How to find unknown pop-up blocker sw on harddrive?

Hi, a few days ago our laptop started to give us the message “you seem to have pop-up blocking software installed” which apparently hinders the machine to do what we asked it to do (e.g. file up-load to the web for which an additional window needs to be opened etc. …) …

As we’re not aware of having installed any such software recently we’re a bit stumped, being not exactly tech-geeks either we’re also clueless as to where to look for such a program. I checked in the settings, install/uninstall software section, and threw out a bunch of stuff that I didn’t remember having installed or that we don’t need anymore, but it didn’t help.

As the error-message pops up in a Java-window (the little Java logo (I think) in the left upper corner …) I also looked at the Java console or whatever that’s called, but to no avail either …

Next, I ran a virus check (AVG), but that came up empty-handed …

So now what, any tips? Plain English please, much appreciated!! :wink: Xpet.

Ah, almost forgot: I’m using Netscape browser and recently tried to uninstall the Explorer because it sometimes seems to be associated to certain programs and doesn’t seem to work properly whenever we open it, but it wouldn’t budge, just couldn’t be deleted, is that possible?? Thanks!!

Are you running Windows XP? If so, you probably have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed, which comes with a handy pop-up blocker.

If you’re running XP, go to Control Panel, then Settings. If it states that you have Service Pack 2, then you can disable the pop-up blocker. Or, even better, while running IE, you will be notified at all times when something is being blocked. From there, you can choose to temporarily allow pop-ups, or even to always allow pop-ups from that given site (if that’s what you want to do).

I pushed Control-Alt-Delete. I looked at all the tasks running in the Task Manager. I googled them all to see what they were. It took some time, but now I know just what they all are. If I have a new mysterious process running, I’ll know someone has put something on my computer. There are only about 40 processes on my computer currently running right now. It seems like it would take a long time to check them all out, but I didn’t do it all at one time. I started by checking the five or six that looked suspicious to me.

Please specify the operating system you are using, and if you have any internet security software like Norton or Zone Alarm.
I believe that Netscape also has pop-up blocking options.

!!!DO NOT UNINSTALL INTERNET EXPLORER!!!

This is an invitaion for much greater issues than pop-ups and scripts.
Simply don’t use it unless you have to.

For example; some updating software(including windows update) anly run on IE. (activeX is an essential part of current windows OS). Without it you are sure to be fu-barred at some point or another.

Hi all, and thanks for the comments & tips. Yes, we run XP, so I just went to the Control Panel, but there are no “settings” to look at, however, “control panel” is under “settings” in the start menu … ?? Can’t see SP2 anywhere either. Twocs’ method seems very tedious, and I’m sure even if I googled all these acronyms and .exe files it wouldn’t really tell me anything … :s

This morning, btw, Netscape greeted me with the surprising message “thanks for installing Netscape 7.1, please register blablabla …” but we’ve been using it for ages, what’s going on??

Some of the active processes in my task manager at this moment:

avgserv.exe, Ati2evxx.exe, alg.exe, Explorer.exe (although I’m using Netscape right ow), spoolsv.exe, svchost.exe, lsass.exe, services.exe, winlogon.exe, csrss.exe, QuickDCF.exe, SMSS.exe, sots.exe, Netscp.exe, vsmon.exe, xcommsvr.exe, zlclient.exe … ring any alarm bells??

THanks again! Xpet.

[quote=“Xpet”]This morning, btw, Netscape greeted me with the surprising message “thanks for installing Netscape 7.1, please register blablabla …” but we’ve been using it for ages, what’s going on??

Some of the active processes in my task manager at this moment:
avgserv.exe, Ati2evxx.exe, alg.exe, Explorer.exe (although I’m using Netscape right ow), spoolsv.exe, spoolsv.exe, QuickDCF.exe, SMSS.exe, sots.exe, Netscp.exe, vsmon.exe, xcommsvr.exe, zlclient.exe … ring any alarm bells??[/quote]

avgserv.exe=Antivirus, Ati2evxx.exe=VideoCard Software, alg.exe=System Service(leave it alone). Explorer.exe=Windows explorer(not Internet explorer, so unless your any good with a command line, leave this alone as well), spoolsv.exe= System spool services(leave it alone), same goes for smss.exe,xcommsvr.exe and vsmon.exe. zlclient.exe= Firewall/internet security,Netscp.exe speaks for itself.
, sots.exe, QuickDCF.exe are all unknowns to me, and short of googling them there isnt much you can do.

Though you could also do a search on your own computer and see where they are located and maybe post again.

You can also double click on the little green&red icon that may just show as a “ZA” in your system tray(bottom right corner of your display)if there is a “Privacy” tab at the center/left and make sure you “cookie”&“Ad Blocking” are set to off.

Then you can try going to your Settings–>Control Panel–>Security Center or Internet options. If you have security center, your definately running SP2. If not you’ve gotta see if the XP firewall is on and if so trun it off.

In Control Panel, there is a list of buttons, one of them being Settings. Anyway, another way of finding if you have SP2 is if there is a button (or icon) called Security Centre (the icon being a tri-coloured shield). If this is present, then you have SP2.

When SP2 is installed and you’re running Internet Explorer, a line will appear directly under the address bar in the Internet Explorer browser window when a pop-up has been detected and blocked. If you click on the text there, you’ll be allowed to do one of the following things:

Temporarily allow pop-ups
Always allow pop-ups from this site
Block this site

I’m not sure the wording of these is exact as I stopped using Windows entirely about a month ago, but this is how IE will function with the new SP2 installation. I hope that helps- good luck!

This site is helpful for identifying all those tasks:

answersthatwork.com/Tasklist … list_a.htm

(Can’t remember where I got it from, I think someone here on forumosa posted it …)