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Been asked a MILLION times...Internet explorer

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lanux128:
hi there dtrud0h,

sorry to state the obvious, but have you updated your mom's pc at www.windowsupdate.com?

i also always make it a point to run these apps, whenever i install Xp in a new pc as a preventive measure...
Shoot The Messenger
UnPlug n' Pray
SpywareBlaster 3.x

and at the risk of sounding didactic, here's an article that you may find handy... 10 things you should do to a new PC before surfing the Web

anyway, good luck
regards
lanux

Hirudin:
Does the same thing happen when you open IE?

Try the web browser "OffByOne"

I personally use about:blank (or whatever the firefox equivalent is) as my homepage, but I know how mothers need something to open automatically too. Maybe change her homepage to something like www.cnn.com (assuming they don't have pop ups) or www.homestarrunner.com.

Also, there are a few online virus/spyware scanners. I think Housecall is good (but they remixed their web page, and it's less user freindly now), Kaspersky also has an online scanner, it's probably good.
If you're in the market for a new Spyware scanner, you might give Webroot Spysweeper a try, it takes over your system, but it's supposidly very good.

dtrud0h:
Hi all,
  Thanks for getting back to me.  I use firefox and the startpage I use is a plugin for firefox called about:bookmarkshome, it uses your bookmarks as a startpage I love it and mom does too, I don't think it's what is doing it, but the more I think about it, it just may be.  I also had installed this plugin on my laptop shortly before I started getting innundated with pop-ups.
  As far as connecting to the internet, it's always on,  cable modem, lan card, little blue "local area connection" screens in system tray at startup and always there.  Do I get pop-ups with IE?  I will never know, that would be the last program I would start on any computer, I don't want to come off as whatever, but I'm very anti-Microsoft, nuff said 'bout that.
  Strangely enough I went to Adelphia's (cable Co.'s) site and they offer a program called Zero Knowledge Freedom Suite, I tried to install it and it ended up making the computer go into a restart loop that wouldn't end, that's gone, thay also recomended housecall, tried to run that and computer locked up and rebooted. 
  I believe that there is something going on deep inside this possessed machine that is not being detected. 

  Also all updates have been done and are done automatically with windows update.
I'm not really actively seeking a solution to the problem,  I'm hoping it somehow convinces mom to give linux a shot. 

Edvard:
From all I've heard, and your mom is ok with trying linux, and you want the least amount of headaches, you should try Ubuntu or, if you want a KDE Desktop, Kubuntu.
I have no experience with either, but just about everybody says this IS your mom's distro.

Renegade:
The first thing to do is to clean the computer from viruses and spyware/adware (may require a reinstall - do not reconnect for updates - download them & burn them to CD from a clean system first). Once you've done that, DO NOT let your mom run in an administrator account. Limit her to being a user. That will protect her from some things, like installing software. There's a reason why the *nix crowd always rants on about not running under root if you don't have to - it's not a good idea, but most Windows users run with admin priviledges. If she needs software installed, you should check it out for her. So, no more free smilies or screensavers or other crapware. A lot of popular freeware has crapware bundled with it because they aren't smart enough to figure out how to make money otherwise  :mad:

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