Spyware slowing computer - ad aware fixed it (not a commercial)

Lavasoft and me ^ | Me

[BJungNan]

Sorry if this is viewed as a vaniety. Just trying to pass along a bit of information in case anyone is having slow computer problems.

First, I have a dial up so it is slow anyhow. But for the last couple of days it has been crawling - nearly usable. So, for the heck of it, I ran an ad aware scan (lavasoft).

Amazing. As soon as I got rid of the spyware it detected, my computer sped right back up to normal. All I can figure is the spyware was hogging up the line.

Maybe some of you have a better handle on this and can tell me what happened. Anyhow, if you are having similar slow, slow, slow connection, you might give it a try.

[lwoodham]

Seems to me that is spyware is recieved and legal then anti-spyware transmitted in response should also be legal.

[moondancer]

thanks everyone:)
someone once told me that you could hit control/alt/delete and look at whats running while your online and thatll tell you if there is spyware or viruses, but i havnet noticed anything unusual, but i know very little about computers.
ive read about open ports, but dont know how to locate those. i did have zone alarm before we had our computer harddrive erased last fall...great stuff! any of these programs you all recomended tell you what the virus is and whre it came from? im looking at a specific person that is doing this (who also accessed my hotmail and deleted all my emails) so i dont want to download something thatll just "get rid of it" i want to see what it is ect.
thanks for letting me know it could be a dirty ball..most likely the cause thou the arrow did seem to go specifically to "my documents" or "my computer". hopefully its just a coinkydink!

[lwoodham]

The one big problem with the Internet is that they have got to fix it where hackers or others can't cloak or modify the source address of the E-mail. That information should without question be available to the recipent.

[SoDak]

Helps also to regularly clean out your temporary internet files. Run "disk cleanup" every couple of weeks.

[snopercod]

Absolutely fascinating link!

[nygoose]

This link is a little older, but nonetheless valuable:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/825016/posts

[Smogger]

AVG is the shiznit.

Best anti-virus I have used. And best of all its free.

[First_Salute]

Thanks.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[NathanR]

Bump for later. (i.e. home computer)

[mhking]

I would add one more program to that powerful duo: Hijack This (http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/).

It looks at what is already loaded in memory and will eliminate that (along with fixing other registry entries). Some spyware programs (Gator & others) resist attempts at removal when elements are already in memory. Hijack This will help in those cases.

[republicangel]

I did this a few weeks ago and found over a hundred spyware things to delete.
On my daughter's computer- almost 200.
It kept me from buying a new computer. I thought I needed one, but it was just the spyware clogging it up.

[BJungNan]

Funny, I almost went out and bought a new computer too. Say, how about you send me $10.00 for the tip. And then you give someone else the tip with a list with my name and your name on it and instructions to send you and me $10 and then they forward the tip to someone else and they add there name to the list and that person sends you and me and them $10 and before long we can just go ahead and buy ourselves that new computer.