[AEBarada]

I've been on a vacation for about a week and when I came back, I noticed that pop-ups would come up about every 5 minutes and in groups of two at a time. They came up from IE and I havent used that browser in about a year now and before the vacation it wasnt giving me any trouble. Ive tried all the basics of getting rid of the pop-ups(i.e. system restore, virus & spyware scans) yet the pop-ups keep coming even when the browser is not open and the internet connection is disconnected.Please leave advice to help stop this problem.

[cfourkays]

Give us an example of what the pop-up is.An ad?A blank box?

[mcp3629433]

[quote name='cfourkays']Give us an example of what the pop-up is.> > An ad?> > A blank box?add to that OS and version/SP numberi know windows xp (when it originally came out) was using messenger to display popups. if this is the case, do a google for "shoothemessenger". this program safely stops the service and rids of the popups.

[AEBarada]

Normally, the pop-ups that come in groups of two are adds while the ones that come one at a time are just blank boxes(sometimes the ads come one at a time). ShootTheMessenger did not help stop the pop-ups. My OS is WIndows XP Office Eddition and Its using Service Pack 2.

[cfourkays]

[quote:ca3b0ac563]and the internet connection is disconnected. [/quote:ca3b0ac563]You're getting ad pop-ups while you have no connection to the internet????Could you clarify this?If you have broadband, DSL or cable, you always have a connection to the net.If this is the case, you may have been severly infected with spyware.Here's a link to one of the best sites for removal. It can be tedious and time consuming, (I get paid to do it), but it can be done.http://wiki.castlecops.com/MalwareRemovalandPrevention:IntroductionPete