Malware, spyware, etc.

[scotzoidman]

...they should all go ahead & kill themselves so as to begin their time rotting in HELL ASAP...the people who create these malicious programs & continue finding new ways to sneak their crap onto the computers of unsuspecting users, that is...I am now battling the second invasion in as many weeks, & now I'm getting really pissed...in spite of having the free McAfee anti-virus & firewall up, & repeated applications of Spybot & AdAware, I still am not in control of my homepage anymore...opening up IE window results in a webpage purporting to try to sell me an anti-spyware program, I can't find the source of this thing, & I can not access my ISP's homepage at all...which means I can't even Google anything now...this malware page also prevents me from accessing any other favorite sites as well, the omly way I can surf now is to open my mail, click on a link that takes me directly to a certain page, then go to my favorites from there...last week it was a popup claiming I had signed up for a 3-day free trial of a movie site, & because I hadn't cancelled, I was now obligated to pay them...an obvious scam to get my credit card number, of course...the 1st window popped up with a shockwave movie of an attractive young lady named Kate explaining my "obigation", a word of warning to "Kate", if you're out there, I know what you look like now, & if I ever see you in the flesh...you don't wanna know...

Right now I'm trying to get my computer back, & if I end up having to pay for it, I'm gonna have somebody's head on the end of a stick...GRRRRRRRRRRR...

Just wanted to vent about my troubles a bit, & maybe explain to anyone who wonders why I'm so cranky these days...

[Booger]

Scotz My best advice is ti just kill them all and let god sort them out. In other words save all your important information and either restore your computer to fatory orginals or format your hard drive and reload windows. It may take you a half day or more to do this but a lot of these spyware prorams are designed to not come out. Not to say they can't be removed but it is easier just to start with a clean slate. Besides I've been told a couple times it a good thing to do with your compter about once a year anyways help clean all the garbage off your hard drive that you pick up off the internet.

[Debbie_007]

You should try THIS PROGRAM (http://www.superadblocker.com/downloads/SuperAdBlocker.exe) . It has a 15-day trial period, but it'll still help you get that shit off your computer.

[Aqua]

What a pain Scotz.

There's a site that has volunteers that help you to clean up your comp for free. Now if I could just remember the name of the site...

*edit*
Found it... Spyware Cop (http://www.spyware-cop.com/forums/)

[jseal]

scotzoidman,

My condolences sir. That gang of hackers really is obnoxious. Hope you can disinfect your machine quickly. Good luck!

[Lilith]

The people Aqua mentioned are fabulous. They helped me when I had such a problem I faced having to stop being a mod here due to a form filler virus.

[PantyFanatic]

Thank you Aqua. That looks like a handy backup for my supply closet (arsenal) when the scum suckers get to my house.

Let me know Zoid, if you find that link between the virtual and physical world and I’ll be happy to CONTACT them with you. :mad:

[Sharni]

Don't talk to me about these low life fuckers!!

I am at present battling to get my computer back from Spyware hell!!!

[jbh3]

"restore your computer to fatory orginals or format your hard drive and reload windows. "

I agree with Booger on this point, however, I would restore to a much later date rather than all the way back to factory settings.Perhaps a system restore point in Feb. or Jan.

In addition to Aqua's help site, I would also check out Spywareinfo.com.This is an excellent site full of obsessed and dedicated people who's only mission is to solve your problem.Kinda like Pixies without the sex and naked pictures ;)

From personal experience....I bought Spysweeper 3 years ago and it has cleaned my system out on many occasion...I highly recommend it.It was 30 dollars(one time fee) and I have been updating the definitions free for 3 years.If I left it running(which is what you're supposed to do) it would have prevented the spyware from ever reaching my system.I don't have many problems with spyware so I don't let it run in the background because I am still using a 10 year old Dell dinosaur with only 333mhz processor :eek:
Good Luck!!!!

[Sharni]

Woot!!

Got the sucker! Downloaded Microsoft Windows Defender (beta 2). Its free/available to all who have a Genuine version of Windows.

Windows Defender (http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,24761,00.asp)

[scotzoidman]

I seem to have scratched open a festering sore all around the globe this time...thanks for the support & understanding, I have 3 computers on a network in my house, & it seems I just go from one prob to another for the last couple of months...since I've been trying to get some kind of home business going using them, on a tight budget to boot, I just don't have the time or $$$ to keep pumping both into them all...
Booger, this is the old puter with a new HD & OS (win 2000), I just started it up a few weeks ago (& still have not figured out how to get my old email into it) & was hoping not to have to start over again so soon...
Compounding my problems is that the puter that once occupied this space is in the basement, been trying desparately to save everything off of it before it expired...alas, it's now giving me the "hard disk failure" message on startup...

