I've got a problem!

I think I disabled it while cleaning my computer, So I'm hoping!

gezzy

A friend of mine had the same problem as you described with unsolicited porn emails .... She tried deleting cookies, temporary internet files, etc., etc., but to no avail. She ended up changing her email address with her server, as the HUGe amount of really dubious material just kept coming! Really offensive stuff, she said.
She came to the conclusion that the offensive mail started about the same time as she got involved with an internet "dating" site .... She hasn't had any further problems since changing her email address & steering clear of that site.

classmates.com may be the King in that department. Give your e-mail address to them and its spam city.

I wish it was just emails that were my problem because I can get rid of those, but these pop ups are making my life a living hell. Nothing I've done is working, so I think I'm going to have to do a full recovery on my computer which I dread is a big way since it will take me a long time to recover all my programs.

Did you check for System Restore in your Accessories/System Tools? If you have it on Windows 98, you should try it.

I checked again, but I'm not seeing anything like that in there.

I haven't done a full rcovery on my computer in over two years, so I suppose I do need it and it would be nice to speed up my computer some. The last time I did it, I didn't save any information which made it hell when I had to put everything back on my computer, so this time I'm taking a few days to organize stuff before I make the big plunge. After I do that, if I ever have that problem again I'll look into paying for some good software I can install that will actually work. In the mean time, I need to stay away from any questions or sites involving teens. There really should be a law against anyone being able to install anything into someones programs. I have a few cousins that borrow my computer every now and then and if this stuff ever poped up while they were on here I'd be so embarrassed. Hell, I'm embarrassed when it happens and I'm all alone.

I don't know if this relates, but I had a similar experience, except that the stuff popped up immediately after logon, which more or less denied me the use of the computer. Anyway, something had managed to install itself in my "favorites" list. It was not only there, it behaved like an internet autoexec.bat file.

I've only seen this trick once, about a year ago, but you might just check the "favorites" and make sure they are all your favorites.

I'd either find someone who really knows their stuff, or at least post a topic here about what you are going to do and what you can do to prevent it from happening again. Like what kind of software (like AdAware) that you can get. I got my Norton SystemWorks for $30 and it does much more than just Anti-virus. (But you do have to renew it for $ once a year)

Someone may suggest a firewall, which I believe (craven?) would prevent those things from happening again too. You can get a good one for free online.

Actually I'd be interested if the aforementioned Norton utilities/anti-virus prevents it. Craven said up above that your anti-virus software wouldn't necessarily have been able to prevent it because it isn't technically a virus, but doesn't Norton do more than that, like look for changes or insertions in scripts? Wouldn't this prevent a problem like gezzy has? I hope so.

These are all things I will keep in mind if it should happen again after I do a recovery. I appreciate everyones advice here and also appreciate the lending me your shoulders to vent about my nasty problem. I will eventually invest in something that will prevent anything from installing itself into my computer because it's worth it to not have to go through this. I have calmed down quite a bit since I posted this, but I still think that there should be a law that would prevent these sites from being able to do this.

Thanks for everything you guys. All your responses are going to come in handy whenever I need to fall back on them ;-)

Larry
I've watched topics about firewalls and I saw that many people don't like them because them limit you in some ways. I'm not sure how, but I think I installed one a long time ago and got rid of it for reasons I don't remember.

I should have added to my suggestion of isolating a suspicious .exe file that it (isolation) would take effect after rebooting your computer.

All this stuff is just so confusing to me. I'm a naturally curious person, so in time I know I'll figure out all these things. I truly appreciate your help.

roger,

There are some sites that will use a javascript that will automatically change the home page of your browser and also insert sites into your favorites. This script is in common use in the internet underworld (warez, porn, and other such sites).

Many of these scripts are recognized as viruses now. In fact I wrote a script that was similar and it was recognized as a virus when I tested it. So most of those scripts should fail against an updated anti virus program now.

gezzy,

As to preventing it:

a) someone downloaded this IMO, it's possible that they thought it was something else but it's highly unlikely that this program got there without help from a user of your PC that was tricked into downloading it.

b) In my limited experience with helping people with porn dialers I have never seen or heard of one that didn't come from a porn site. It's entirely possible but the general MO for these dialers is to fake that it's porn, the user thinks a movie is bein downloaded but it's a dialer.

Now, it's 100% possible that this did not come from a porn site but through some other trickery.

But it is HIGHLY unlikely that it got there without someone pressing "ok" to a download. The download could have been called something else and have tricked the user into downloading it but to get there without such steps requires a set of rare circumstances.

I don't want to get someone who has access to your PC in trouble, it is quite likely that the download was misrepresented by the site it came from. But what I think (I can be wrong) is that someone let the program in. And to stop it more vigilance on the part of the users of the PC is required.

As to a firewall, depending on the firewall it will stop the outbound dialing but it will do nothing to stop the installation of these programs as long as someone can be tricked into downloading them.

But firewalls are good to use. The best free one is Zone Alarm http://www.zonelabs.com/ but I personally wouldn't be caught dead using it (for personal and picky reasons, the software is ok).

I use one that is built into Windows XP and then employ some other tricks to stay safe (these tricks require remte computers and are not practical so I won't suggest them to others).

Larry,
Porn dialers can be a perfectly legal piece of software and if anti virus companies added them to ther virus definitions they'd be sued. Now some dialers user virus like programs to install themselves and those mioght be flagged but the overwhelming majority of porn dialers are legal and the trick is in getting the user to download it thinking it is something else.

I've had a long talk with the other only user of my computer in the house and I believe he was responsible for this getting into my computer. Needless to say, if this happens again, I will be the only one who has access to my computer. I really could have cared less if it wasn't for those pop ups. Thanks for the info and the sites. After I do the recovery I think I might download that firewall, but will it still work if someone accidentally downloads the porn?

Nope. It might stop the dialing but firewalls do nothing to your computer other than protect it from outside access. So it will probably prompt you with a request to approve or deny (in the case of Zone Alarm) a program that is trying to dial out, but it will not do anything to stop popups.

Now some firewalls have other features built in and those non-firewall features might help but a firewall in and of itself would make no difference.

Hmmmm. Thanks Craven. It really wouldn't do me any good then, so I hope all the yelling I did around here the past few days had an effect!

Thanks a million from me too craven. I understand what you're saying. You give a great explanation of why no one should ever download something unless they absolutely know what it is and who it is from. Even then, some people avoid downloads altogether!

Feel free to YELL gezzy! Thats what computers are for.