My ports 137-139 are open according to
netstat -a -n, but refuse all connections.
QUOTE
Of course, pop-ups are inevitable and so is spy/ad/mal-ware. No system can prevent those using default system settings. Only way to avoid them is to not wander off the reputable sites path and install software that you know do not contain any 3rd party software bundled with it.
For some reason everyone "has to have" a popup-blocker and antispyware program running in the background. I find that disturbing, since in reality a default install of 98se can already be configured using what it has, to completely eliminate such annoyance and risks. This is what I recommend instead:
1. HOSTS file: Make one that blocks as much advertising and malicious sites as you can. You can download many of them from the Internet, then merge them together and remove duplicate lines. Now, all of those annoying advertising banners will disappear. As an added benefit, you can easily add entries to this blocklist, and also use it as a sort of DNS server to reach important sites if DNS servers are down.
2. IE configuration:
Very Important! Everyone blames IE because it's so insecure, but in fact they are the ones that don't take the time to configure it properly. Configure Internet Zone security to Custom Level, and
disable everything contained within. Repeat for Restricted Sites Zone. Most important to disable are:
- ActiveX <- the most dangerous
- File Download
- Font Download <- an "exploit" font can cause execution of arbitrary code when rendered...
- Javascript <- also kills popups too!
- Active Scripting <- also kills popups too!
Then configure the Trusted Sites zone to enable most items, except ActiveX which has been more useless than useful. I'd leave Font Download disabled too. Add sites that you absolutely trust not to harm your computer to this zone e.g. MSFN.
3. Antispyware/adware: Get any good antispyware/adware program e.g. Adaware, and run it, removing anything that it detects as malicious. Then get rid of the antispyware program itself. You won't be needing it.
4. Antivirus: Download and run more than one antivirus program one after another, scanning for and removing any infection. Do not install it so as to run in the background nor attempt to provide "active protection". I like to keep one standalone scanner, e.g. F-Prot for DOS (free version), around for scanning downloaded files. There is no need to scan every file in the system periodically if you know that they were not infected. Only scan files that were just downloaded.
5. Firewall: Not needed at all. A hardware disconnect switch, or just unplugging the network cable, is more than sufficient security if all you plan to do is work off-line for a while.
6. Awareness: Although you can now visit, with absolutely no effect, sites that would overwhelm a system that was not properly configured with inenumerable amounts of popups and malware, what you choose to download must still be inspected carefully. In other words, the system itself is secured, so all entry points have to be secured as well. This would be software that you download or receive from others. Besides a preliminary virus scan, careful inspection of the files contained within must be done. I usually unpack installers and extract what files I need of the software manually.
You follow all of the above steps, your system will stay clean forever