what is open ad serve?
pops up often when on various sites, wanting me to download flash, or saying warning I need to download pc help or to call a 1 800 number. Slows my pc down alot and show up when I click on anything on the page. It must be a virus acts like one, I don't need any of what the popups say. The scanner doesn't remove it though, and I am puzzled. Could it be in my ie?
Hi km
Welcome to the Community Forums.
From what you are reporting I would say that you have fallen foul of Ad.Adserverplus, which is an advertising platform, which is used by adware and other malicious programs to display popup ads from h__p://ad.adserverplus.com/ within Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.
FIRSTLY, before I explain further DO NOT download anything offerred by the popups and DO NOT call that or any other number delivered the same way...that is a SCAM.
So now, to explain, this is a non-malware program we commonly refer to as a PUA or Potentially Unwanted Application.
As you are seeing these are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-us, 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 you 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.
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.
Whilst there are manual removal options, these can be complicated for some users (and I do not know your level of technical capability) and so the best thing to do here is for you to Submit a Support Ticket and ask Webroot Support to take a look and remove these for you. There is NO CHARGE for this for valid WSA license holder.
Also, we have had a lot of discussion regarding these recently, and one of our gurus@ has posted an Idea for Webroot to consider asking them to increase PUA detection. The more users that need help removing a particular PUA the more likely and faster that PUA will be added to detection.
I hope that the above helps? If not or if you have further questions then please post back.
Regards, Baldrick
Welcome to the Community Forums.
From what you are reporting I would say that you have fallen foul of Ad.Adserverplus, which is an advertising platform, which is used by adware and other malicious programs to display popup ads from h__p://ad.adserverplus.com/ within Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.
FIRSTLY, before I explain further DO NOT download anything offerred by the popups and DO NOT call that or any other number delivered the same way...that is a SCAM.
So now, to explain, this is a non-malware program we commonly refer to as a PUA or Potentially Unwanted Application.
As you are seeing these are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-us, 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 you 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.
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.
Whilst there are manual removal options, these can be complicated for some users (and I do not know your level of technical capability) and so the best thing to do here is for you to Submit a Support Ticket and ask Webroot Support to take a look and remove these for you. There is NO CHARGE for this for valid WSA license holder.
Also, we have had a lot of discussion regarding these recently, and one of our gurus
I hope that the above helps? If not or if you have further questions then please post back.
Regards, Baldrick
Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete Beta Tester v9.0.24.49, imaged by Macrium Reflect v7.2
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