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Spyware and Adware Removal Guide
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: Canis Lupus
Tweaktown just relased a handy dandy guide on removing those pesky spyware and adware from your machine.
Here's a taste:
Instead of taking the easy way out doing the format and reinstall of your OS, one of the key things I always look for is Spyware as it is said by many sources that 9 out of 10 computers which are connected to the Internet are infected with some type of Spyware - and I’d believe it. Now you’re probably wondering what is Spyware aka adware, malware, trackware, scumware, thiefware, snoopware and sneakware? Basically Spyware are hidden stealth-like programs that run in the background which make money for their publishers (usually who offer freeware software, cheap software or advertising for adult-related websites) by reporting how you surf the Web and even sending back personal details such as name and e-mail addresses without you usually knowing what is happening.
Check out the full article here.
Posted by: macknight
thanks for the link...i've been installing adaware on client computers for some time now with good results, and know several other techs that like it as well...good to that members of the online community agree too.
l8rz!
Posted by: Ocean
article is blank for me. so uh my contribution: the stuff in my sig 
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
 Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ocean
article is blank for me. so uh my contribution: the stuff in my sig |
Is that all it takes to keep a PC clean? :P
Here's my anti-spyware software:
Linux
Posted by: RomeroCamaro
I don't really know if this link was included anywhere, but here it is anyway for a trial version to spyware doctor, which has worked wonders on my computer, which WAS infested with ALOT of spyware from kazaa and porn and others, and funny thing is, I don't surf porn. I know; you don't believe me, but that's besides the point.
Here's the link to get spyware doctor, and if you don't wanna click there, just email me at RomeroAcura@netscape.net and I can just send the program your way. It's a free to try program anyways, so there's no infringment going on.
http://www.download.com/3000-2094-10293213.html
Gabe Romero
Posted by: armystud0911
Maybe I'm just cursed, but I ussually get some stupid homepage virus that NOTHING can lick except firefox and reformatting. I have tried it all, Nortons, Macafee, Trendmicro, adaware, spybot, hijackthis, spyware doctor, GIANT, zone, and a half dozen others. They always detect the problems and fix them but once I close the browser and reopen it, they're back, meaning that they still haven't detected the source of the misery.
Posted by: redwench
that means the source of the misery is you. youre leaving restore on, you have active x enabled, or a program you have installed deliberately is reinstalling whatever it is.
Posted by: armystud0911
well, I do know about turning off activex and restore, I asume the problem to be the latter but I have no idea what could be doing it, my point is that all that software has done jack for me, oh sure sure it picks up little things on the way (I had that accursed bonzai buddy long ago) but for many serious problems, nothing is as effective as just using a linux kernal or firefox, thank God for open source!
Posted by: redwench
it detects and removes the junk, which is what its supposed to do. that said junk keeps getting put back on is hardly the fault of the removal software. do you complain about cleaners when the floor gets dirty again?
Posted by: RomeroCamaro
If all these replies and everything from me and everybody else doesn't work, why then don't you go the easy way out and do the format and stuff. THEN, the moment you have everything back in your computer the way it was, and BEFORE you connect to the net the first time, then why don't you consider a firewall. I don't know if you've tried it or not, but I think that's worth a shot. I know the firewall I have, VCOM System Suite 5.0 comes with free updates with their software, and each time something tries to get into my computer, then it asks me if "something.something.something" is trying to connect to "something.address.com", do you want you computer to access the network? Then you say yes or no.
When I see something that don't recognize from the programs in my computer, I check the box that says "remember my answer" and then click no. And with auto updates from any firewall software package, you won't have to worry about new adware or trojans or anything that'll come in to the computer without first being scanned for or downloaded, then asking you for confirmation.
What do you think?
Posted by: TheHairyOne
I just switched my household over to Adaware, Firefox, AVG, and Zone Alarm. <3 my zone alarm!
Weirdest thing thou...all my computers handle Firefox fine except for T'kron's old machine. It works for some things (Google), but not for others (this board). Anyone have an idea what might be causing this? Its a 404 error, fyi.
Posted by: redwench
this board, and others, can crash firefox at times. but it should work fine the majority of the time. what else is running?
Posted by: TheHairyOne
5 of 6 machines haven't had any problems with Firefox+This Board.
Then again, T'kron had toys on his old comp that I don't have. Let me check...
From the Close Program window:
Explorer
Zlclient
Mm_tray
Directcd
Mmdiag
Rundll32
Em_exec
Rampage
Systray
Shpc32
In the active icons section of the tool bar:
Task Scheduler
RAMpage
Volume 8)
NVIDIA Settings
Adaptec CD Wizard
MUSICMATCH jukebox (I wonder what he was listening to?)
Zone Alarm
Posted by: redwench
nothing exciting there. probably just a matter of the exact combination of software its running. you can search firefox forums at mozilla if its really bothersome. but apparently, the new release is still a bit buggy 
Posted by: NyGulkuk
Quote:
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Originally Posted by TheHairyOne
Weirdest thing thou...all my computers handle Firefox fine except for T'kron's old machine. It works for some things (Google), but not for others (this board). Anyone have an idea what might be causing this? Its a 404 error, fyi.
