popup spam on Steam?!?

[maxlords]

I'm currently experiencing an issue with popup spam on Steam. Every time I open Steam, I am getting ads for things like weight loss and financial investing in the bottom left and right corners, and it sometimes redirects steam to an ad web page as well. Not my browser either, Steam itself. I have run malware scanners and virus scanners and popup blockers but to no avail. My system appears to be clean but the ads won't go away.

Anyone have any experience with something like this? I've never seen anything like it before. I haven't reinstalled Steam yet, but I have several hundred games installed and I don"t want to use to bandwidth to reinstall them... :( Is there a way to uninstall and reinstall steam without losing my installed games? Any other recommendations?

[Legitti]

Its not steam issue, you have adware on your pc. Run this program to remove malware and all virues: http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Also checkout your browser extensions and add-ons.

[Spawn of Totoro]

It is a virus/malware that has infected your Steam Browser.

If you move your SteamApps folder to another location, you can then uninstall Steam, reinstall and move the folder back. This will make it so you don't have to re-download the games.

Try what Legitti said first. If you can remove it, then that would be better then reinstalling Steam.

[maxlords]

That's what I figured but Spybot Search and Destroy and Trend Housecall didn't find it. I'll try that one. I didn't find any add-ons that were mysterious (have almost none). How do I check extensions?

[Legitti]

Check on your default browser, just go to setting and their shold be there.

[maxlords]

I scanned my system with that malware detector. It did find some, I cleaned em, rebooted, ran it again, it says my system is clean. Ad popups are still there. I am assuming my Steam itself is infected somehow. So i just have to move my Steamapps folder to another location to avoid reinstalling games? What if the malware is in that folder? Is that likely?

[choutos2]

I am having the same issue here. I used malwarebytes, spybot, adwcleaner, and avast. Firsts cleanups found things but not anymore. I also cleaned with spybot and malwarebytes on windows safe mode. But ads popup are still here, this is making me crazy

[maxlords]

I ended up reformatting my computer from this. That was the only thing that got rid of it. It was some type of virus in my boot sector that infiltrated Steam. Even reinstalling Steam didn't get rid of it. Neither did any virus scanner or spyware remover.

[Sorez]

I have this problem too! D: Used malware bytes, reinstalled steam and scanned my pc, but still have this problem!

I really don't want to format my PC, is there any other solution? :(

[HLCinSC]

Originally posted by Sorez:

I have this problem too! D: Used malware bytes, reinstalled steam and scanned my pc, but still have this problem!

I really don't want to format my PC, is there any other solution? :(

Try a system restore from a fair time period before you started having the issue.

[ᴠᴀʀ]

http://www.surfright.nl/en/downloads

This might fix it. You can change language in settings if it appears in dutch.

[Dooooooo]

Oi uninstalling steam doesnt work, i tried it

[Careful Debooster]

had dis same problem.. best viable option would be to format your pc and reinstall steam...worked for me

[BobbyOahu]

As a professional tech guy, I've run into this kinda thing multiple times. Here's my advice:

Restart in safe mode and do a full scan in malwarebytes. When it's done, restart in safe mode again, then run a registry cleanup with CCleaner. Restart and see if the popups are still happening. Links:

https://www.malwarebytes.org/
https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

If that doesn't work, reformatting your HDD and reinstalling Windows is an option. But maybe there's a lot of stuff on your PC you don't wanna lose and you don't have a good backup. Here's an alternative, provided you have access to a second computer:

1) - Remove your HDD. Any modern laptop or desktop is designed to make hard drive removal the simplest part of computer disassembly. Some desktops won't even require a screwdriver - though in most cases, you'll need a phillips head.

2) Buy this, or something like it:
http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-CB-ISATAU2-Supports-2-5-Inch-5-25-Inch/dp/B000J01I1G

I linked to that particular model as it's a cheap brand I've used and I know it works. You can use that to plug the infected hard drive into a second computer. Make sure the second computer's antivirus is updated.

3) Scan your infected HDD on the second computer.
Once you plug in the infected HDD and the second computer sees it, SCAN IT FOR VIRUSES IMMEDIATELY. Then run a full malwarebytes scan on it.

4) Reinstall the HDD.
...with the internet disconnected. And run a full scan in malwarebytes on safe mode with the CCleaner chaser again.

Now it's still possible that ALL THAT won't fix your problem. But I've only seen that happen with people who start getting the pop-ups and do nothing about it for a week. Or a month. Or several months.

5) Buy antivirus.
Safe bet - if you've gotten this thing, you've been running a free antivirus, or your antivirus has expired, or you just haven't bothered updating it. I'm recommending Nod32 Antivirus:
http://www.eset.com/us/download/home/detail/family/2/

I've never gotten malware with nod32 running, even after deliberately trying to infect my computer by visiting the same sites that infected my clients' computers. It's $40 American and you can usually find it on sale. Just take some money out of your gaming budget.

[TheRealDeal]

i have the same problem and sometimes when i go to madd friends there is and invisible window that takes a screen shot of the thing i clicked and it always pops up when i click some where

[76561198102321670]

how do u reformat ur PC? plz help me