my router firewall, for sure. I used to use ZoneAlarm but never put it back on my pc after replacing an old hard drive. I was amazed by the amount of stuff it blocked. But even with that in use, I used one of those sites that will show you what can be seen on your pc by invaders and my entire hard drive was still visible, so I haven't bothered replacing it. What do you think about ZoneAlarm?

That's usually a gimmick. By making a link to file:///C:/ the user is shown that folder.

The links on this forum disable linking to user files but you can try for yourself and see:



Open notepad, copy that code into the notepad doc. Save it as anyname.html

Then open the html file you created and click on the link. It will show you your C drive. It does not indicate an exploit. It's simply a link and since you ahve access to your C drive it shows it to you. It does not mean others have access.

Send the page you create to a friend. Have them click the link. They will see THEIR hard drive. Not yours.

Am I gullible, or what? Thanks for the education, Craven!

1st of all please read the firewall thread I commented on ZA in there it's in the computer forum section, another way your whole drive could be visable is file and print sharing make sure it is disabled and netbios is blocked with your firewall.

So the wireless routers are more secure? We've been wondering on that. It would definately be more convenient than what we've got.

as long as you take the right precautions, you don't want wardrivers driving around and picking up all your personal data.

WiFi poses whole new security threats with war chalkinga nd the like. It's not at all hard to secure a wireless network but for some reason many networks (even corporate ones) are insecure.

But look, all this talk about firewalls and such is spooking you unecessarily.

Even if you use NO firewall you are not at a great risk.

It's much simpler to just take the following step to have a headache free computer life:

A) Back up your important files
B) Don't keep very sensitive information on hard drives. Use removable media


That's it. If anything happens you just wipe the puter and restore from backups.

If you are hacked there is no data that you are worried about being in the wrong hands.

There are other steps like keeping an Anti Vurus program running and updated but the above two are the big ones. If you take those steps then even in the unlikely situation in which you are hacked it's really no big deal.

I would find it a bigger pain in the ass to backup every file I need every time it's changed then to update my virus scanner 1ce a week and keep my firewall/proxy/computer up to date. If I leave things open on a lan I will be backdoored atleast 1 time a week, this means if someone writes a original backdoor I will be backing up that infected file without knowing it is infected because my scanner will not know that pattern as a virus. some companies need there info to be availible over a network it's dangerous to take the "we can just reformat" attitude. Remember if you are installing a OS from CD chances are you will have to spend some time downloading updates anyway. I drove around a block in toronto and found 56 open wireless networks it just shows me admins need to quit thinking that the black hat cant compete with his wite hat.

A) 99.99% of internet users run no risk of being 'backdoored' every week.
B) Backing up documents will very rarely backup a trojan. Maybe a virus but in any case it's easy to clean backups.
C) It's not dangerous to have a "just reformat" attitude at all. No matter what your precautions taken are you need to backup. You can have all the damn security in the world and have a hard drive failure that wipes it all.

Therefore people need to identify what their problem is. With computer problems what do you fear?

Loss of data?

Loss of time?

Access to private information?

Each has a simple solution. Security measures can be a huge pain. And even with the greatest security on earth there are ways to lose your data. So backups are needed anyway.