Posted on 03/02/2008 7:15:35 PM PST by no nau
My computer is infested with this crap and I can't get rid of it. None of the free services can solve the problem, and I might even pay for such a service, except that all of them seem to be just folks willingly to take advantage of you and charge you more money, and possibly infect you more. Has anyone here seen this? How should I and anyone else deal with this?
We have lots of computers here. The spyware seems to have evolved beyond the Windows 98 system, it never has problems and it’s 10 years old.
A Mac is a good thing too. :)
Dowmload SpyBOT Search... its FREE..
Try “Hi-jack this” and “CCleaner” and “Spybot-search and Destroy”
This is going to attract some wise comments. What AV do you use?
I use Stop Sign. Really good at adware.
Here’s what I do : I run Adaware weekly, I run Avira antivirus, and I use Windows Defender. All free. Generally, Defender shuts the adware down quickly, and Avira finds what Defender doesn’t get.
If it is Spyaxe I had someone here help me solve the problem.
They directed me to a free site and it took about 4 hours to get things cleaned up.
We use Ad Aware and Spy Bot. What one doesn’t take care of, the other does.
Pay for something. Those ads for software to check you computer for “free” are just adware that you willingly accepted.
Trend Micro Housecall. It’s free - it takes about 3 hours to run - and snags about everything. Google Trend Micro Housecall; you may have to allow installation of several Active X controls.
Reagan80
Two suggestions, ditch internet exploder and stay away from pron sites.
I think Ad-Aware will probably help alot, and I believe its free. In fact, I just checked and it is...
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
AdAware, Spybot and http://www.trendmicro.com for an excellent online scan.
Stop Sign IS spyware.
Spybot Search and Destroy? AdAware? Using these in conjuncture will alleviate some malady’s caused by the spyware, such as those troublesome tool bars. To eradicate all of it? I am at a loss, although some other FReepers may know. Are you using Internet Exploder? If so, Firefox can help.
1. Load the cleaning programs, drop down to Safe Mode, and run the utilities there. Don’t forget to check for a rootkit.
2. Pull the hard drive, and put it into a “clean” computer as a second HD, and scan it that way.
3. Reformat, reload. That’s what us IT people do here at work.
4. Buy a Mac. Or, load your PC with Linux.
Go to Kim Komando’s site Komando.com
She has downloads for excellent free firewalls, AV software and ADware/spyware removers.
I use AVG Anti virus, Zone Alarm Firewall, Spybot and Lavasoft Adaware to remove crsp.
CCleaner is good too.
All the stuff on Kim’s site is free and is well proven.
AVG free is a good one, recommended by the firm that has repaired my computers. Google AVG
Norton by Symantec works for me. No spyware, no adware, no viruses for about 3 years. Occassional tracking cookies get in, but are easily identified and removed with Norton.
“Stop Sign IS spyware.”
-
LOL.
(grabs popcorn, kicks feet up in anticipation...)
Lots of good tech threads today. :)
The short answer is “stop opening the crap”.
You are inviting it in. Never open an attachment that you are not absolutely certain as to what it is. That means no cute crap that your relatives and friends send you. Never open it... period. Eventually they will quite sending it (usually because their computers have been killed by all of their crap).
Install Zone Alarm Free (or similar firewall) and Grisoft Free AVG (or other antivirus). Semi periodically run one or two freeware adware programs like Ad Aware and SpyBot.
But back to the short answer. If you don’t want crap on your computer, don’t invite it in. There ya go.
Google your exact problems/”symptoms”. Recently in the e-Ther there have been a few pesky buggers that progs like AdAware, Search & Destroy and even AVG have not been able to beat. You might need either SmitRem or SmitFraud — both of those are free & googlable too.
Scan with Spybot (freeware) also make sure your antivirus is up to date - many spyware/adware are bots or trojans, some contain viruses. Some are difficult to clear. I am a system admin - recently worked on a box with 5 trojans and 1 viruses - could not clear them - multiple imbedded - user didn’t keep it up to date - ended up having to back up all data and wipe it clean.
