uber spyware problems >_<

[Nuttzy]

now this is getting insane, i run ad aware it says it removed everything, however after restarting i still have 2 extra programs in the taskmanager and in the startup thing, if i close them, more appear, if i remove them from the startup when i open up IE it puts em back

wheni open IE it sets my homepage to something, when i change it in the internet options it works only til the next time i open IE then its back to that page, it changes my homepage everytime i open IE in other words,

in most cases when my homepage was changed i could set it back and that would be the end of it

its bad enough right now im considering reformatting but ive got too much crap i would lose and i dont trust backing up all my models, and crap on a cd,


and even if it did come to that i have no idea how to reformat, my pc didnt come with any discs >_<

anyone know any better spyware/virus scanners than AVG and ad aware?

 

[Shuyin]

As alot of people will agree, it's best to use a combination of anti-adware programs.

I only use Ad-aware + Spybot - Search and destroy though.

 

[sub]

There are a couple of free programs you can download.

Spybot sd resident, spysweeper, spy doctor, and the cleaner (cleaner scans for trogens, not spyware). You can download all of those at www.download.com except spybot sd resident, you have to use google to find the download site for that. You should also get mozilla firefox, it stops some spyware from installing, stops your homepage from being changed, and stops popups. I haven't got one popup since I changed to mozilla.

 

[Final Vegeta]

What i use is Spybot Search & Destory and Spyware Blaster, Spybot is just like Ad-aware but i think SD is better.

And Spyware Blasters Protects you in the background for spyware while your cruising IE. <- Very Handy.

Also a Pop-up-Stopper would be nice, even if you click it away it sometimes manages to put Spyware on your comp, id reccomend Google's Pop-Up-Stopper.

And since you already have AVG anti-virus you dont need another virus-killer.

If you want a better virus-killer tho PC Millen i would recommend, however its expensive.

(and im using AVG to cuz its free )

 

[Nuttzy]

ive located what it is doing it however spybot, adaware or the other 2 i downloaded pick it up,

im gonna gave to remove it manually, which i hate almost as much as having it there

 

[Final Vegeta]

Well GL i know the pain of removing those feckers manually

 

[Nuttzy]

aye this ones even worse, cuz it renames itself automatically when you do certain things, im not sure of the other possible side effects of this, (cuz its obviously much more than a simple spyware app) so i wont be saying what it is til its gone for sure, dont wanna announce to the world i have a certain trojan or sumthin to the world, ive seen people make that mistake before ,

example "help ive been infected with net devil"
reply "hope you like your new wallpaper"



also a note to the other forum staff, if you dont hear from me for awhile dont fire me for inactivity, aside from being busy as a bee on my current mod project, i may blow my computer up if this doesnt work

 

[Shuyin]

Have you not tried RUN , type msconfig , then disabling your startup programs? Then you'll be able to remove it when you restart if it stays removed from startup.

 

[Nuttzy]

HOLY ****ING **** IM SO ****ING HAPPY **** **** **** ****

i finally got rid of this *****, i guess its safe to say what it was now, its the newest incarnation of the CWS browser hijacker, HSA, (some would call it a trojan seeing how it runs) it would run off of several files, and upon closing or deleting of those files it would create copies using random names which made normal means of deletion futile,

i had to run a program called hijack this, save and print out a log,
hard boot the computer into safe mode so the files wouldnt rename themselves on boot (so i could find them) run another program, then run hijack this again to double check, THEN go into the registry and delete a few values,

i had to do this about 3 times taking about an hour and ahalf the first time, and considerably less each time after, (as i had memorized the instructions which i had printed out, (5 pages) til it worked and im proud to say my IE is working like a charm now, (though that probly wont last) but i pray i never run into this program again everything else can be easily removed,

this problem more than any in the past convinced me how easily IE can get spyware, as all i did was visit a webpage and got it, i didnt even click on any popups to get this one,

sorry for the language up top but this was stressing me so bad that i was sweating and talking to myself, i cant afford to reformat

i say this now, when i bet i find out i didnt remove it properly in about 5 minutes >_>

 

[imkongkong]

u shouldnt use IE.. try switching to mozilla firebird, its much more superior to IE

 

[Nuttzy]

not in retrospect that quite a few pages i visit dont look right in firefox, (i have it as well) and mozilla doesnt know any of my passwords like IE does >_< id use firefox if it carried over that data from IE but it doesnt so i use IE, sure i COULD figure out all my passwords and inject that into firefox but im lazy

 

[BliZZ]

Yep. I had the exact same problem. It was CoolWebSearch, the ***est spyware ever. It doesn't hurt your computer, it just resets your IE homepage to the damn search page and it makes millions of pop-ups that say "Your Computer is Infested with Spyware" appear every time you open IE or AIM or AOL. I had to do exactly what you did to remove it.

 

[Damaera]

now this is getting insane, i run ad aware it says it removed everything, however after restarting i still have 2 extra programs in the taskmanager and in the startup thing, if i close them, more appear, if i remove them from the startup when i open up IE it puts em back

wheni open IE it sets my homepage to something, when i change it in the internet options it works only til the next time i open IE then its back to that page, it changes my homepage everytime i open IE in other words,

in most cases when my homepage was changed i could set it back and that would be the end of it

its bad enough right now im considering reformatting but ive got too much crap i would lose and i dont trust backing up all my models, and crap on a cd,


and even if it did come to that i have no idea how to reformat, my pc didnt come with any discs >_<

anyone know any better spyware/virus scanners than AVG and ad aware?

Try google or download.com

oh yes, try a add free Browser too, more like Mozilla Mozilla firefox or netscape.