Solved unwanted small 'popups'

[mipak]

hi ...

i use windows 7 on my computer but because my question is to do with the internet, i'm not sure whether i should put my query to firefox(mozilla) or to sevenforums.
i'm sure someone will tell me.

this only used to happen on the odd occasion but now, it's almost daily and very annoying.

when i'm on the net, all of a sudden, what i can only describe as a long, narrow 'popup' appears and attaches itself to either the extreme left or right edge of the window. they all appear to contain roughly the same details, namely links in the form of icons to facebook, twitter as well as to a couple of others. don't know what the correct name is of these things.

the 'popups' can't be moved or deleted ... i've even tried using ctrl+f5 but without success ... and they also cover over any words etc. that appear at window edges. scrolling isn't any good either ... they remain locked to the edge!!

for the record, i've never used facebook, twitter or other similar programmes so i want to get rid of it before my frustration goes into overdrive.

i would very much like to hear from anyone who is or has been in this position and hopefully solved the problem.

cheers ... michael.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Although popup blocking discussions are not allowed here,
You can post a link to a website where the issue happens and take a screen shot of the popup so we might test,

Are you signed into Facebook.... when the popups appear,
Sign out of these social networking sites and delete what ever sign in cookies that exist on your machine and test to see if the popups change,
This is a very good spyware/ tracking cookies eater,
http://www.superantispyware.com/?tag=SUPERANTISPYWARE

This is also very good to use,
Temp files delete,
Run this as administrator and Start the scanner,
Shut your machine down after it finishes,
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/files/file/187-tfc-temp-file-cleaner-by-oldtimer/

 

[mipak]

hi ... my apologies ... i didn't know that there was a restriction on this site re. popups, so thank you for letting me know.
apart from telling you that no, i'm not signed up to facebook, i'll get back to you with a proper response later as i'm a bit tied up at the moment.
thanks very much so far.
i'll be back.

 

[GEWB]

Not a pop up, can't be stopped without disabling javascript (not Java).

This is the lastest "cool and trendy" social media Website programming - nothing to do with Firefox, Windows, whatever - it is the Website doing this to drive social media traffic.

Follow the money.

Regards,
GEWB

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yes some things are normal but we'll look forward to an update on what is going on,
A couple of other things to read up on,
Interesting reads,
http://securitygarden.blogspot.com/2013/01/java-zero-day-again-time-to.html
http://blogs.technet.com/b/mmpc/archive/2013/04/16/how-to-protect-your-computer-against-dangerous-java-applets.aspx
I did find this pretty in tune tutorial, I wouldn't click on anything though,
How to configure your Flash Player settings for maximum privacy and security
I believe the short version would be to disable these features if not in use,
Even Java toolbox,
Cheers.

 

[mipak]

hi ...
thanks for all the advice so far ...

i'm still looking at superantispyware but the temp file remover was brilliant. i regularly delete tmp files but the programme seemed to go to a much deeper level so did a much better job.

after i read about java on the 2 sites you mentioned, i decided to get rid of both java and /script and although i don't recall ever installing them, i ran a search for 'java' which produced references to 140 files/folders despite nothing showing up in cp/progs & features. later on today, i will do it the hard way and delete everything containing 'java' in the registry ... very familiar with the registry.

as previously mentioned, i don't do facebook (or twitter) so there are no references to it on my computer.
the so-called popups that appear locked to either the far left or right in my firefox are very irritating and i was very pleased to read the post from gewb. when they started to appear, my first thought was either windows or firefox but the more i think of it, it seems far more logical that it's the particular website.

you suggested a screenshot so i spent quite a while pulling up site after site in the hope that i'd see the 'popups' but sadly, all i got were popup-free pages.
what i did was take a screenshot and then added 2 black strips at the edges to show the location and rough size. the background colour is white with 4, maybe 5 icons above each other with a single word at the top. 2 of the icons are for facebook and twitter. (tried to upload the screenshot but it doesn't seem to have worked!!)
if this can only be stopped by a javascript, perhaps i should have javascript and just use it to stop the popups. trouble is, i don't have a clue about the coding even if it jumped up and bit me!!

finally, i do use a firefox addon called greasemonkey which controls a bit of script that stops a small popup (it asks if i want to stay on the page or leave the page) that is activated when i want to shut down a website. the script seems to work because i haven't seen the popup for ages.

thanks so far ....

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi thanks for the update,
TFC is Great,
Use it once a week,
SAS is also great even the free version,
But clearing the browsers cookies is also important once a week,

I was only speaking of java from oracle,
Possibly I should review the link again to see if it says anything about javascript I believe it does but it says it tends to break every site if disabled in a browsers features ?
Unless you play allot of games I've never found a site that really needs oracle's java ?
JavaScript is another noodle which I'm not versed in

Uploading here should be straight forward here,
Depending on the file type/ jpeg/ png are good to go,
Double check the process with the link above my signature,
But unless an add is actually there ?
Or a link to a website ?
Might be a waste,
But if the issue does arrive feel free to update us,
Cheers.

 

[mipak]

sorry for the delay in replying ... so busy!!
will follow this up when i i return towards the end of may ...
thanks so far ...

 

[A Guy]

after i read about java on the 2 sites you mentioned, i decided to get rid of both java and /script and although i don't recall ever installing them, i ran a search for 'java' which produced references to 140 files/folders despite nothing showing up in cp/progs & features. later on today, i will do it the hard way and delete everything containing 'java' in the registry ... very familiar with the registry.

I don't suggest doing this, even if you are familiar. Just uninstall java, and perhaps run JavaRa. Java and Javascript are two very different items, and not at all connected. You might disable some needed functionality by manually editing the registry. Run the registry cleaner in CCleaner if you wish, but otherwise, I'd let the registry be.

A Guy

PS Those Follow Us social media links are very common. they often stay on screen even when scrolling. Something like these

http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/tools/follow-me/

 

[mipak]

as promised ... an update. having returned home a few days ago after a month or so away and after some fiddling around in firefox, i found that the 'popups' don't appear anything like as much as they did before ... perhaps it was something i did ... dunno ... but the problem has seriously diminished so i'm happy.

just as an aside ... whilst away, my ff28 automatically updated to ff29 ............... the gui is dreadful ... god knows why they had to interfere with it and despite there being some 'fixes' to return to something like the original 28 screen, i discovered 'pale moon' ... perfect and after automatically migrating my original ff28 profile over to palemoon, i really can't tell the difference between that and 28. so, byebye ff & thanks for the ride.
anyway, just thought you'd like to know.

thanks again for all the advice to my original problem.
ciao