OK, let's have a look.
Antivirus (like Norton *shudder*) gets rid of viruses and fixes things wrong with your computer. Ads are not viruses. Emails are not viruses
Firewalls stop certain types of connections being made to your computer. Example: all connections use 'ports' in between 1 and 65535 (2 ^ 16), and firewalls stop certain computers from accessing certain ports. This is usually useful only if you are running a program that 'listens' on a port, like a web server (that serves pages like this one), email, etc. That's how
hackers get in. This does not stop the installation of porn-pop-ups and/or spam.
Reinstalling everything (called
restoring here) will fix the pop-ups, but not the spam.
Once a spammer has your email address, it will be distributed. There is no way to stop spammers (except never use your email for anything and not give it to
anyone... but then what's the point).
The only way to stop from getting software that gives pop-ups and stuff like that is to
carefully inspect EVERYTHING you install. ESPECIALLY if it is off the internet.
Never EVER:
» Click 'yes' on a security prompt asking you to install anything unless you KNOW it is a valid shockwave player, windows update (ONLY from microsoft.com), etc, that appears on your browser.
» Install dodgy shareware
» Install random internet downloads unless you know what's in them and what they do. This is not too much of a problem if you know what you're doing.
» NEVER INSTALL
GATOR!!!! It is THE biggest spy-ware/ad-ware/pop-up-ware
ever.
AdAware should, however, solve your pop-up problem. Make sure you have
the latest version with the latest signature file.
