what do you use to protect your computer from hackers, viruses, spyware and adware?
It is likely you have adware popups if it is not Messenger.
If you use no protection, you should consider getting some. eg;
Do you have a firewall installed on your computer? If not, turn on Microsoft's Internet Firewall, (Windows XP Pre SP2), or Windows Firewall, (Windows XP SP2), immediately, then I suggest you goto http://www.zonelabs.com and download and install their free ZoneAlarm firewall. This will help protect your computer from hackers. Once the ZoneAlarm firewall is installed and running, you can turn off the XP firewall.
Try an online scan for malware at http://housecall.trendmicro.com and set it to "fix all problems" and run the scan.
Also, you need an antivirus program. I suggest AVG7, a free program from
http:// free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php
(you will need to copy and paste into your browser address bar, then remove the space between http:// and free, as forum policies do not allow the word "free" inside clickable links).
And an anti-adware program. Free program is Ad-Aware SE Personal from http://www.lavasoftusa.com
And 2 spyware programs, Spybot Search and Destroy from http://www.safer-networking.org/
and SpywareBlaster from http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
I am also trying out Microsoft's new, (or newly acquired), AntiSpyware software in addition to all the above. It seems ok so far. Available from Microsoft?s web site
Make sure your Windows Operating System, (OS), is up to date. To do this, goto Start, and click the ?Windows Update? link. Beware, if you have not been to Windows Update before, there may be a lot of critical and other updates your OS needs to download.
All of these anti-malware programs (except the firewall), need to have their virus/adware/spyware definitions updated as soon as they are installed, and then each one used to scan your computer immediately. Then keep the definitions updated regularly, and scan often.
Good luck
Mark