for those that STILL get popups and redirects even with AdAware and Spybot....
1. make sure you have the most recent program versions and updates. Adaware puts new reflists out on a weekly basis. Spybot, at a less frequent rate. Current versions of AdAware is 6, build 181. Spybot 1.3. also make sure that there are no products being ignored (checked) inside Spybot's "ignore products" settings.
2. if you're running XP, open the task manager (Ctrl-Alt-Esc), and look at the "Processes" tab. if you aren't familiar with the processes, search google. it will most definitely tell you what is a legit system process and what isn't.
3. keep your task manager open when opening your browser. watch which processes start using CPU power. those'll be a good indication if you have a browser hi-jacker. (caveat --- if services.exe starts taking a huge load, you probably have something that's integrated itself into your system files.)
4. check your "services". be sure to disable "messenger" (check BlackViper's XP services tweak page for more info) and anything that is not system required.
5. run virus scans. you should visit
http://housecall.antivirus.com anytime your machine starts acting up. EVEN IF YOU ALREADY HAVE ANTI-VIRUS INSTALLED. consider it "a second opinion".
6. make sure your operating system is patched.
7. use alternative browsers. if IE has a problem, use firefox or something other than IE until the problem is fixed.
there are probably a few other steps you could try.... but that will usually cover it.
*mods* - maybe it's time we collectively wrote a pdf manual on this stuff.... that way anyone with these problems could just download it and use it. or pass it along...
just an idea.