Popups still coming on internet pages when going to trusted sites, are they possibly malware?

Hi vsko17
 
Happy New Year...and welcome to the Community Forums.
 
It is most likely that what you are seeing, if it is cnfimed to when you are browsing, is due to popup ads rather than any form of malware infection. If you have scanned with WSA and that has come up clean then we most likely need to look elsewhere. If you have not yet then please do so and let us know the result.
 
Also, please advise as to which browser(s) you regularly use as we can provide advice on which popup blockers you could install in a bid to reduce/negate the proliferation of ads popping up when you browse.
 
Regards, Baldrick

Hi Baldrick, 
 
 
Happy New Year to you and thank you for you welcome. 
 
 
I purchased my laptop on 12/19 with MacAfee installed. My son stated that Webroot was so much better, insisting that I delete the MacAfee and helping me install Webroot about a week ago. I/we have done 11 scans since. Anytime I go browsing or go to a trusted site the popups come, though Melaleuca, Ancestry, and the The Travel Channel are frequent locations visited.
 
This morning going through Gmail, I came across a survey for Webroot, thought it was legit, and was willing to help the company maintain and improve it's service. I answered a couple questions and the pop ups came on. Which brought my son to saying "Don't reply to surveys!" His position in US military is computer related.  It appeared to be from Webroot so I trusted it, though in retrospect it didn't say Webroot SecureAnywhere it only said Webroot. I immediately shut the page down with my sons urging and ran a scan. Result being no threats detected. The four or five pop ups were for a web protection company, not a big name one; and for some random products. 
 
thank you for reading my post,
vsko17

Hi vsko17
 
Thanks for the reply. Please let us know what browser(s) your are using but in the interim if you would like to add a popup blocker extension to your browser then I can recommend the following ones:
 
Chrome:  uBlock Origin
 
Firefox: uBlock Origin or AdBlock Edge
 
To get hold of these just go into your browser settings and find the Extensions/Addons page or Manager and usually there is a search option available. Enter the name of the extension required and search for it. You should find that it presents you with suitable results to select and install.
 
I should mention that in the case of uBlock there are both uBlock & uBlock Origin extensions but the former is an earlier fork in development & I would go with the latter.
 
Try one of these and see if that helps with the popups.
 
Either way do come back and let us know how you get on or if you require further assistance.
 
Regards, Baldrick
 
 

Hi Baldrick,
 
The browser I use most is Google Chrome, then Internet Explorer, and Yahoo, but mostly Chrome.
 
Just tried to go on the Melaleuca site, and was bombarded with adds before I could put my password in. Two from PCKeeper a supposedly a web security company, SBR Sports Book Review.com, and another from a Rizbiz or something like that selling random products. I did click the close x on the top right corner where SBR was just to see the name. Rizbiz was behingd the 2nd PCKeeper add so I couldn't see the whole name. The PCKeeper and the Rizbiz have shown up nearly every time. I X out of the Melaeuca tab and immediately ran a scan.
 
I purchased and set up my laptop on 12/18, joined Webroot on the 12/24, which was the only day any of the 12 scans showed any issues. Do I go ahead and use the sites ignoring the adds or exit and scan. With the adds in the way it makes it much harder to use the sites.
 
Thanks,
vsko17

Hi Baldrick,
 
I'm going to check out Firefox: UBlock and AdBlock Edge.
 
Thank you,
vsko17

Hi vsko17
 
OK, yes, give uBlock Origin a try and see whether that helps. However, from what you are saying about PCKeeper I am now wondering if you may also have a PUA or Potentially Unwanted Application on your system. There is nothing to be alarmed about but let me explain some about these just so that you have the big picture>
 
PUAs are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-ups, redirect your browser home page, and other behaviour that may slow down the computer and direct ads your way, but they are not actually doing anything bad like damaging files or stealing information. Often they are installed intentionally by the user as browser add-ons for various tasks such as quick search tools. But they also come with the result of added annoying pop-ups and ads. Other times they 'piggy back' with other software that you installed, or try to 'sneak' onto your system entirely.
 
The key to avoiding them is to make sure that when downloading apps one does so from the author's own website or one that they have recommended, and not 3rd party downloading site.
 
WSA does detect and remove many PUA's, and more are being added, but WSA does not detect all of them. A simple browser add-on with PUA behaviour that is easy to identify and easy to remove is not likely to be detected and removed by WSA. Those that are intentionally difficult to locate and remove are. Please see THIS LINK for more information regarding Webroot's stance on these annoying programs.
 
To make sure that your WSA is checking for PUA's with the best proficiently, it sometimes helps to reset the PUA detection within WSA's settings. For PUA's that had previously been scanned and determined to be OK, but have since been added to detection/removal, you may want to complete the following steps:
 

• Open Webroot SecureAnywhere
• Click on ‘Advanced Settings’ from the top right
• Select ‘Scan Settings’ from the left side
• Unselect the option “Detect Potentially Unwanted Applications”
• Click on the Save button (you may have to enter in a CAPTCHA)
• Reselect the option to “Detect Potentially Unwanted Applications”
• Click on the Save button
• Run another scan with Webroot and remove any items that get detected.

 
If that does not helps and you feel or consider yourself technically proficient then you can try these steps to remove it from your system.
 
And if that does not work or you do not feel technically capable then the best thing to do is to Open a Support Ticket & ask Webroot Support to take a look and remove these for you.  There is NO CHARGE for this for valid WSA license holder.
 
Having said all of that PCKeeper is from what I can see a 'marginal' PUA if one at all but it may be best to check out the steps provided above just to make sure that you do not have either an unwanted applcaiton or unwanted extensions, etc., installed.
 
Suggest (i) get the popup blocker installed and see what effect that has & then (ii) check for a PUA...post back your findings and we will see where we go from there.
 
Regards, Solly
 
 
 
 

Hi Baldrick, 
 
I followed your earlier advice: went to Chrome browser settings, then extensions and was able to add U Block and Add Block Plus, I was not able to find Add Block Edge. Add Block Plus icon is an octagon/stop sign with ABP in it.
 
This worked really well, actually a little too well at first. I wasn't able to get on to my usual sites. So, in ABP I found that if you go to the right corner of the dashboard there is a small dropdown menu which leadsyou to the left side of the page, from their I hit whitelist and was able to add my three most used sites. Only 7 items can be on this whitelist, so when an item is added one original item is removed. I may still see popups, but hopefully it won't be as many as before. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. I tried to See if U Block was blocking my favorite sites, but didn't figure out any of their system. 
 
Thank you again for the help, and hope you can make sense of my descriptions.
 
vsko17

Hi vsko17
 
Thanks for the update.
 
May I suggest that you do not need to have both uBlock AND AdBlock Plus installed. Only one is required and I would therefore go with uBlock as it is lighter that AdBlock Plus.
 
Also, if you right click on the uBlock icon in the toolbar and from the dropdown you select 'Options' you will open up a page that shows the following configuration options for the blocker:
 

As you can see you have a wealth of options including the ability to whitelist sites so you have full control as to how you tailor your browsing experience to get rid of add from site that you want to but allow them from selected sites, etc.
 
Hope that further assists?
 
Regards, Baldrick