Get Rid of Your Pop Ups NOW

So your computer is belching out pop ups like none other, and not only is it frustrating but it is affecting your computers performance. Things have become sluggish compared to when you first got it. You go to the store and pick up Anti Virus software, probably Norton. You go home and it doesn't fix anything. You're wondering if anything can get your computer back to "the way it was" now. So here is a self help guide to do just that.

Anyone that has ever used Norton AntiVirus knows what a piece of crap it is. You have just spent 80 bucks buying Norton's software but even after updating, scanning, and deleting, your computer is still vomiting pop ups onto your screen. Unfortunately most people do not seem to realize that spending more money on something does not guarantee quality. Money only guarantees the illusion of quality, like bottled water, for example.

So here you have an infested computer slowing down your net surfing. Everytime you open a window you get half a dozen pop ups of naked women or what-have-you. You wonder to yourself, what did I do to get all of this? The first thing would be that you are most likely using Internet Explorer. There is a long list of reasons why you shouldn't but that would bore you, so I won't go into it. Yes, Internet Explorer is better than it used to be. No, by God Almighty, it is not worth using. Use Mozilla Firefox. It is free, you can download it. Just go to google, type it in, download, install, and START using it. I've installed the Firefox browser for so many people only to have them come back and whine about getting the pop up problems all over again. The rule is simple: do NOT use Internet Explorer, USE almost anything else (I just prefer Firefox).

What is the Mozilla Firefox browser? Basically it is a web browser. Internet Explorer is a web browser and the default one that comes with WIndows. It sucks. Don't use it. Get Firefox and use it in place of IE. It will do everything IE does and probably some backflips as well. You won't regret it.

Now you have fixed your browser issue, but the spyware is still on your computer, mocking you with their porn advertisements. What do you do? Buy another antivirus scan? The answer would be maybe. Truth is, if your computer is absolutely infested with viruses, spyware, adware, and malawre then odds are no single program will remove them all for you. At this point you may want to consider using 3 or 4 different programs in an effort to purge your computer clean. You still won't get every last bit of scum, but it should be enough to get your computer in a much happier state (faster).

There are a number of free anti virus/spyware programs such as AVG, Avast, Spybot Search and Destroy, etc. They have free versions and are likely more effective than anything you can buy in a store. Beware though. Do not just go to google and download programs that seem good and use them. Some of them are scams, or worse. Do a little research on each of them. There are too many to go over. Caution does not go amiss in this case.

Now you may do all this and still have pop up problems with your computer. Registry, spyware, virus, malware scans have not succeeded completely. You notice an improvement, but you still get pop ups. I've only ever seen one computer that bad and there was nothing we could do about it. I even manually deleted a number of the adware but others stayed, hidden, away from my prying eyes. So here is what you do. Backup everything on your computer worth keeping. Then reformat.

Reformatting a computer more or less completely wipes everything from your hard disc. Be warned, EVERYTHING; that includes windows and whatever else you may have had before hand. This means you will need to reinstall windows again. If you don't have a legit Windows XP disc, you may want to invest in one. Don't bother with WIndows Vista at this point in time. Get the $100 version of XP. It does not come with "customer support" the $300 one does, but do you really need to spend $200 more just for CS that is outsourced to India?

Odds are there is a person in your life that knows how to reformat a computer. Plead with him (or her) for help. You may need a boot disc, depending. Pop in the Windows disc and maybe the floppy disc, go to BIOS, and reorder your bootdevices to whatever it needs to be (floppy or CD) and just let it roll. How do you get into BIOS? Usually, but not always it is the F10 key. It could be ESC or DEL. Just keep spamming the button when your computer is booting. You'll get it sooner or later. Or just do some research on google, type in "how to get into Bios".

You will also have to reinstall all of your drivers again for your computer to work the way it did. Where do you get drivers? Depending on where you got your computer, they probably came with a set of drivers. You know, the discs that you didn't know the use for. Odds are if you have hard copies, they will need updating, but it should be enough to get you started. It does not matter too much if you threw them away, they can be redownloaded. But without the NIC drivers you won't be able to access the net. That is fine, use someone elses computer and download it from there. Make sure you download the correct drivers. To do this you need to know what models the components in your computer are. Go to Control Panel, Systems, and look at the model numbers there. Then go to google and type in whatever you see and add the word "drivers" after it. You will need network interface drivers, video drivers, possibly a usb driver, and some other drivers. Figure it out yourself, this is a learning experience. Then reinstall everything you need, or want, or had from before you reformatted.

After all the installations are complete you should probably run a disk defrag. Go to My Computer, Right Click on your main hardddrive, select Properties, go to the Tools tab, and select Defragment Now. Shouldn't take too long.

Does this sound like a lot of work? No shit. A good lesson to never let your computer become so infested again. How to prevent being so infested? Use Firefox, don't click on ads or banners carelessly or stupidly, don't use things like limewire, and be careful what you bittorrent. A firewall may help, but I've never liked them. They give me more grief than I feel they're worth, although other people may not feel that way. Does the internet feel like a cesspit to you? Duh. Welcome to the 21ist century.