Stop the Pop-Ups!

If you are getting unwanted pop-ups from TheRugged.com, we are sorry. There are some advertisers that have been abusing the advertisements and installing malicious software on your computer, and we are doing our best to prevent this from happening. If you were one of the unlucky few who know what i’m talking about, there are a few things you can do to clean up your system and have it back to normal. If you don’t know what i’m taking about, these practices will help keep your computer healthy – after all, prevention is the best cure.

Most of these attacks are directed at Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer users, and here’s why:
According to w3counter.com, in January 2011, 40% of the users on the internet are using some version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and about 82% of users are browsing on Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista, and 7).

Although no system is entirely safe, here are a few things you can do to make it harder for these attacks to happen:

1. Update your system.
   Often overlooked, keeping your system up-to-date is key in keeping your computer safe from unwanted visitors and software. When your version of Windows was installed, the option to automatically install updates was probably enabled. If you are not sure if/when your last update was, simply start up Internet Explorer and visit http://update.microsoft.com.

2. Install Anti-virus and anti-adware/malware programs.
   There are a number of free programs to help keep your computer clean as well, if not better than paid versions of popular unamed tools:
   1. Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware Free
   2. SUPERAntiSpyware
   3. Spybot – Search & Destroy
3. Ad.YieldManager.com Cookie
   This is a tracking cookie used by some advertisers to store information on your computer to better serve ads by looking at the site’s you’ve visited and pushing related ads. This is the cookie that has been abused by some of the rogue advertisers to install pop-ups on your computer.
   1. Deleting these cookies:
      1. Click on the start menu and type “ad.yieldmanager.com” in the search box and press “Enter.” Delete all of these results.
      2. From the same search, type in “ad.yieldmanager.txt” and delete these results as well.
   2. Preventing the cookies:
      • Internet Explorer –
        Click on the “Tools” bar, and select “Internet Options.” Click on the “Privacy” tab in the window. Click “Sites,” and type “ad.yieldmanager.com” in the “Address of Website” window, and then click “Block.” Click “OK” and close the window.

      • Firefox –
        Go to the “Tools” menu, select “Options” and click on the “Privacy” tab. From the dropdown menu, select “Use custom settings for the history.” Next, click on the “Exceptions” button. Type “yieldmanager.com” in the “Address of web site” box. Close the window and click on “OK” to finish.