Forum Discussion

bobcouch's avatar
bobcouch
Explorer
Aug 29, 2013

Latest PITA - what to do?

About two weeks ago my laptop developed an annoying symptom. I am not just getting unwanted pop-ups - Every time I click on a link, it opens some sort of web page trying to sell me something. When I close the unwanted page, the link I was looking for is there behind it.
I am running XP and Firefox.
I updated and ran malwarebytes and Glary Utils with no result. Then I took Firefox back to original, which seemed to work for a day, but now I'm back where I started with these random websites popping up every time I try to change screens.
Any suggestions appreciated.
  • 1492's avatar
    1492
    Moderator
    Aug 29, 2013
    That's a common symptom of a browser or search engine highjack. Try disabling addons. In Firefox Menu, go to Help>Restart with Addons Disabled. See if the popups disappear?

    If not, go into Add/Remove Programs and look for any unknown or suspicious programs installed? Uninstall them.

    Try installing Chrome and see if the problem is solved. If so, then if still using Firefox, backup your Bookmarks and create a new Firefox profile:

    • Hold down "Windows Key+R", and type or copy and paste Firefox -p and ENTER. Follow the prompts to create a new profile. Import back your bookmarks and reinstall any add-ons.
  • RudysWorld's avatar
    RudysWorld
    Explorer
    Aug 29, 2013
    I would do a search for the website that comes up and see if there is a fix for that specific issue. Good Luck!!

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