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Adware, spyware -- How to stop this crap
vanity

Posted on 03/02/2008 7:15:35 PM PST by no nau

My computer is infested with this crap and I can't get rid of it. None of the free services can solve the problem, and I might even pay for such a service, except that all of them seem to be just folks willingly to take advantage of you and charge you more money, and possibly infect you more. Has anyone here seen this? How should I and anyone else deal with this?


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: adware; computers; getamac; help; microsoft; spyware; windows
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To: MarkL

Hadn’t heard of that one. I will check it out.


181 posted on 03/03/2008 8:29:14 AM PST by mysterio
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To: Never2baCrat
Someone already mentioned Nod32, by ESET...

We used Panda on our LAN here for three years before switching to Nod32 last year on the recommendation of a friend who's even geekier than I am. Panda is great, but Nod32 is better and very light on system resource usage.

182 posted on 03/03/2008 8:33:13 AM PST by rabscuttle385 (I have great faith in the American people. I have no faith in the American government, however.)
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To: Poser
So far I hate Ubuntu. You can’t log in as root and the file manager won’t let you do anything useful. You can’t even create a directory.

Ubuntu is for folks who just want to do normal office work. Go download Debian.

183 posted on 03/03/2008 8:34:07 AM PST by rabscuttle385 (I have great faith in the American people. I have no faith in the American government, however.)
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To: MARTIAL MONK
I called the Geek Squad and they said that I had a problem that they couldn’t fix.

I think the more pertinent question is whether they are any problems that Geek Squad can fix.

184 posted on 03/03/2008 8:34:42 AM PST by rabscuttle385 (I have great faith in the American people. I have no faith in the American government, however.)
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To: lawnguy
Doesn't all this free software "create dependence"?

There is a difference between "free" and "open source." Free can be proprietary, which is okay until the software writers screw you over with upgrades or by dropping support. We prefer both free and open source (code).

185 posted on 03/03/2008 8:36:33 AM PST by rabscuttle385 (I have great faith in the American people. I have no faith in the American government, however.)
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To: robertpaulsen

Don’t know the answer to that. I use Firefox so I never have any IE history anyway.


186 posted on 03/03/2008 8:37:20 AM PST by Wil H
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To: roamer_1; no nau
There's one thing I would add to your list: if you use the official AIM, MSN Live, or Yahoo! instant messaging clients, ditch them for Pidgin.
187 posted on 03/03/2008 8:37:33 AM PST by rabscuttle385 (I have great faith in the American people. I have no faith in the American government, however.)
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To: FreedomCalls
Why would you recommend someone BUY it from your friend?

AVG is free for personal, home use. Commercial use is a different story.

188 posted on 03/03/2008 8:45:08 AM PST by rabscuttle385 (I have great faith in the American people. I have no faith in the American government, however.)
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To: hiredhand
I swear...pissing off Mac users is like pissing off a damned bunch of democrats!

That's because most Mac users ARE Democrats....:-)

189 posted on 03/03/2008 9:03:21 AM PST by Wil H
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To: robertpaulsen
I can't get ccleaner to remove my History files, even though the box is checked. Granted, I can delete them manually or simply not keep a History file (select 0 days).

Looking at the report in CCleaner, I think it marks them for deletion (By Explorer itself) but doesn't delete them at the time.

Presumably the history will delete the next time you close and reopen Explorer.

Give it a try.

190 posted on 03/03/2008 9:16:40 AM PST by Wil H
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To: rabscuttle385
Yahoo! instant messaging clients

I think the problems may have started when my wife downloaded IM onto our computer.

191 posted on 03/03/2008 9:31:45 AM PST by no nau
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To: Wil H
That's because most Mac users ARE Democrats....:-)

Well...that explains a lot!

I just went through the list again of messages I've gotten from CERT and ISAC over the past several months and it's fairly apparent that OSX (BSD - Whatever you want to call it), is definitely affected by several applications, some of which are remote exploits.

Ah well. I might as well told some lady she had an ugly baby. :-)
192 posted on 03/03/2008 9:52:40 AM PST by hiredhand (Check my "about" page. I'm the Prophet of Doom!)
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To: no nau

Try gOS,...for web browsing , ...runs on low end and old computers....


193 posted on 03/03/2008 9:55:25 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (No Burkas for my Grandaughters!)
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To: no nau
Do a google search on each name of the malware detected and you should be able to find a way to remove it. However, you will probably have to edit your system reg. so you’ll want to back up all of your files before you do that and if you have no experience with reg editing you will be better off just formating your HD and doing a clean install after you back up all of your files.
194 posted on 03/03/2008 10:12:57 AM PST by txroadkill (Liberals believe that the only oppressed people in Cuba are the terrorist in GitMo)
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To: no nau

bookmark


195 posted on 03/03/2008 10:16:47 AM PST by LucyJo
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To: FreePaul
After installing 2008 I have been having more problems and am trying to get help. As with most programs each new version tries to take over more of the computer.

This is why I do not like all-in-wonder programs, preferring to use individual programs for AV/AT/AS/Firewall. It is much easier to diagnose issues if the services are not monolithic.

Furthermore, Most of the services provided by these programs need not run all the time- AV and firewall, surely, but for most folks, the rest is superfluous. Not only does this cause the program to be inordinately invasive, stretching it's tentacles deep into every aspect of the OS, It is also, by it's nature, very heavy on resources.

196 posted on 03/03/2008 12:10:48 PM PST by roamer_1 (Conservative always, Republican no more.)
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To: rabscuttle385
There's one thing I would add to your list: if you use the official AIM, MSN Live, or Yahoo! instant messaging clients, ditch them for Pidgin.

Thanks for the tip- I have used several IM multi-clients, having found them desirable, but have not found one that was worthy- All seem to be rather hinky... Unreliable to say the least. I will certainly be checking on Pidgin.

197 posted on 03/03/2008 12:19:57 PM PST by roamer_1 (Conservative always, Republican no more.)
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To: MARTIAL MONK

It’s a matter of winning the battle.


198 posted on 03/03/2008 12:24:37 PM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: no nau

Ping!


199 posted on 03/03/2008 12:27:55 PM PST by Logic n' Reason (Don't piss down my back and tell me it's rainin')
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To: no nau

Another vote for “Spybot, Search and Destroy” and CCleaner.

Both are free, though they ask for donations. Beware of any offers to clean your system for a price over the web. They are put out there by the same people who infested your system.

If your system is really gummed up, you may have to download Spybot and ccleaner on another system, burn to CD, then boot your system in safe mode to get them installed and running without interference.


200 posted on 03/03/2008 12:30:42 PM PST by TC Rider (The United States Constitution ? 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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