fountain1fan

i run into some sh%%%t the other night searching for some stuff . how do i get it off my comp. ive have un nastall and del it but it keeps comming back . help

Panic Button

Find the free program ad-aware, (downloads.com) download it, run the updates, and scan several times, delete the files that it finds. We run it on 700 PC's at our company, works great.

Link to download:
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-...ml?tag=lst-0-1

Strip Poker 388

iTrader: (6)

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ = free scan for viruses from that page, it will look for trojans as well,

rescan with latest ad-aware

rescan with EZ-armor with latest definitions

Bazooka (manual entries in registry)

Hijack This (gotta know what you're looking for)

the last two require manual entries, some in the registry, and some of the items in Hijack this should be left alone.

Michael1

I clean this stuff up for businesses as part of my services (cleaned a bunch of computers yesterday for a customer).

Adware and spyware can be very difficult to remove. None of the utilities will catch all of it, nor are they always able to remove it when they find it.

I use three programs which will find most of it:

Ad-aware
Spybot Search and Destroy
Spy Sweeper

You can download all of them for free. Spy Sweeper only runs for 30 days, however, while the others do not time out. You can find them by doing a search on Yahoo or Google.

After you install them, be sure to update them with the latest "definitions", which tell the program what to look for.

Now here is the tricky part. It is best to run these programs in Windows SAFE Mode, because many of the spyware programs are smart enough to thwart the removal tools. I have seen some spyware rename itself over and over. To boot in SAFE Mode, shut down your computer. Turn it back on, and while it is booting, press the F8 key about once per second. A menu will appear, with one of the items being SAFE Mode. Choose plain 'ol SAFE Mode (no networking), and hit enter. Press enter when Windows puts up a warning messsage that you are in SAFE Mode.

Run the scan with the first program (doesn't really matter which one you run first), delete the files and registry entries it finds (follow the prompts in the program). Then rerun the program until it comes up clean. If it never comes up clean, you will have to manually remove the file or registry entry. Changing the registry is tricky, and making a mistake can render the computer inoperable. I would recommend getting help at this point.

Run the other two programs and repeat.

Prevention is the key. I would recommend turning on a resident utility in Spybot called Teatimer. It watches for registry entries. Whenever the message comes up say "Deny" unless you are actually installing a program, or you recognize the program changing your registry is your antivirus program. Setting your Internet Explorer security option higher also helps. Change everything to prompt except run scripts, and run ActiveX. Say No whenever anything comes up. You'll get a lot of prompts, but at least your computer will be in tact.

Under extreme infestation, it becomes necessary to reformat the disk. If you catch the spyware early, you can often prevent that.

Hope this helps.

Michael

fountain1fan

thanks guys. i'll get the wife to run this when she gets off of third shift . you know how them nurses are work, work , work, . thank you robbie.

CMG

Juat noticed my Ad-Aware would not update, which I usually do every 2 days. downloaded new SE @ http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE...tml?tag=lst-0-1, found a ton I didn't know about, big improvement. Then loaded Spybot, found even more, thanks for all the good advice Michael

Roger 1

I`ve downloaded the Adaware SE and it shuts down my computer early in the scan. I have tried to uninstall and reload and it still does it. I have even done the scan in ''safe'' mode and that does no good either.
Suggestions?

CMG

sounds odd??? try spybot

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Searc....html?tag=list