Spybot S&D. Get it from the source: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Format the hard drive and do a clean install.
Download avast!
It’s free for use by individuals. It works great. Doesn’t slow up my computer. Automatically updated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avast!
bookmark
Are you using Firefox? If you are, and you also have Internet Explorer installed, there is a really common, and really insidious, virus that’ll constantly spam you with ad pages. I never could fully get rid of it, so I uninstalled Firefox (getting rid of Internet Explorer is almost impossible), and now am using a pretty good little browser called K-Meleon. I haven’t checked to see if Firefox or IE has solved the problem lately, though.
bump
LMAO! What a great thread.
I used to have McAfee on this computer which is 6 years old. It was always running slow and freezing up. I tried Bit Defender about 6 months ago and it found 25 virus’s that either McAfee put on my hard drive or they failed to find. I cancelled and deleted everything that related to McAfee and started using the free Bit Defender and Ad-Aware about twice a week and my old clunker runs like a new one. The free virus scans are best in my opinion plus I am saving that 49.95 per year that I was giving McAfee for absolutley nothing.
To make your internet surfing less cluttered, try using Mozilla Firefox as your browser, then downloading an add-on/extension of that program called Adblock Plus. It won’t completely eliminate the ads, but you’ll notice the difference.
I’ve tried Trend Micro’s Internet Security program before, too. It worked fairly well several years ago, but I don’t know about the current version.
There are trojans like Puper and some others that hide in your hard drive, and go out to bring in popups, more downloaders, and the like.
See if you can find out if you have trojans or the like. I recently had an infection with a downloader called Vundo and I had to get a special tool (it was shareware) that I ran probably four times to kill the beastie.
Spybot did not see Vundo, but McAfee did. McAfee could not fix it, but it alerted that it was there.
The really clever ones will disable your spyware before downloading lots of stuff.
For Anti-virus use AVG Anti Virus
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/
I’m really liking windows defender
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
Then there’s Ad-Aware.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
And Spy bot Search and destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
And if you want to pay for it check out http://www.sunbelt-software.com/
Finally, if you are running Norton Anti-Virus - uninstall it.
If that doesn’t clean everything out, there are some other tricks you can use. Check out cnet.com, they have a pretty good guides.
How old is your computer and what Operating system are you using?
I can’t help it. I love pron sites. ;)
Also, if you don’t have a second clean HD preloaded with Windows, you can alway use a boot disk, like BART PE. Bart can be configured to run Spybot, McAfee Stinger, or Ad Aware without having to boot to the OS of your affected HD.
Most important parts are the Immunize and Hosts files features.
Also get CCleaner. Run it every time you get off your system. Right click on the recycle bin and select “Run Ccleaner”.
Gets rid of the stuff you might have downloaded without knowing it... before it can run for the first time with your next startup.
Ours continually froze up with Norton's.
go to http://malwareremoval.com/
post your problems
wait for replies
“stay away from pron sites”
Yeah, I hate those evil PRON sites.
Download and install Linux, and say goodbye to crapware and virii forever.
Here’s a good place for most Windows users to start:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
AVG. I am very satisfied with it. Also use adware. Haven’t tried the spybot stuff.
Kaspersky is the BEST.
F-Protect is good.
Nod32 is good.
AVG, AntiVir, Panda, BitDefender... All good.
F-Protect is my favorite, very efficient, with good price for multiple boxes.
Use Spybot Search and Destroy, and either LavaSoft Adaware or SuperAntiSpyware. Also AVG AntiSpyware is a great companion to any antivirus. It is the old Ewido Trojan hunter.
Use Internet Explorer ONLY for trusted, known sites, Firefox or Opera for surfing.
If using a POP3 mail client, and not bound to Outlook for PIM or Exchange purposes, use Mozilla's Thunderbird mail client.
Use a webmail service for your internet presence. Yahoo or Gmail from Google seem preferred. Do not give your real email away online to anyone. Use it only for folks you've got eyeball with.
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