SPYWARE!!!

[Muse of Freaks]

*blinks at all the typos there* Must be a typo demon on the loose there, Tony!

[Linsey]

I realized something...all those popups are coming from internet explorer...that means that if internet explorer is still installed, then I'll still get all those popups when I turn on my comp. That's exactly what happened this morning. None are coming from my new browser, I can tell. They're all from that damn crappy IE!!! So, I did a little searching online and looked for ways to uninstall it from windows. Luckily I think I just may have done that. But the directions were confusing. When I did a search to see if there were any internet explorer things left, it was different than before and I don't think it has a connection to the net anymore...hopefully. I may be wrong.

Nightmaretony, I didn't quite understand your directions. Where would "preferences" be located? I couldn't find anything called "smart browsing" either. I think your internet set-up looks different from mine.  I couldn't find  "navigator" either...or anything else you said, hehe. Sorry.


Hurdy Gur,
"Is it just me, or am I stupid" Linsey

[PsychoAngel]

Couldn't you go to the Add/Remove programs and just uninstall it?

-PA

[Linsey]

That was what I tried before and it didn't work...although the special directions to uninstall it involved that same area, the add/remove programs, but I think I had to go to the thing called "add/remove windows components" and delete it there. I dunno. We'll have to see if it worked. If not, I'll have to have my dad call my uncle, the computer geek.

[Linsey]

SHIT! It didn't uninstall. I am still getting popups!

[Muse of Freaks]

Am I to understand, now, that the popups appear just when you turn on the computer, and you've not done anything else yet, no browsing, no internet connection? Because that's something I haven't heard of before. (Granted, I don't know as much about these things as some people, but still, I've never had something like that happen to me.)

[SpaceMonkey]

I know someone who had a similar problem--- not sure how they ever fixed it...

I think most antivirus programs eliminate spyware & popup software on your pc, too-- at least I know my antivirus warns me of 'potentially unwanted programs'....

Try doing a virus scan... see what happens.

[Linsey]

I do a virus scan about every day, plus I check the spyware with my spybot everyday. The spybot always detects the exact same problems. I decided to download something called "stopzilla" which is a popup stopper and works a lot better than those panicware ones. It's only in demo mode so I'd have to register it...sadly, I think I have to pay for it, and I don't want to...although it works like a charm and those damn popups haven't bothered me. I know once it goes away they'll come back. I'll never rest!!! Maybe I scared the popups away though. Maybe if they can't get through for 15 days they'll think they'll never get through and give up...if only it were that easy!!!


Muse, that's true. I do not pull up yahoo or any website, I'll just turn on my comp and poof, there's a popup, and they'll appear about every ten seconds...it varies, but it's about that amount of time, and sometimes there will be two or so in a row, ALWAYS FROM THE SAME SITES!  One site is called "sandboxer.com" and other popups from sites will be a "webpage not found" kind of popup, or it will be nothing in the popup but a little curved line or something. It's insane, they aren't advertizing anything, just annoying me. Hopefully stopzilla will take care of me until the 15 day trial is over.

[SpaceMonkey]

Hmmm---

Try turning up the security level on IE. Not sure exactly where it is, probably under a selection 'internet preferences' or 'options'; something like that. VBut I know, there's a sliding bar, lets you select how secure your connection is.

But yeah, you can't uninstall the IE browser-- that's why Microsoft got sued a ouple years ago-- other browser companies felt it was unfair trading practice, becuase Microsoft made the IE broswer an integral, unremovable part of Windows.  

[dan [karcher]]

I've dealt with this so many damn times before, you have my utmost compassion.

Sometimes AdAware and the others (SpyBot, etc) simply can't nail the more stubborn of parasites.  And the more efficient LavaSoft and other protection software get, the wiser they (parasites) seemingly become.

Often, if you run both AdAware and Mcafee, between the two they'll nail all the parasites BUT...

They can't always nail the registry keys.  Therein most likely lies your problem.

This has to be done manually, and in MOSDOS mode.

If you've not done so before I can walk you through it.  The advantage in doing so is a guarantee you'll remove spyware from your pc.  The disadvantage is that it's not a click and go situation, rather it's a step by step process, and identifying and finding the offensive registry key isn't always easy at first, but do know - the effort is worth it.

