Suggestions ??? (1 Viewer)

[Purp|e]

hmmm ok ... heres the deal its come about that i have some (maybe more than i know about) spyware on my pc ... ive tried with ad-aware, spybot s&d to remove it ... but theres still some hanging around. basically i dont wanna risk getting fucked over with bank details etc.

what do u think i can do here? i really dont wanna have to format ... so much damn effort + i dont think i have start up disk or any drivers on disk for my hardware. Aswell as that if i format ill lose a few payed subscriptions ... that i have downloaded, but dont have a copy of ne of it ...

Any suggestions in how i can go about getting rid of this stuff ??? or if u think it would be better to format ... what exactly will i need etc ...

 

[Not-That-Bright]

I just format... lol

 

[breaking]

lol samez....... its a pain in the fuck but ur computer runs so much faster..... jus remember 2 back up all ur important shit

 

[absolution*]

if the spyware is affecting the performance of your pc considerable then you might have to format.

otherwise just try to ignore it i guess?

 

[Purp|e]

lol god damn ... i knew this was comming !!! i was just hoping sumone would have a miracle cure ...

ok ... this comp is old ... ive never had to format it ... WTF do i need? i dont have the start up disk thing ... i guess i can find my drivers ive got now and put them on disk ... what else ???

 

[Not-That-Bright]

arr this is the worst... when u dun have the disks n shit... it really really sucks..... i feel sorry for you is all i can say.

 

[absolution*]

depends what os youre on

generally make a format disk

then load your os cd

 

[anti]

You don't have to format, although it's the quickest solution. My plan of attack would include:

* Press ctrl+alt+delete and close all unfamiliar processes
* Run a virus scan - if you don't have one installed, try Panda ActiveScan or HouseCall which are free online scanners.
* Clean out your Temporary Internet Files folder
* Remove any programs you know contain spyware - examples include Kazaa, Messenger Plus!
* Make sure you have the most up to date definitions of adaware and spybot s&d; scan, clean up whatever it returns, reboot, and see what is left
* Run HijackThis! to clean out your registry - if you don't understand it, post the log here and someone will have a look

If there is still spyware that you know about (eg you keep getting popups when you open IE), post the name of the spyware or adware here and again someone will tell you how to get rid of it.

This is a longer process than reformatting (I spend all night doing spyware cleanups sometimes) but it is a lot easier than finding all your drivers etc, and it's a very fufilling feeling when you realise you've conquered the evil of the intarweb

GL.

 

[Purp|e]

w00tage ... things are looking up! thanks for those suggestions anti ... i never realised what a fool i was *penetrates anal cavity of man who created messenger plus*

hopefully most of it is gone now ... i just had a massive delete fest all those clicks felt so damn good now i just have to make sure it wont happen again

 

[anti]

Yeah it's like a duffman feeling

oh boy.. did i just say that ? lol

messenger plus is fine, just make sure you read the 'do you want to install this great spyware which screws up your system' before you click OK ;P


edit: oh yeah, and INSTALL FIREFOX. It's the safest thing you can do websurfing-wise. For links, see the associated threads everywhere on this forum

 

[equiski]

Spy Sweeper picks up spyware and adware that Adaware and Spybot don't detect. You can download the trial, which lasts for 30 days (long enough to clean up your system), from http://www.webroot.com/ .

PS For the cynics, this is not one of those shady "spyware removers" which give false positives and install spyware of their own.

PPS Holy cow, is that Danger Mouse?

 

[MuffinMan]

I use Norton AntiVirus 2004 Pro
It scans for viruses, malicious programs, spyware and hacking programs.
Like a all in one I'd say.

 

[equiski]

I used Norton Antivirus 2003... until I figured out it was crap and causing a great amount of system instability. While NAV was installed I had a persistant problem where explorer would use 100% of my CPU cycles until i restarted the computer. Replacing Norton with AntiVir also reduced my start-up time by 3 seconds, which was a nice bonus.

Anyway, I don't mean to totally bag Norton, though it may rape a system's resources, it is rather user friendly.

 

[Casmira]

formats the easiest, but if you cant be fucked / have no way of backing up your stuff then youll need to thoroughly clean out your system which you need alot of patience too do

 

[anti]

Someone could always clean it for you. It's not that hard if you've done it before, just time consuming.

Having a second computer on hand without spyware problems is also good

 

[paganinio]

spyware is now running on my system
but I don't care, i have nothing secret.

 

[MedNez]

Spyware doesn't care if you have secret data, it's mostly advertising, and will slow down your system, slow down your internet etc. That's why we get rid of it.

 

[Slidey]

This is a longer process than reformatting (I spend all night doing spyware cleanups sometimes) but it is a lot easier than finding all your drivers etc, and it's a very fufilling feeling when you realise you've conquered the evil of the intarweb

GL.

Blarhg. Spyware is worse than fricking spammers.

I've got this one of my computer that is pretty harmless, but it pops up every now and then with this freaky doctor holding these pills and it's ike viagra or something. It never ceases to scare the bejeezus out of me.

EDIT: Why don't you remove it, I hear you say? Normally I would, but 1) this tablet PC has all this extra software such as for the pressure sensitivity of the screen, and I don't want to figure out which process is good and which is bad. 2) this is Windows XP. I'm used to Windows Me and 98, so I can't be bothered learning about how the OS works all over again, even if the changes are only slight. I'm sure when it annoys me enough I'll learn how to remove it just to spite it - even though it can't really be spited, but hey, it'll give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

 

[MedNez]

Run hijackthis on it, and post your log in a new topic, we'd be happy to help you out =)

 

[anti]

Or actually look at what the ad says, and google it along with the words 'spyware' or 'adware' or 'holy frkiin cow it's a big popup on my screen' (no guarantees that the last one will work)

Another reason spyware sucks is that it is CAPABLE of opening CERTAIN ports on your machine, leaving security holes all over the place.