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Try a new Firefox profile. Close Firefox and run one of these commands:
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Firefox.exe" -p
or:
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Firefox.exe" -ProfileManager
(adjust path as necessary if FF is not installed in the default location)
See if the problem exists in the newly created profile (name it something different than your original profile).
Firefox 1.0 has not crashed on my system at all (installed 11/9).
Posted by: TheHairyOne
Actually, I am going to put that problem on the back burner for a bit.
I downloaded Spybot and started sweeping. All the machines I have checked so far have DSO Exploit. While it claims to clean it up, when I check again, its back. Adaware sweeps clean, as does AVG. Anyone have any ideas what this is and how to fix it?
Posted by: NyGulkuk
If you have all your critical Windows updates don't worry about the DSO exploit problem. The non-correction of this problem is a bug in SSD; or use this:
DSOstop2
and it shouldn't show up in SSD any more.
Posted by: TheHairyOne
DSOstop2 fixed the DSO problem on one machine and reduced it on two others from 5 occurences to 4. DSO Stop claims that my system is protected.
One machine has turned up something new. 8(
Download Accelerator Plus ads, 3 entries
When I try to fix them, it claims to fix one and unable to fix two. Any ideas what to try for this one?
DAP is a program my father installed on my machine along time ago. I think its a Beta version. I uninstalled it last night, but apparently its not all gone. 8(
Posted by: NyGulkuk
I don't know about DAP, can only refer you here:
Articles - The home of Spybot-S&D!
Is your SSD fully updated?
Posted by: TheHairyOne
I found an article pertaining to DAP ads, but no information on how to remove it if Spybot failed.
SSD was just downloaded today. Part of the install was running an updater, so I would guess that it is the most recent version.
Posted by: redwench
if youve uninstalled it run a registry cleaner if its still showing up.
Posted by: TheHairyOne
Oh boy, moving up to bigger problems...
Last night AVG found and removed 3 viruses from my son's computer. Today, when I booted it, I received the following error:
714: qttask.exe - No Disk
X There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into the drive \Device\Harddisk1\DR3.
Cancel Try Again Continue
I can close this dialog and the system seems to run fine, but the dialog pops every time the machine boots.
Posted by: TheHairyOne
Quote:
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Originally Posted by redwench
if youve uninstalled it run a registry cleaner if its still showing up.
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Anyone have a link to a good reg cleaner?
Posted by: redwench
rofl. thats just one of the programs for quicktime. remove qttask and tkbell from the startup list in msconfig. if he actually needs quicktime for stuff (highly unlikely), it should be thoroughly uninstalled, then reinstalled.
Posted by: TheHairyOne
Trying so hard not to sound too ignorant but...where do I access msconfig?
Posted by: NyGulkuk
start>run
Posted by: TheHairyOne
BAH! I tried to run the executable directly, but you can't. Figures it was something simple. Now to see if it fixed the problem...
...no more start up error!
They need to re-write that article. All they really need is a link to this site... 8)
Posted by: Soulhealer
Hi everyone,
I'm Tkron's older son. Hairyone pointed me to this site and I've been busy installing Adaware, Firefox, ZoneAlert, and Spybot: Search and Destroy. I think my computer is now clean, but I can no longer surf the web using Firefox whenever Zonealarm is running. If it's enabled, Firefox cannot resolve hostnames, if zonealarm is manually disabled then Firefox works fine. I don't think it's a problem with Firefox, since IE has the same problem. I can access my firewall/router when Zonealarm is enabled, but other than that I can't seem to access the internet. Everything was working just fine this morning (ie I could browse the web with Zonealarm enabled), but something mysteriously changed in the past 10 hours and now ZoneAlarm is silently interfering with Firefox.
Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Soulhealer
Posted by: NyGulkuk
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Soulhealer
Hi everyone,
I'm Tkron's older son. Hairyone pointed me to this site and I've been busy installing Adaware, Firefox, ZoneAlert, and Spybot: Search and Destroy. I think my computer is now clean, but I can no longer surf the web using Firefox whenever Zonealarm is running. If it's enabled, Firefox cannot resolve hostnames, if zonealarm is manually disabled then Firefox works fine. I don't think it's a problem with Firefox, since IE has the same problem. I can access my firewall/router when Zonealarm is enabled, but other than that I can't seem to access the internet. Everything was working just fine this morning (ie I could browse the web with Zonealarm enabled), but something mysteriously changed in the past 10 hours and now ZoneAlarm is silently interfering with Firefox.
Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Soulhealer
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I've never used ZA, but it sure sounds like it is the problem. Can you go into its' configurations and remove any rules/change any settings to do with Firefox? Maybe you can remove it from the list and the next time you start Firefox ZA might give you a pop up to allow Firefox to access the internet?
BTW, welcome to OTS!
Posted by: redwench
remove all the ZA program settings and start over make sure its allowing your connection. if you cant ping an ip, its not related to the browser.
Posted by: TheHairyOne
Interesting. I had this problem when I was running through DSL, but not cable modem. Now, I happen to know you have the same cable-modem ISP that I just left. I am surprised ZA is causing such problems. However, I think I put the fix for this up in another thread. On the Software forum, look for DSL + Zone Alarm or something like that.
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