What we need do now is first - run your AdAware software (6.0 and be sure to click "check for updates" BEFORE you run AdAware).

Run a Deep Scan on both your hard drive and any external drives you may have connected.

After quarantining and deleting the pesky files, copy and paste the logfile here.

From there we'll go to Step 2.

(meanwhile, no, IE can't be deleted (technically it can, but not without doing serious harm to your OS), BUT you CAN download an upgrade which will override previous files.  Try that as well.  What version of IE are you running?)

(Also, to modify your IE security level, click on "Tools," scroll and click on "Internet Options," then click the "Security" tab from where you can set your levels.  Though I have to say, security levels do nothing to prevent or delete parasite pop-ups.  Best to leave the level at medium as recommended or what you're most comfortable with).

[Nightmaretony]

Muse: at night, I turn into a pumpkin. Seriously, I grew up on the Apple ][ and GS keyboards and never really got the hang of the pc keyboard. And if you are wondering, I got A's and B's in english. I also have a habit of typing too fast,; posting my thoughts and getting the heck out of  sumitting a post before I realize that I am leaving mistakes left and right.

Linsey: pull down the Edit menu on Mozilla. The bottom is Preferences. You can then go from there.

If the pop ups are a gray box always instead of with graphics, there is a security hole in Windows Messenger which spammers exploit. In essence, they make the system OS think that its a message from Microsoft.

http://www.jmu.edu/computing/security/info/winmsg.shtml

This link explains all about it and how to disable it. If your spam popups look like the ones on the page, then they are using the Messenger security hole.

Isn't it absolutely amazing that while Microsoft purports to be setting new security standards for computing, it is their very product line which has more holes than Swiss cheese and has allowed all of this to happen? Do you realize that over 90% of all computer viruses out there arre designed and are  spread mianly by holes in Outlook Express or Windows?

The ultimate solution is to go Linux....

(this message was checked for typos; please inform me if any are found. I do not claim sanity as a reason for typos since I have this habit of purchasing amusement park rides to put in my yard. Thank you.)

[Linsey]

What's Linux?

I'm sorry Tony, but I see nothing with the word "preferences" here. I checked in my options and I checked in edit and there's nothing. WHY MUST I BE CURSED?!!! Maybe there's a different word I'm looking for? But if I do find preferences I'm not sure if I'd find the other stuff you   mentioned.

Bluedaniel, do you want me to download Adaware or just run my spybot one? I need ALL the details to kill these suckers. My interent explorer security level is on medium. I'm not sure what type of internet explorer I have. Not sure if it's 6.0 or not. Sorry. How can I check?


Hurdy Gur,
"Lost and confused" Linsey

[dan [karcher]]

Hiya Linsey,

Go to "Help," scroll down click on "About Internet Explorer."  That will show you which version you have.

Also, I'm a little confused, are you on a pc or mac?

Insofar as AdAware and SpyBot, etc., yes - DO download AdAware, here's the direct link to the download section...  http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download.

It's relatively quick and simple to install and run.

Once you have it installed, run a deepscan and we'll go from there...

[Linsey]

I have internet explorer 6.0. And I got that Adaware thing. Once I did a deep scan I deleted everything it came up with...there were 201 results, I think. I hope that wasn't a bad thing. I recognized some of the stuff on there that Spybot usually comes up with.
I'm also on a PC...or, laptop, but that would count as a PC, I think.
I'm so sorry, I forgot to post the logfile here. I didn't save it or anything...dammit. I guess I just got busy looking over the results. I looked at the logfile but didn't exactly know what to do with it. Part of me said "save it" but I didn't. Sorry.

[dan [karcher]]

All is cool, no worries.  The AdAware has the logfile saved, we can access it later.

Meanwhile, how is the puter running now?  Any popups?

Go into your program files, view by date, and tell me if any folders exist dated within the last 30 days.

Other questions...

Is your computer running at the speed you're used to?  (IE firing up, etc.)

Do a control, alt, delete to view what programs are running, are there any that look unfamiliar?  (post the list here if you can).