Despite having several pop-up blockers plus Norton anti-virus program, running on max security I constantly reveive Aurora pop-ups. I note that the content is usually from respected companies such as GE. Who is Aurora? How can I stop these pop-ups? Thanks
Ian, really a broad question but my first recommendation would be to download Spybot (and/or Adaware or other freebie)and run a check on your computer. Normally small files are resident that look for an internet connection and then say hey to the host to send you a popup. Most often this is caused by opting in without realizing it to some ad or small program. Secondly, go to your add/remove programs and look to see if you have any files that look out of place for the software and programs you should be running. You didn't say what OS you are using but here some links that might shed some light. http://forum.tweakxp.com/forum/Topic161369-59-1.aspx http://www.panicware.com/product_popupscanner.html http://www.mcse.ms/message1570332.html Happy hunting, Kevin
Kevin made an excellent suggestion. If that doesn't fix it though then perhaps the unwanted program got installed on your system. Go to control panel -> add/remove programs and look for suspicious things to uninstall. Suspicious here means anything similar to Aurora or anything that you don't know what it is. If the above fails then perhaps it was put on your system by advanced self-aware robots from space? (Asimov wrote about the planet Aurora, IIRC.)
Which, depending on precisely what you're using and how you've got it configured, can actually cause more harm than good. But I digress. Aurora is part of a family of adware (actually, it's malware) that some call "transponder adware" because of the way in which, once installed, it not only serves-up pop-up ads, but also collects certain information about your surfing habits (but not necessarily about you, personally) and then sends it to various servers about the Internet. Its most salient feature -- at least from the standpoint of those who created it and sneaked it onto your computer -- is that it monitors your web surfing habits and what you type into search engines and then it serves-up ads that are relevant. For example, if you do some Google searches on Florida vacations you'll suddenly start noticing relevant pop-up ads... or, worse, spam that magically just happens to deal with or offer the very kinds of things you were searching for. It's creepy and a violation of your privacy and all manner of other nasty things I can think of to say about it. In some versions of the software, when one clicks on the little "X" in the upper-rightmost corner of the popup window to close it, the following message (or a derivative thereof) will pop-up or will replace it: "You are seeing these ads because you have received software free of charge through an Aurora distributor. To support your free software and to help keep the product free, please do not uninstall Aurora. Aurora is not ''spyware,'' does not collect any personal information about you, and is not malicious." and then it may or may not provide you with information about how to remove it (it usually doesn't, but sometimes, on rare occasions, it does). Most anti-virus software will not detect it or do anything about it; and most adware/spyware removal software doesn't effectively remove it... and some don't even properly identify it. Aurora, it seems, is the creation of Direct Revenue, LLC and its ABI Network. It's often included with free, popular downloadable programs, such as peer to peer file sharing software, screensavers, and games... like those which may be found, for example, at the A Better Internet web site, among others. (Warning: Don't download and install anything from the A Better Internet web site!) The A Betteer Internet people claim to be "A Better Internet, LLC, a Delaware Corporation," with a mailing address of 2711 Centerville Road, Suite 400, Wilmington DE 19808-1660. Of course, right out of the gate an LLC is not a corporation, but I digress. Other addresses these bastards have been known to use is BetterInternet, Inc., 107 Grand Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10013; and Thinking Media LLP, 275 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016; and BetterInternet, Reg Services, 459 Broadway - 4th floor, New York, NY 10013, Phone: 646-613-0376. For a stomach-turning press release from Aurora's creators that is revealing and helps one to understand the kind of twisted mindset of these idiots, click here. Aurora also has many cousins: BestOffers, Ceres, LocalNRD, MSView, MultiMPP, MXTarget, OfferOptimizer, Twaintec, BTGrab, DLMax, Pynix, SolidPeer, Zserv, just to name a few. This sort of thing is just one more example of that which I've preached for years to anyone who'll listen: STOP DOWNLOADING AND INSTALLING JUST ANY OL' THING -- OR ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, AS THE CASE MAY BE -- THAT YOU AND/OR YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS (PARTICULARLY THE TEENAGERS IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD) HAPPEN ONTO; OR THAT SOME POP-UP AD OR BANNER AD SUGGESTS TO YOU OR TO THEM MIGHT BE COOL, USEFUL OR SOMEHOW BENEFICIAL!!! If it's free, beware. The words of wisdom conveyed to me in my youth my one of my mentors, Ed Walsh (godresthissoul), many years ago is more true on the Internet today than it was in the non-cyber world then: There ain't no free lunches! All the the above is the bad news. Now, here's the good news: Despite its clear lack of morals/ethics, the creators of Aurora -- perhaps after threats of lawsuits or... well... who knows precisely why -- have created a utility that will effectively remove the Aurora adware utility, along with most of their other adware "products." And as nearly as my technical people have been able to tell from their testing; as well as what I've read in various industry magazines and forums to which I subscribe, it actually works and can be trusted to do what it's supposed to do... ...that is, as long as you follow, exactly, the instructions that I'm about to give you now: Close all running programs on your PC (such as Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express); but leave open (or, if it's not already open, then please open) one occurance of Microsoft Internet Explorer (or whatever is your normal, default web browser). Make sure that you are logged-in to your computer as the highest possible level ADMIN or SUPERUSER or whatever login on your machine gives you full rights to control absolutely everything on your machine. Make sure that the feature (if it exists on your machine) that allows you to "roll back" or restore your machine to an earlier configuration is turned off. Make sure that all firewalls, antivirus and anti-spyware/adware programs are turned off. Point your web browser at this web page and do everything it says to do, including restarting (rebooting) your machine when you're done. After your machine restarts, and only if you're using Windows 2000 or Windows XP (but not if you're using Windows NT, 9x or ME), repeat steps 1 thru 4, above; then skip to step 7, below... Point your web browser at this web page and download the 26K "Nailfix.zip" file; unzip it; then run "nailfix.cmd" to remove certain files that step 5, above, leaves behind on your machine. Restart your machine again. Reverse steps 3 and 4, above. Use the machine normally and see if the pop-ups continue. If they seem to be gone, you may also notice that he machine may (or may not) run a bit faster, too. If the pop-ups remain, come back here and describe what's happening so we can further troubleshoot.[/list=1]Agreed: The above is clumsy and ugly and it would be far better if there were a nice, single program that one could download and would, with the click of a mouse, take care of everything in a friendly, clean and elegant way, of course; but the above steps, if followed carefully, will get the job done by hook or by crook... ...that is, assuming that it's really "Aurora" that's troubling your system; and assuming that nothing else is there and troubling your system also. In addition: Keeping a good software firewall running (and keeping it up-to-date at all times); and, keeping a good antivirus software product running (and keeping it up-to-date at all times); and running a manual whole-system virus scan at least monthly; and, keeping a good anti-spyware/adware software product running (and keeping it up-to-date at all times); and running a manual whole-system anti-adware/spyware scan at least monthly, is absolutely essential to maintaining and clean and healthy PC these days. If one is not already doing those three things, then one should lstart doing it... and I mean right now! And doing so needn't cost one an arm and a leg. While sometimes-expensive, commercial, fee-based products in these three software categories (antivirus, anti-spyware/adware, and firewall) are always best, there are some fine FREE ones (and, no, they don't contain adware or spyware themselves as my "there ain't no free lunches" warning, above, suggests that most "free" software does) out there that will do the job quite nicely for most any home PC intended for personal use. If anyone wants me to refer them to such free products, just come back here and say so and I'll post the links to the ones I recommend.
