Beware of SPYWARE!

[Lautrec]

Having a nightmare with Spyware infection and have done a lot of surfing research to try to get rid of it. It has wiped my PC out twice in the last month, but with a lot of worry and hard work, I am gradually getting on top of it.

If you havn't installed an Anti-Virus protecter, a Fire wall and a Ad-aware download, you could be next! Be very careful!

Lautrec

[sid]

Hi Lautrec

I think you've most likely been hit by a virus rather than Spyware.

Spyware collects information about you and can also present you with pop-up advertisements. Adaware (free), which you seem to know about, is very good at detecting and removing spyware.

To prevent having your pc wiped-out you need a good antivirus package and keep it up to date by regularly downloading the appropriate virus database. Make sure the your email is scanned and never open any email that you're at all unsure about.

I'd also add that you should be careful about which websites you visit; many of them install cookies on your pc. They're not necessarily malicious, but you're not to know. The more dubious the website the greater the chance of problems.

[Lautrec]

Hi Sid,

Yes!, you are right. It masquerades as Spyware, but it is an insidious virus. I have been on Torrents and have lately downloaded quite a few albums of music and I think that is where the 'nasties'  have come from! I am at the moment seeking out further protection and staying off dubious web sites. Hoping to beat this menace in the end!

Lautrec.

 

[Lautrec]

Further to my last posting. I have solved some, maybe all of my problems with a web site called Hijack this! It scans your hard drive and then you skip through all the files until you can pick out the harmful ones. One click and they have gone. (or I hope they have gone for good!) It seems to be a solution.

Lautrec.

[Deimos]

Unfortunately you need to be careful with what “ad-ware” detection and removal tools you use as many are “rogues” or even what they claim to remove. Some will even give phoney detections and they charge you for the "removal bit”. Some will remove other peoples ad-ware to install their own !!.

Check on http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm.

Ian

[Cat]

I can highly recommend hijack this if anyone is already having problems with their computer.

As protection against viruses Avast Home Edition by Awil software is very good, free, and can automatically download updates every day.  It has recently won an award for its performance, and can be downloaded from www.avast.com

Spybot Search and Destroy is also a tried and trusted tool for detecting/fixing spyware, cookies, trojans, diallers and keyloggers. Each time it detects an attempted registry change, it will ask if you wish to allow the change or not, and will remember the change so that you may reverse it later if you wish. It's also free from http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html

With these 3 tools, and a slight tweak to the standard windows firewall settings, my computer gets the highest possible safety rating when scanned using using ShieldsUp https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

 

 

 

[chenauds]

Having had problems in the past on both my and other peoples PCs, I run, once a week, Spybot, Adaware and AVG antivirus in that order. If by any mischance, the do not sort out the problem I always log on to www.windowsbbs.com, a website  run by real experts to help the rest of us and see if they can help. You may need to run Hijackthis and send them a copy of the results. They have ,without fail sorted every PC problem I nave ever had.

[Lautrec]

Thank you all for the info, I am now getting on top of the problem and I have put up many mre defences and hope that I might have solved the problem.

Lautrec

[Gyn_Paul]

It's odd that we should be discussing Spyware now. I've been mercifully free of it for about 18 months. At the time of my previous infection SPYBOT found and removed it.

Yesterday I turned on and discovered I was beset with an infection which kept popping up "you have been infected" screens and intreaties to click/follow/buy. So I ran SPYBOT again (having updated it) and it found some 11 infections all but 2 of which it cleared at once and the other two were killed on re-booting. However despite running the whole thing again and getting an all clear I'm still getting Spyfalcon pop-ups which Spybot now can't find (or at least can't until it's popped up a few times).

This re-infection happens when I'm not on-line so something is hidden away on the HDD!

Anyone else had this problem?

p

[bigjimbishop]

I'm online for hours everyday surfing everywhere with no regard for the dangers that lurk out there.

I never get viruses and only occasionally get spyware.

I'm convinced that using Mozilla Firefox instead of MS Internet explorer and Mozilla Thunderbird instead of Outlook is the reason. By the way Mozilla have better features than MS products.

Spybot

Adaware

Zonealarm

Real Alternative (instead of Windows media Player which is really dodgy)

Turned off windoze fire wall, messenger and automatic updates

Sailed through the 'Sheildsup' test.

[Richard-R]

Spend some money and buy some real anti-virus software. Freeware is free and lags far behind paid for sortware. The same goes for anti-soyware freeware. When it comes to protecting your computer and data, you really do get what you pay for.

Rich