Any attempt to deal with one of the idiot windows just brings up a new blank tab. Oh, that's Vostran, not Vosran. - walt crawford

I've finally managed to close the windows and restore my search engine, but damn... - walt crawford

I got a redirect to a Flash update. When I closed the tab without clicking anything else, it downloaded a .exe - bentley

Malwarebytes or similar (spybot search and destroy) should clear your little infection right up, Walt. Flash fakes are a HUGE problem and very easy to mistakenly install. - WebGoddess

Here's a step-by-step guide using some other virus removal tool. I'm not familiar with it, but I bet Malwarebytes (which I know is reputable) would work just fine in it's place. http://malwaretips.com/blogs... - WebGoddess

Thanks; if the ads (now with video!) will give me any bandwidth, I'll try to do that (at least Chrome--which I'm on now--seems to have resisted it a little. But only a little.) - walt crawford

Now I can't even load the page you suggest (and all three browsers seem infected). Running MS Safety Scanner--I run Security Essentials full-time--with, so far, no results. I deleted every file I could find with that name in it, and seem to have my home page back--but still the ads and sidebar. Sigh. Maybe it's time for a new PC. - walt crawford

Malwarebytes worked for me but the problem seems to recur anyway. - m9m, Crone of FriendFeed

After going through the whole process (except actually resetting Firefox), it seems (cross fingers) to have worked--at least in Firefox, I don't see the ad windows. (The first time I started it after running Malwarebytes, the windows started to emerge--and Malwarebytes alerted me to three questionable addresses, each of which I excluded. The ad windows then disappeared, and haven't returned--but there still may be some mystery stuff lurking.) Anyway: THANK YOU for the suggestion. - walt crawford

An afternoon completely wasted, but I think I'm back in business. - walt crawford

We got exactly that on a bunch of our public computers awhile back. Fun times. - laura x

This is intense, but worth it, apparently (scroll down): https://www.metafilter.com/user... - Meg VMeg

Hmmm. - Joe

Followup: I already use Microsoft Security Essentials as my primary antivirus, but will leave Malwarebytes running (they seem to coexist well)--and Hitman Pro for the 30-day free trial. Maybe. As far as I can tell, the real point of the idiot ads is that two of them are telling you you need to scan your computer right now to fix problems (which I did *not* do)--and if you do that, I'm sure you get hit with really nasty stuff. - walt crawford

Otherwise, what's the point? The video ads make the browser essentially useless and nobody's going to go buy stuff because it's been forced into their faces. Are they? (Odd thoughts as I sit here hoping today's Storm of the Decade doesn't cost us power. We're undergrounded, so maybe good.) - walt crawford

Yup - if you were to download their "helpful" scanners, they would own your computer. Glad to hear that you got it pretty well under control, though! - WebGoddess

I always recommend using a bootable anti-virus program to ensure you've cleaned out the problem. There are plenty and many of them are free. This makes sure the virus isn't resident in memory controlling your OS when it cleans your system. Here's an example: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us... - Eric - Final Countdown

Side-effect of fixes: Malwarebytes is more aggressive/cautious about web pages than either FF itself or Security Essentials. Just had two Ivy Publisher pages flagged/excluded as malicious. Perhaps not ideal for even a predatory OA publisher to have malicious pages. - walt crawford