Do browser pop ups mean I have adware? - Please help!

[Jamesin_x]

So, I visited a website today and I clicked 'x' to close an ad at the bottom of the screen. Then, a pop up appeared and I closed it full of paranoia. I read a little bit about adware and wherever I look it says that pop ups surely mean adware is installed on the system. The thing is I don't get random pop ups (I'm as careful with my system as you can possibly be), just on that specific page when I close ad. The only other time I ever got a pop up on this PC is long ago when I accessed a website which caused a "today's lucky visitor" pop up (never went to that page again). The list of installed programs in Control Panel is extremely clean with nothing I'm not aware of.

A screenshot of an example: http/imgur.com/a/G42QC

The question is: Do those pop ups mean the system is infected or can they appear on clean systems as well if you access those pages which cause them?

Please respond!

 

[Math Geek]

pop-ups are still something sites use regularly. most get blocked by your browser but some use different techniques to get through these blocks. one here and there is normal and nothing to worry about.

but a lot of them all the time no matter what site your on, is not normal and should be cause for concern. since you don't seem to be having any regular issues, i'd not worry too much at all. being careful is the best thing you can do and usually is enough. there is a lot of fear-mongering out there implying you can get virus's and malware at random by simply looking at a link, but this is just false info.

just note the site that gave the pop up and feel free to browse it, just be aware of what is "normal" for that site and only worry if other than normal starts happening. i'm weary of new sites and keep a close eye first few visits until i know what is normal for it and if it is not anything dangerous, then i deal with it and move on.

 

[dudio]

I agree with Math Geek.
Also, anytime you're concerned you *might* have adware, there is no harm running software to check and clean. MalwareBytes is very good.

 

[Jamesin_x]

pop-ups are still something sites use regularly. most get blocked by your browser but some use different techniques to get through these blocks. one here and there is normal and nothing to worry about.

but a lot of them all the time no matter what site your on, is not normal and should be cause for concern. since you don't seem to be having any regular issues, i'd not worry too much at all. being careful is the best thing you can do and usually is enough. there is a lot of fear-mongering out there implying you can get virus's and malware at random by simply looking at a link, but this is just false info.

just note the site that gave the pop up and feel free to browse it, just be aware of what is "normal" for that site and only worry if other than normal starts happening. i'm weary of new sites and keep a close eye first few visits until i know what is normal for it and if it is not anything dangerous, then i deal with it and move on.

Thank you very much for your response, I really appreciate it!

I know of computers that get them all the time, whatever you do in your browser, you get a pop up. But that's not the case here.
So, if I had adware, I would be getting them often, regardless of the pages I access in the browser? And would the adware be visible anywhere in Programs and Features?
Honestly, the thing that got me most worried here is when I searched the web for the url of the pop up ad (not the one in the screenshot), there were people talking about it being malware.

 

[Math Geek]

it is likely that the pop-up links to malware/adware but that does not mean you get it instantly. you'd still have to visit the linked page and more than likely install something to get infected.

and you often see hints of the infection in task manager. something running in the background can show up there. keep an eye on that area if you feel, something odd is going on. anything in that list that does not look right or does not sound like something you put n there, simply google it to see what it may be. the popular/common adware out there will be well known and quickly identified this way. so you may see "adservice.exe" running but you did not install anything called "adservice" worth checking it out. there are a lot of windows services running you may not know but they will quickly be identified as safe with the same google search. over time you will become aware of what is and what should not be on your system making it an easy glance to see if something odd is there.

 

[Icey Hawt]

Installing ad blocking software will help ease your fears as well. Spyware Blaster is a good + free one.