Please read this post before making your own thread on spyware or search/porno page issues. The advice here may help clean up your system. This tutorial is primarily for Windows systems, although users on other operating systems may find it useful as well.

So, you've got some unwanted popup windows when you're not even on the web, or IE sometimes pulls up unexpected search sites or porno pages? Your computer may be infected with spyware.

What is it?
Spyware (aka malware, parasite-ware, etc) programs are malicious programs that are designed to infect your computer, mainly for advertising purposes. You can get them by going to infected sites, pages which intentionally distribute them, installing applications containing them (like Kazaa) and numerous other methods. Spyware programs distributed over the web usually infect your computer through Internet Explorer, so you really should consider using an alternative browser to safeguard against these malicious programs.

What's wrong with using Internet Explorer?
It's broken.

MS refuses to fix the ActiveX loopholes that spyware authors use to muck up your system. It's a known problem, yet they have done nothing. A common problem that persists in IE even after your computer is cleaned is "403 Forbidden" error pages do not work correctly. As an example, some web applications check to see if you are logged in using these 403 error pages, redirecting you to a login prompt. Certain spyware programs are programmed to hijack this functionality and display their own page (search page, porno site, etc), which prevents you from getting a real error page, the login page for the application and such. This problem is nigh impossible to fix without totally reinstalling Windows -- so you can see how things like this might be a good reason to not use Internet Explorer.

Some alternative browsers are listed below.

How do I get rid of spyware?
There are numerous ways to combat spyware. The easiest way is to simply not use Internet Explorer or IE-based browsers -- since other browsers don't use ActiveX, there's no way for the spyware programs to get on your machine unless you download infected apps.

Here are some programs you can use to clean spyware off your computer:


These programs should all have instructions on how to use them on their websites.

Alternative Browsers
You really should not be using Internet Explorer at this point, unless you are designing/using something that only works in IE. For regular, general purpose use, there are other browsers to choose from:

  • Mozilla: A free, open-source rewrite of Netscape Navigator from days of yore. It's maintained regularly and conforms to established web standards. Some sites may not appear correctly, but may be because they are using IE-specific extensions that other browsers do not use. Email the web designer and tell them to make their site cross-platform.
  • Firebird: Also free, a spinoff of Mozilla. It features a slimmed down interface not unlike IE, Mozilla's rendering engine and also shorter loading times. Very fast and easy to use, highly recommended.
  • Netscape: Free. Basically Mozilla, as they are based on the same code. It includes some programs that Mozilla does not, such as the Viewpoint Media Player, Winamp, AOL IM -- but those are "family" applications, as Netscape and the companies that produce the included programs are owned by Time Warner.
  • Opera: Free, but ad-supported. There is a pay-for version that disables the ads. We have users here that swear by Opera, but I personally do not care for it. It does have a good rendering engine and is pretty fast. It doesn't work with certain web applications, so your milage may vary. Useless fact: Opera will probably be best remembered for originating tabbed browsing.
All of the above browsers support tabbed browsing and blocking popup windows. IE does not support tabbed browsing, and will begin supporting popup windows with Windows XP Service Pack 2.

If you insist on using Internet Explorer
Mozilla, Firebird, et al are really more secure browsers since they don't use ActiveX, but if you insist on using IE, here are a couple tips that may make things easier on you:

  • Turn off friendly HTTP error messages. In IE, open Tools > Internet Options. Click on the Advanced tab. Find the heading called Browsing (near the top of the list). Scroll down until you find "Show friendly HTTP error messages". Uncheck it, then click OK.
  • Get a virus scanner. AVG Anti-virus is free and regularly updated (just as frequently as the ones with subscription fees). Download it from Grisoft. Norton Antivirus is decent, but you do have to subscribe to it yearly for virus definition file updates.
Still infected?
If you are still having problems after following the instructions in this post, feel free to make your own thread detailing what is going on. Try to not leave out any technical details about the problem, as those are important and will help us solve your delimma.