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Been asked a MILLION times...Internet explorer

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dtrud0h:
Hi Forum,
  I have been using Firefox  since 0.85 or so and have recently switched to Linux on my system.  I have installed Firefox on my mothers computer and she is also happy with it, the problem however lies in the XP setup on her system.  After "Disabling Access" to Internet Explorer and never opening it I have a never-ending supply of pop-ups in Explorer windows as soon as I access the internet.
  I've tried to teach mom how to browse wisely, but she is addicted to shopping and "Exciting" websites.  The question is how do I get rid of IE?  I've read that it is unwise to completely remove it but I can't stand it any longer.  I've killed sixteen popups so far just typing this message.  I also googled about it and thought I had hit a good article about ActiveX and removing that.  Is there any benefit to ActiveX?, What does it do? 
  I use AVG personal and that runs clean every time it runs, also using CCleaner, Xoftspy,and Starter by codestuff.  I watch open ports with Activeports by smartline and the only programs I find out of normal are something called RAS_DISP.exe that are accessing the internet, but a search of the system turn up no such file.

Any suggestions would be appreciated and SOLUTIONS are most welcome.  I've kind of steered away from an active firewall because I find the training phase might be too much for mom who is not computer savvy and gets easily frustrated with questions she doesn't know how to answer.  Thanks all and Happy New Year.

mouser:
you're saying that as soon as you connect to the internet you are getting the popups even though you arent using internet explorer itself?

if so then it does sound like you have some kind of advert software that managed to install iself.
you need to run a proper spyware/adware checker like ad-aware, etc.

dtrud0h:
Hey mouser,
  I just ran Ad-Aware 6 and came up wit 3 tracking coohies and 2 reg entries re-started and fired up the fox, got three pop-ups,  ugh,   I can't say what I feel and be Politically correct about it.  Will keep searching for an answer.
  Just to clarify, I have High speed through a cable connection and it's always on.  I don't get popups as long as I don't have a browser running.  As soon as I open Firefox I get them.  kind of like Artificial Stupidity, or whatever Micro$... incorporates into their OS.

mouser:
its only happening when you start up firefox?
can you connect to the internet without starting up a browser and see if it happens then?
do you use a special isp-provided thing to connect to the internet? they might build it into that as a way of forcing you to see some ads.  what are the pop ups ads for? that might yield a clue.
are you sure its not the homepage that your browser is set for?

nudone:
sounds like something nasty is on the machine somewhere. ad-aware isn't guaranteed to find ALL nasties so running a few other utils ought to help.

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