[moose]

i would like to offer some suggestions :-
1, run this program if you can http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ it is free online to use, i use the paid for version and find it excellent

2, i also run hijackthis to try and find any browser hijacking program

3, if you can tell us what the software it is trying to sell you, there will probally be removeal instructions on the web

4, dont format if you dont have to

[scotzoidman]

What has imbedded itself as my homepage is \http: //www.safetydefender. com/ ....please don't click on that if it comes up as a link, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, let alone my good friends here...it says it sells Pest Trap, Malware Wipe, Spy Guard, but I suspect that's all just a ruse to get your credit card, & these so-called programs probably dont exist...

I'm going to try these other programs one by one till something works or I'll just give up & take Booger's advice, I have everything saved when that moment comes...

[dicksbro]

I use "Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition" and it's been worth it (along with AdAware). Cost a little but definitely seems to be superior the the stuff they try to get the public to use.

You're right, though, about what you'd like to do with the creeps that create and spread this garbage. :(

[dicksbro]

I use "Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition" and it's been worth it (along with AdAware). Cost a little but definitely seems to be superior the the stuff they try to get the public to use.

You're right, though, about what you'd like to do with the creeps that create and spread this garbage. :(

Could be if they're caught, their names and addresses should be published on the web. Then, they could leave the rest up to us.

[Lilith]

What has imbedded itself as my homepage is http://www.safetydefender.com/ ....please don't click on that if it comes up as a link, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, let alone my good friends here...it says it sells Pest Trap, Malware Wipe, Spy Guard, but I suspect that's all just a ruse to get your credit card, & these so-called programs probably dont exist...

I'm going to try these other programs one by one till something works or I'll just give up & take Booger's advice, I have everything saved when that moment comes...

If you contact the people Aqua posted they will tell you exactly what to do to remove just the problem and save the rest of your computer without trying 8947349725934873 fixes.

[jbh3]

"...it says it sells Pest Trap, Malware Wipe, Spy Guard, but I suspect that's all just a ruse to get your credit card, & these so-called programs probably dont exist..."

Scotz...don't reformat!!!....this is the same garbage I found on my son's computer!!!...It can be beat!...use Spybot S&D in SAFE MODE....it will remove 90% of this spyware and prompt you to let spybot run after restart....let it run again....and continue until ALL of the crap is gone
Be patient ...it will do the job...just give it a chance.I had to run Spybot S&D in safe mode...then restarted and ran it in full modetwice and finally safe mode once again......the spyware will attempt to block the Spybot from running on restart but eventually it is eliminated.
..p.s.--make sure your definitions are up to date as this piece of shit is fairly new.....
Good Luck!!

[scotzoidman]

I was about to reformat, but then I discovered that Win2000 doesn't exactly give ya any easy way to do so...on the advice of my guitarist (he's a radio talkshow junkie), I checked out Kim Komando web page & found Startpage Guard for free...it's not very intuitive, but it does specialize in this kind of hijacker...even after running it, I still felt compelled to give Spybot & AdAware another run at it as well...for the first time in days, I was able to bring up Comcast home page, & after a reboot, SPG stopped the hijacker in its tracks (I refuse to classify these asswipes as belonging to any higher species)...the biggest obstacle to overcome in these kind of attacks is that most all the freeware available is designed to block the incoming bugs that they recognize more than get them out after the fact, & as jbh3 points out, this was prob a new attack plan that's not gonna be seen as a threat until it's too late...
While one can never be sure, I believe I was likely duped into opening the door for this nasty POS...I was led to believe that this was a codec for a video file...again, we often pay a high toll for cruising the red-light district, even when it's just in cyberspace...

[quisath]

I had an Episode a few weeks ago .................. Tried the Trend Micro Anti-Spyware 3.0 trial version and it Whipped ass on a Trojan that some Farking Web site that Microsoft Sanctions. Anyway is cleaned it and I'm thinking about purchasing it. I'm already running Trend Mcro Security anyway.

Scott ........... what I really like about Trend Micro is is tells you where all parts of a Virus or Malware hides. You never wind up Losing important Files or reformatting Windows. Good Luck Buddy.