Help me remove "gator" and ALL related files

[Don W]

Is there any way anyone on FR could get a list of the files and registry entries to delete and alter and post them here, or freepmail said list to me?

Gator has corrupted my IE so badly, and the registry, that I can't use IE at all, and Outlook won't even launch.

At first, the problem was so bad that the computer ended up in a constant startup loop, partially loading, then restarting. I found some missing files and re-installed them, but no joy. I ended up downloading and installing Netscape 7.1 (using Netscape 4.7) just to get back online, even after reloading ALL of win98SE and a pair of spyware removal tools.

ANYONE who knows how to get this crud out of my computer, PLEASE HELP!

BTW, I didn't know about gator when I downloaded bearshare 2 years ago. It took this long for the problems to develope, so please spare me the lecture. I honestly thought that I had removed the whole shebang several months ago just before I installed ad-aware.

Is there any way to remove this crud, or am I going to have to reformat my entire hard drive and start over?

Thanks, folks.

[GeronL]

Hey, some of us need to know that too

[Free Vulcan]

http://www.safer-networking.org/files/spybotsd_mainapp.exe

Spybot Search and Destroy should solve the problem.

[martin_fierro]

FREE PC PROTECTION: (Not an exhaustive list. Your results may vary. Void where prohibited. For entertainment purposes only. No wagering, please. Whattayawantfernuthin'.)

Alternative browsers: Mozilla Opera AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition: Free anti-viral protection Popup ad killers: Bayden Systems Popup Popper: Blocks popup ads well in MSIE Shoot the Messenger: Close that friggin' Messenger in Windows XP Spyware removers: Spybot S&D AdAware MailWasher: Good for pre-screening & bouncing SPAM Windows Update: At least install the critical ones ZoneAlarm: Excellent Firewall Test your firewall from without with ShieldsUP! Test your firewall from within with LeakTest

[Just_de_facts]

Got to www.download.com and get the program Spybot Search and Destroy. Download it ,install it and then follow the instructions. After you run it, delete everything it finds.

[ambrose]

ping

[Just_de_facts]

Real cute there Ambrose

[ambrose]

Not trying to be cute. Re-formatting the hard drive is the best solution to these sort of problems. Hopefully he has been backing up his data.

[glorgau]

Get a Mac!

[Just_de_facts]

If he reformats his hard drive, much data will be scattered to the winds. If a person is asking for help, to resolve a task at this level, why would you want to put him into a DOS program and a reformat? No MOAB's to eradicate one bug.

[SoDak]

I agree with you. Gator is almost as insidious, and hard to eradicate as IE.

[airedale]

It will take some work but it can be done. First go get some free software Spybot http://security.kolla.de/news.php?lang=en and Ad Aware 6 http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ (the download link will send you to mirror sites to save bandwidth.)
After you've downloaded and installed them update them. Set a Restore Point. Delete Gator using it's remove program or the Windows Control program to add and remove programs. Then run the Spybot and Ad Aware and get rid of all the spyware it finds.
There will still be some entries in the registry. . Get a registry editor which are also free from some place like TuCows or Regedit from http://www.winguides.com/registry/ JV16 Powrtools is another good tool and can be used for free for 30 days. You can get it at: http://www.macecraft.com There are lots of other registry editors you can use and a lot of the shareware has a free 15 or 30 day trial period. TuCows is a really good source of software and has excellent reviews. http://www.tucows.com
Your going to use this software to remove all the registry entries related to gator. Actually it might be best to run this before you do anything and examine the entries related to Gator. It’s handy to know what it shows before you start removing things.. Spend some time looking.
SET ANOTHER RESTORE PONT BEFORE PROCEEDING FURTHER! Be careful if you remove the wrong things when playing with the registry you can have some real problems. Remove entries related to Gator. You can also clean other old and obsolete entries. AGAIN BE VERY CARFUL IN WHAT YOU DO! You might want to do this in stages. Start by getting rid of the Gator stuff and make sure everything is running smoothly. Set a new restore point and then tackle some more of the obsolete stuff.
Just getting rid of the spyware will speed up your system.

Good luck

[GeronL]

Where can I get some fonts for my XP?

I want book antiqua and old english

[Don W]

Well, I downloaded and installed Spybot, it found and removed 13 gator or other related spyware files, and "immunized" me against some 185 other "dangerous" files/downloads/windows. I then ran it a second time, and it told me I was "clean".

I then downloaded and installed ad-aware, ran it twice, and it too declared me "clean".

I opened IE, and sure as shooting, Gator still tried to take over. This is getting REALLY tiresome.

I suppose I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and reformat. Dang.

Any other ideas?

[Don W]

As for getting a Mac, here's a little personal observation for you.

My folks were serious Mac-heads when they first got into 'puters. I went IBM/clone before they started.

They went for cable modem as soon as it came out. I was on 33k dialup, and they were somewhat faster. I got a 56k dialup, and ended up about 20% FASTER.

I now have ADSL, and they've gone to IBM clone. The clone is more than 4X faster than the Mac using the same cable connection, in the same room, on the same power supply.

Mac? No thanks, I'll deal with the occasional mishap rather than wait forever for pages to load.

[Keeper of the Turf]

GeronL,
I thought Book Antiqua came with XP. Maybe Office installs it. Anyway, give me your e-mail and I'll send you the fonts.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

then type "format c:\", then type "yes" and press enter.

Incomplete advice = bad advice.

If formatting is truly the only option, there are steps that need to be done first. Such as, creating a system disk so the box can be rebooted in something goes wrong...and going into BIOS setup to be sure that the A: drive is the first drive the computer seeks in the boot sequence.

Also, I believe the back slash after the C: drive specification will cause that command to fail.

[FUMETTI]

Spybot is the best!!

[Always Right]

You can try a program called pest control. Its not free, but you can use it use it for free but it will be crippled. It will find all the offending files, but you must manually remove them. It finds a lot more than the free programs.