best way to stop errant programs like...
 

The ones that open up titty windows, like gator or gain(thesame?). There seems to be one called Ncase that never goes away. (thesame?) I keep trying to uninstall them but they always return.
Is my firewall set up wrong?

sorry for da bad grammer
 

oops

Go get <a href="http://security.kolla.de/">Spyware Search and Destroy</a> and scan your system.

Then, go get <a href="http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html">SpywareBlaster</a>, which prevents some of this stuff from being loaded in the first place.

Since installing SpywareBlaster, I have yet to receive one pop-up of Gator wanting to install.

Ad-Aware, by Lavasoft, has worked very well for me.

SpyBot is better than AdAware, imo.

Ad-watch within Ad-aware Professional 6 rocks.

Operates similar to SpywareBlaster, but go with SpywareBlaster since it is a freeware.

After you remove the spyware, be sure to uninstall the original program that put the spyware there in the first place or it will just keep coming back.

Definitely install and run either Adaware or spybot. That'll get rid of that crap. Run your antivirus just for the hell of it too.

I work for a computer company (www.techsupport-services.com) and we use Ad-Aware and Spybot, but overall I think Ad-Aware is the better program. Spybot will find some harder to remove stuff, but Ad-Aware is more robust in its searches, it will simply find more stuff that is there. But, for tricky systems, we run both...Ad-Aware for the all around cleaning, and then Spybot for the out of the ordinary.

i always have to fix this very quickly on friends computers. Start > Run type `msconfig`. Go to the startup tab and uncheck everything you dont want.

This is a quick and dirty way. You should uninstall the program, delete registry entries, and then run ad-aware (or comporable software). But this is easier when people need a 3min solution

I am glad for the spyware stuff I ahve used adware but using all together is much better than a single one. Thanks

Yeah, it pays to use both Adaware and Spybot. If you are also looking for something to stop popups when browsing, I would suggest Pop-Up Stopper

i'd recomment msconfig first, then the 2 adware removers

Spyware...The tool of satan!

This works wonders, but if you're not using Windows XP, unchecking everything in the startup tab will fuck up your computer royally. :) If you have Windows XP, uncheck ALL of it. I'd do research if you don't have XP, and find out which ones you can uncheck.

-Lasereth

for a quick free check of what has 'infected' your system check out the online scan at www.pestscan.com.

i found over 400(!!!!) bits of undesirables... they even have some info on each one.. spyware, adware, dialer, hijacker, etc.