How to stop strange IE6 popups? (including on about:blank pages)

Last week I stupidly installed software that promised free MP3
downloads, but that of course was a piece of browser-hijacking,
spyware-laden junk. I no longer remember much, but the installer was
called "mp3.plugin.exe" and can be downloaded from
http://www.negativebeats.com/plugin/ for those crazy enough to want to
experiment for themselves.

Using Ad-aware and hijackthis, I was able to get my computer back to
how it should be. However, ever since I had that experience, Internet
Explorer 6.0 fires off a popup ad at startup (my startup page is a
blank page) and at other times that I'm connecting to sites that I
*know* are popup-free.

How can I correct this?

Technical information:

- Windows 98 operating system
- IE 6.0 browser. This is actually my secondary browser; I use
Netscape 7.1 as my primary browser and it appears to be 100% okay.
- My IE browser uses no pop-up stoppers or add-on toolbars. As such,
I *do* expect it to get pop-ups sometime from known popup sites. But
certainly not from a blank page, and certainly not from sites that,
when visited from other computers, do not generate pop-ups, ever.
- The sites in my IE browser history that I didn't go to of my own
accord include:
*** ads.peel.com
*** www.lop.com - flagged by spybot

As I was typing this, I ran the Spybot software on my computer, and it
found lop.com instances, describing them in a way that matched what I
was experiencing. So I *think* that Spybot fixed my problem - I've
had no unexpected IE popups since running it. But please, I'd welcome
comments from others.

 

<Followup-To set to 24hoursupport.helpdesk>

You might want to run CWShredder to check for CoolWebSearch
entries, too.

CWShredder
http://www.merijn.org/cwschronicles.html
http://www.merijn.org/files/cwshredder.zip


On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 22:42:08 GMT, in
<>
laminate scrawled:

 

laminate,
That "plugin" is definately infected!
AVG reports it as "Downloader.Small" .........
So that tells me you are not running any AV program? .......
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/security.htm

Make *sure* you update SpyBot before each scan!
If your still having troubles post your problem to their Support Forum.
____________________________________________________________
Mike Burgess [MVP Windows Shell\User] http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/
Blocking Spyware, Adware, Parasites, Hijackers, Trojans, with a HOSTS file
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm [updated 12-26-03]
Please post replies to this Newsgroup, email address is invalid

 

<Followup-To set to 24hoursupport.helpdesk>

It's *not* a virus. It's a pornware downloader.