Pop Up Ads On Here...

[Ash]

Andrew, you wanted to know if we encounter any pop ups on the site.

I keep getting an ad for FTD.com for Mothers Day flowers in the lower right-hand corner of my screen.

I first thought that maybe it was some other program I had running but no, it is definitely on this site.

As a matter of fact, it's on the screen now as I type this post.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Does anyone else get this as well?

[Andrew]

I doublechecked the ad codes, but cannot find any for FTD via the ad agencies.  You could well have a bit of ad spyware/adware installed.  Kazaa is notorious for adding in programs that try to hide and insert ads on sites that you view.

I have not seen that ad at all.

Try downloading and running Ad Aware:

http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/

[Andrew]

It looks like you are probably infected with Gator.  According to a couple of sites, they often insert FTD.com ads.  It is such a foul program that it may even be blocking the banners that my site does run and replacing them with their own:

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/speakers_corner/discussion/hijack_ware/_review/303922/

(The article has a short description at the top, then goes more in depth when you scroll down.)

[raj]

todays ZDnet anchor desk talks about spyware:
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2913570,00.html
They also recommend Ad Aware (so do I) but they also talk about a couple other programs.

[JohnL]

On one discussion board (on www.freedomlist.com), they said that Ad Aware hasn't been updated in quite a while and they recommend another called Spybot Search & Destroy. I haven't used it myself.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Ad Aware is the best spyware software.  I am an internet tech support worker for a local isp and we have found Ad Aware is the absolute best software for this problem.

If you are running Kazaa, use either DietKazaa or KazaaLite.  No spyware.

[Ash]

I double checked to see if Gator or any other such program was on my p.c. and found nothing.

The FTD.com ads do not always appear when I visit this site but ONLY appear on this site and not on any other.

And they always seem to come up when I come here to the phorum.

Any other suggestions?

[Andrew]

Ash, I have been looking for that ad ever since you mentioned it, but have not seen it.  What is running and I have seen is an ad for Hallmark Flowers.  There has to be something on your computer, Gator or other.

Unless the change is happening on your ISPs proxy server or something like that.

If Ad Aware did not find Gator, maybe a manual search could turn it up.  I can say from experience that Gator (and other software like it) does no show up on Add/Remove Programs and definitely tries to hide itself.  They constantly change what some of the files are called, but here are some of the file names I found to be associated with Gator:

iegator.dll
fsg.exe, fsg-ag.exe, or fsg*.exe (fsb-something.exe)
trickler.exe or trickler*.exe (tricker-something.exe)
GMT.exe, CMESys.exe, GAIN_TRICKLER_*.EXE

This page, by the people who made Gator, says that it will detect if it is installed on your computer:
http://webpdp.gator.com/gain/about-gain-01.html