I had spybot search and destroy... it has some tracking ware encryted in it also.... as soon as I got adware... it identified spybot as a "data miner"... now I just run adware. Plus I start up with "freesurfer".. it stops the pop ups dead... and pop unders.

If you're getting the "Gray box" messenger type pop-ups, go into your Internet Tools (I think) and make sure that "Instant Messenger" is turned off. No pop-up stopper will stop these messages.

Yup, Google Toolbar is your friend. I still get the odd one that slips through, but not very often...

See if you picked up Gain along the way. It hides itself nicely and you practically need an Microsoft expert to get rid of it. OSO has no pop-ups so it is not coming from here.