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General discussion

Smart Tags

Jun 21, 2007 12:35PM PDT

I've somehow turned on smart tags (I think that's what they're called) and I can't figure out how in the world to turn them off and get them out of my Internet Explorer.

Searching the CNET forums I found a previous message (from 2003) about these that pointed to a webpage with info on how to remove them. However, MS has changed/moved/deleted that page.

They are driving me nuts. Can anyone help?

Thanks,

Lesley

Discussion is locked

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Smart tags?
Jun 21, 2007 1:19PM PDT

Do you mean smart tags as in tool tips or smart tags as in the hyperlinked text on webpages as a part of advertising? If it is the latter, doe sit occur just on specific websites or random websites? Vista does offer tool tips, but the advertising tools are either part of the webpage, which you can block, or part of adware installed on your computer, which you can remove. Let us know and we'll help get rid of them before Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd make their appearance. Wink

John

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I'm already finding carrot tops...
Jun 21, 2007 1:37PM PDT

Thanks for the reply. This is a picture of what I'm seeing. http://home.earthlink.net/~blog_data/underline.png

It's only happening on a couple websites. BUT, I checked it on my husband's computer and I don't see them on his, so I'm thinking it's something to do with my computer.

Random words will be underlined like that and there will be a pop up window like this when you hover over the link:

http://home.earthlink.net/~blog_data/popup.png

Since it references Windows Live Search I thought it may have something to do with Windows.

Does that help?

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Some...
Jun 22, 2007 6:43AM PDT

That clarifies what the issue is. The roll-over advertisements are generated by a program that scans the body of the webpage for key words and displays predefined 'matches' when you mouse over the text. (In this case it's an advertisement for Windows Live Search, a Microsoft service, but not directly related to Windows.) The Vibrant Media identifier in the one screenshot indicates to me it's employed by the website(s) you're visiting and not adware installed on your computer, certainly a good thing. If you post the URLs of the primary webpages where you're encountering these ads we can confirm this is the case and provide a solution for removing them.

John

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heheheh
Jun 22, 2007 7:21AM PDT

It's a ... a ... soap opera forum. *giggles* Here's a direct link to one of the threads. In message #4 "community" is underlined.

http://boards.soapcentral.com/showthread.php?t=260038

I have checked this site on my husband's computer and he doesn't have the issue.


*hangs head* I can't believe I admitted to reading that forum.

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That's the first step towards recovery.
Jun 22, 2007 8:10AM PDT

Just kidding! Happy

I just checked the site and found intellitxt.com to be the advertising specialist of choice, though doubleclick.net was also used. My preferred browser is Firefox, so AdBlock Plus does wonders for blocking such annoyances (I've seen 1 advertisement in the past 2 months Grin ), but you should be able to quickly block them in Internet Explorer by going Tools->Internet Options->Security, select Restricted Sites, click the Sites button, then add intellitxt.com and doubleclick.net as blocked sites. Refresh the page and the adverts should disappear, letting Bugs return to his rabbit hole and you get back to your soaps. Happy

Hope this helps,
John

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Yabba Dabba Doo
Jun 22, 2007 10:13AM PDT

(oops, wrong cartoon)

The pesky links are gone. Thank you so much!