Spyware, Ads

[Okiewan]

Why in God's name do people advertise with these leaches? One thing is for sure, I'll NEVER spend a dime at anyone that advertises this way. What a PITA!

I got hammered big today somehow, Ad-Aware found a lot of stuff, but wouldn't delete it (apparently). I had to upgrade to the full (paid) version to get the monitoring... only problem is, while it was "monitoring", another ad popped-up. UGGG!

< rant over > :|

 

[xTYBALTx]

www.mozilla.com

 

[Okiewan]

Ack

 

[Hondaxrguy]

Okie, I thought you were using Firefox? Since I've been using it, I can't think of a single pop up that I've gotten. Life's been great! And according to Ad-Aware, my spyware has nearly vanished since the switch as well.

Jeremy

 

[Okiewan]

I use it a lot, also Mozilla 1.7 .. both are good, but there are a couple things ie still does better. Fact is, the Mozilla stuff browses a LOT faster.

 

[Boomdiddly]

Do you use Spybot Search & Destroy also? I use that and Ad-Aware and haven't had a popup since.

 

[Okiewan]

Use both... this is a tricky one.

 

[xTYBALTx]

Start menu ---> Run ---> type in "msconfig" ---> Startup tab

What you see is a list of programs Windows automatically executes upon startup. With Windows XP, none of these programs are "necessary" to run Windows, but several of them may be useful (ZoneAlarm, Anti-Virus, diagnostics programs, etc). Uncheck anything that looks out of the ordinary. If you accidentally uncheck something, but later find out you actually wanted it, you can go back and re-check it.

If you do not have Windows XP, you have to be careful what you uncheck, as some items are critical to the Windows shell.

 

[Bodge]

I havent seen a pop up since i installed norton internet security.

 

[Moteaux]

For things that Spybot & Ad-Aware won't delete try CWShredder from Spybot. Do a search and you can find free downloads for it. It is especially helpful for ones that try to hi-jack your browser and Spyware & Ad-Aware try to clean but can't. I have had good results with it. I can email it to you if think it will help.

Randy

 

[JasonJ]

I here ya Oki, I think there should be a more concerted effort to boycott the products that are advertised this way. They would not do it if it didnt work. How come you never see anyone trying to spread political retoric or personal slander with those anyway,,, No its always Porn and enhancement drugs. Just goes to show you what motivates people I guese.
Any way, I browse with win 98 SE, no one attacks 9X systems anymore :clue: . I have a fire wall router, and zone alarm along with google pop up blocker and SAV so I dont get pop ups any more. Its very satifying when Zone alarm pops up and asks me if I want to let spybott6003 install on my system and access the internet as a server and I can quash it with a heart felt NO click. Ahhhh that felt good. Win 2K and XP make sure your net message and alert services are disabled, they are on by default, most hot fixes and service packs shut them off now though. I feel sorry for the average home user though, the frustration of knowing you cant control or even use your computer, its like the de-evoloution of the internet,,,, sad really. And for what? Porn and Male enhancement durgs? Dam you Smiling Bob,,, If I ever get a hold of you Im gonna knock that grill out!!!

 

[bclapham]

tried them all after these popus killed my PC two days ago- nothing, lost a bunch of emails and in the end i wiped the hard drive and started over- didnt realise how fast my pc could be.

i rate them the same as terrorists since they are costing the country $$$$$ in down time.

 

[Okiewan]

Hey Randy! That little program rocks! Seems it found my problem. I've put a copy of it on the DRN server for anyone to download. 145K and it works great.

http://dirtrider.net/CWShredder.exe

 

[Milk]

hijackthis.exe is another nice tool to use when you get a browser redirector and cant cleanse it. I got it should anyone need it. You can also search google for the filename.

 

[Okiewan]

Gonna have to try Milk's suggestion, I'm still infected. :(

 

[Jaybird]

CWShredder was written by a young Dutch kid who knows his stuff. If you read further on his site, you will find other useful things to try.
One would be completely removing the MS Java code from your machine, as nothing uses that platfom anymore except for spam monsters.
I replaced my MS java with Sun.

 

[Okiewan]

That's my next step bird... nothing has worked so far.

 

[Okiewan]

Well, now I've removed Java as well.. NOTHING is getting rid of this thing. Unreal.

 

[Hondaxrguy]

Several months ago, I ended a month long bout with some nasty spyware. I ended up killing it with AVG Antivirus. I set it to monitor my computer, and it's periodically tell me the spyware was trying to do something and I'd squash the program, after a few days, an update came out that wiped out the spyware completely. Have you tried antivirus software?

Jeremy

 

[Jaybird]

Have you identified the culprit file?

 

[Okiewan]

yeah.. Norton is current.
No Jay, can't figure it out.

 

[JTT]

I've been running an annoying little software called "WinPatrol". It monitors all cookie activity. I say annoying because it warns you with a little pop up warning every so many minutes (a time preset by you) of new cookies being added, so you can squash them.

As annoying as it is, I have not had a single lick of spyware (scanned with Spybot) since I started using it.

Although it is surely not a solution to you problem Okie, I'd like to have some input/comments on it from "the smart folks" out there.

 

[Zerotact]

I've found disableing active X controls, along with a scan of, adware, spybot, and pest patrol cleans things up nicely.

 

[TheGrinch]

Okie,

You might not want to do this due to data loss, but if you're running XP and you have System restore enabled, you could roll back to a date prior to your problem. Just a thought.

Once you've resolved your problem, I recommend installing The Blocklist Manager and Protowall for additional security.

http://bluetack.co.uk/pw.html

Protowall uses the Blocklist Managers blacklist to block inbound and outbound packets.

I have an ADSL connection and after I boot my PC, Protowall manages to block packets before I've even opened my web browser!

 

[Okiewan]

Screw it, I'm going to Opera (7.51) permanently.
No scanners (I tried many) find it, Active X off, Java from Sun, Norton Anti-Virus finds nothing...
2 days trying to hunt this damn thing down.
Bye-Bye IE.