thanks a lot, your suggestion solved my problem..

Glad it solved it, I frequently deal with problems no spyware cleaner product will recognize... if you get one of those, you can try HijackThis, software capable of detecting and removing things that use various hijack methods rather than being hardcoded for various hijackers. It can remove legit software too so be careful where you aim it.

its adware it will allow these pop ups to keep coming i reccomend getting an antivirus and removing the adware

I need help...

I was trying to fix my friend's laptop. the problem with the laptop was that the windows was starting up slowly compared to the earlier.

I thought about the above "Windows Defender".. I downloaded and installed it on the laptop. I made a scan on the laptop. It found one malicious thing (file I guess).. I clicked on the "remove it" button, then restarted the laptop.

But this time the windows did not start up at all. what it does is, that I log in to one of the user's account and that's it. the account is not loading completely, it just freezes, doesn't let me do anything. the icons in the taskbar (bottom right corner of the screen, right next to time) do not even show up, and it just freezes.

When I open the task manager it shows only one application, which is called "Maximizer startup" and its status is "not responding"...

what is going on? help...

Sometimes antivirus software is installed to scan you hard drive etc at startup. Often, this causes a machine to lock up. When you installed the A/V software, I may have installed itself (or asked you and you said yes) to scan at boot time.

I don't recommend this, as I have seen many Windows boxes lock up when they have viral problems and the machine boots with A/V software.

I agree Firefox is much better. With that said the issue with IE ad pop ups has to be due to something else. I use Firefox and I just started getting these IE pop ups yesterday. Not sure why when I'm not even using IE. Anybody know why? I have Norton 360 and I have run all tests I can and everything is fine.

If you have a suspicion that your IE has been compromised by adware there are many products to help you clean this rubbish software from your computer. For Windows XP I'd first try Ad-Aware from Lavasoft.

Ad-Aware @ Lavasoft - The Original Anti-Spyware Company
First choose English as the language.

For those who wonder, first look at:
Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com for Ad-Aware and look at the number of downloads.
Of those Adware removers which work without going down to the raw O/S (for those serious rootkit infections) IMHO this is a good one.

Btw. If you are a commercial company, please do pay for the software. It helps all of us beat this malware.