A word about spyware and pop up advertising.

[rybolton 135]

Simtropolis does not have pop-up advertising.  We will never install spyware on your system.  If you are getting pop up advertising when visiting Simtropolis you have spyware installed on your system.  Below are some steps you can take to make sure that spyware is removed, and kept off of your system.

1. Go get Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy .  (These links will open in new windows.)

Update them and run them both.  That should remove almost all spyware.

2. For IE users, go to Tools > Internet Options then click the Advanced tab.

Make sure the items with the red arrows in front of them are not checked.

3. Don't visit sites that you don't trust to be totally clean of spyware.  For example I've found that sites that have song lyrics are full of these things.

That should help keep spyware from auto-installing on your system.

Enjoy

[Duke87 1,070]

Now that should be helpful. Thanks.

[+Guest]

Just did it so I won't have mistakes from my old PC.

[Carpman 0]

Grah! I didn't know of the internet settings things! One more error and they revoke my geek license!!!

[deanej 2]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/23/2004 3:52:35 PM[/quoteDATE]

Carpman[/quoteAUTHOR]

Grah! I didn't know of the internet settings things! One more error and they revoke my geek license!!!

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Just look at your sig. On the last line, it reads: - Geek license revoked by rybolton - 23/04/04 -

[rybolton 135]

[Duke87 1,070]

That's nice, but we usually go by 04/23/04.

[DuskTrooper 314]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 2:27:21 AM[/quoteDATE]

Duke87[/quoteAUTHOR]

That's nice, but we usually go by 04/23/04.

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Not everyone is american, dude.

[spacedavid 0]

The information you have given me was very helpful, because of the fact that a friend of mine was downloading software from a questionable source, and over 100 pieces of adware and 2 viruses were on my computer. Had to dish out of $300, and my computer has suffered from some kind of memory damage, but anything for my game. Again, thanks again.

[+Guest]

I can't see my red arrows....

[jimbo 0]

Also, especially in Windows 2000 and higher, you can view all your running programs with the task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del for you newbies). This is useful in detecting the background viruses and trojans. Once you are suspicious of a certain process, there's this really great site:

AnswersThatWork

that has a task list programs feature that basically lists all the common programs and gives you a description.

That's how I get rid of most of my trojans.

[MrCinatit 30]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 2:47:22 AM[/quoteDATE]

SiMdOwMaN[/quoteAUTHOR]

I can't see my red arrows....[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

you have to draw them on your monitor yourself.

[huskerman007 26]

Why dont anti viris programs have spyware removal.

[deanej 2]

Enable 3rd party browser extensions NEEDS to be checked for the google toolbar to work.

[Duke87 1,070]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 10:13:07 AM[/quoteDATE]

deanej[/quoteAUTHOR]

Enable 3rd party browser extensions NEEDS to be checked for the google toolbar to work.[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Do you really need a google toolbar? Is typing in www.google.com too much effort? Come on, honestly......

[Aronion 9]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 10:12:31 AM[/quoteDATE]

huskerman007[/quoteAUTHOR]

Why dont anti viris programs have spyware removal.[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

The newest version of Norton AV does take out some spyware.  It doesn't get very much of it though. 

[silverlightning81 1]

Jimbo, thanks for the Answersthatwork.com link!! that was really helpful for me to look out for the snitchy spywares!! now i hav deleted a mischievous file called wupdater.exe which is a backdoor program that causes pop-ups!

[Daeley 46]

great! I have had adaware for quite some time, but I never knew about those IE settings... I unchecked them right away

[+Guest]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 2:33:12 AM[/quoteDATE]

DuskTrooper[/quoteAUTHOR]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 2:27:21 AM[/quoteDATE]

Duke87[/quoteAUTHOR]

That's nice, but we usually go by 04/23/04.

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Not everyone is american, dude.

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

For this reason, you should put it as 2440-04-23, in ISO (and W3C) recommended style

In my sig: That's MathML down there. It's just not appearing right here. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the page is rendering in quirks mode in Zilla. :roll: meh.

[orishavit 1]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 2:27:21 AM[/quoteDATE]

Duke87[/quoteAUTHOR]

That's nice, but we usually go by 04/23/04.

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

We should go with Friday, April 23rd, 2004.

[+Guest]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 1:13:10 PM[/quoteDATE]

Duke87[/quoteAUTHOR]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 10:13:07 AM[/quoteDATE]

deanej[/quoteAUTHOR]

Enable 3rd party browser extensions NEEDS to be checked for the google toolbar to work.[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Do you really need a google toolbar? Is typing in ' www.google.com ' too much effort? Come on, honestly......

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Then again you can always just get Firefox, which has a built-in google searchbar.

[ApathyNinja 17]

And a built-in pop up blocker and immunity from those nasty broswer hijacks like search toolbars and stuff. IE is clearly the inferior choice.

[Smurfer2 7]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/24/2004 11:00:25 PM[/quoteDATE]

deanej[/quoteAUTHOR]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/23/2004 3:52:35 PM[/quoteDATE]

Carpman[/quoteAUTHOR]

Grah! I didn't know of the internet settings things! One more error and they revoke my geek license!!!

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Just look at your sig. On the last line, it reads: - Geek license revoked by rybolton - 23/04/04 -[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

  Well, I think I should try Firefox. I don't think I have anything to lose. I just got to take the time to download it.

[deanej 2]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 4:09:55 PM[/quoteDATE]

iamrobk[/quoteAUTHOR]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 1:13:10 PM[/quoteDATE]

Duke87[/quoteAUTHOR]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 10:13:07 AM[/quoteDATE]

deanej[/quoteAUTHOR]

Enable 3rd party browser extensions NEEDS to be checked for the google toolbar to work.[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Do you really need a google toolbar? Is typing in ' www.google.com ' too much effort? Come on, honestly......

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Then again you can always just get Firefox, which has a built-in google searchbar.[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

In addition to searching, it has a dictionary, a Translate Page function, a pop-up blocker and the ability to search the current site you are brousing.

[Smurfer2 7]

Well, this is being done in Firefox, but I might stay with I.E. to visit Simtropolis. I can't use rich text.... Well, this will take some getting use to, but it might be useful for visiting other sites.

[DuskTrooper 314]

I tried, firefox, and I can only say that the operation of it is satisfactory at best.  All of the temporary internet files are in different folders, etc.  I'll use this when searching and stuff, though.

[Hirachi_Dinavo 0]

Thanks for the tips, Rybolton. I did what you said, and it has cut down on the amount of ads I see.

[the_new_simman 5]

I have Ad-Ware and it works great...This should be plenty of help- to a lot of members who may have spyware..

[+Guest]

As a suggestion, I recommend that everone use Spybot AND Ad-Aware. I run Spybot once or twice a week and Ad-Aware once a month or so, because Ad-Aware takes a LOT longer.

[SimMaster 17]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 1:13:10 PM[/quoteDATE]

Duke87[/quoteAUTHOR]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/25/2004 10:13:07 AM[/quoteDATE]

deanej[/quoteAUTHOR]

Enable 3rd party browser extensions NEEDS to be checked for the google toolbar to work.[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Do you really need a google toolbar? Is typing in ' www.google.com ' too much effort? Come on, honestly......

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Duke, do you even have the Google Toolbar?

It blocks pop-ups and many more features than just Search.