How to get rid of this peculiarly nasty pop up ad?

I've read through the posts here and tried many things suggested in the posts: I looked into my Task Manager and couldn't find any suspicious processes running; I did a full system scan with Windows Defender; I even wiped clean my hard drive and re-installed my Windows 8 OS and applications/programs.

But I just can't get rid of this:

enter image description here

It never appears on "major" websites like www.microsoft.com or www.usnews.com; it most often pops up on forums, like www.cplusplus.com/forum/ or www.linuxforums.org/forum/; it advertises anything (usually obscure) from car rental business to insurance.

When it pops up, I immediately look into Task Manager, but I can't find any new/suspicious processes running; I tried to "inspect element" on Chrome but I don't know where I should look...

I'm suspecting if some existing program is causing this, because I have the exact same programs on my PC before and after I re-installed my OS. But all my programs are developing tools like Eclipse, GitHub, Visual Studio, etc (except for Foxit reader; but again, I'm not running it when I see the pop-up)

I get this pop-up almost daily--Need help!

Yibo Yang

Posted 2015-03-05T18:32:03.933

Reputation: 133

Does it do it only in Chrome, or in other browsers as well? Have you tried disabling/removing any/all installed Chrome extensions? – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2015-03-05T18:39:17.957

As the Answer below suggests, you might want to try several different malware programs. Failing that perhaps try defense+ from Comodo antivirus or a similar program. I once reported a new virus this way, but, you may have to do some guessing.... comment again if that fails... – user1833028 – 2015-03-05T21:00:28.350

This pop-up seems to only appear in Chrome...I'm switching to Firefox and hopefully that'll resolve the issue – Yibo Yang – 2015-03-06T01:39:35.777

Answers

If you unmaximize the browser window, and move the browser window around, does the ad move? If so, then it would appear to be limited to something in the browser.

See if you get the same thing with Firefox, as well as Chrome.

It could be a legitimate ad provided by the website. These days, many websites use advertising networks, so many websites may show the same ad.

If you're using HTTP (not HTTPS), the ad could, in theory, be inserted by a MITM attack, perhaps even placed there by your ISP. I've heard of some large ISP's inserting traffic lately, which has been dubbed a "supercookie". If that is what is going on, it would explain why your re-installs didn't fix the problem, because the problem isn't with your computer.

A program like Process Hacker can identify what program is drawing something on the screen. If it is coming from your web browser, then you may find that debugging tools can help to identify where the ad is coming from. Advertisement blocking software may have an impact.

TOOGAM

Posted 2015-03-05T18:32:03.933

Reputation: 12 651

-1

This is due to the Malware which has been installed in your registry. I used to get the same pop-up in Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome. I have Uninstalled all the Extensions nothing was working. I Used Avg antivirus to scan for viruses nothing was discovered. I installed Malware Bytes, I run for through scan, which resulted in malware installed in my registry file. I removed all those infected files, then the pop-up stopped appearing in Mozilla Fire fox and Google Chrome.

ISHIDA

Posted 2015-03-05T18:32:03.933

Reputation: 121