Attack of the Spyware!

white cat lover

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ACK!! How do I get rid of it all???

I opened an e-mail from a friend & it was obviously not something they sent!! I deleted their e-mail & called them to notify them that they were sending out smut.

Now, my problem? I've got something on my computer, a little icon in the bottom right corner that won't go away! A bubble keeps popping up saying there is spyware on my computer. I don't know where that bubble came from, it is a "free preview" of some spyware thingy. Yeah, well, my computer already has something I chose!!

I ran a virus scan, deleted or quarantined 2 infected files(one of which was a trojan). What else could I or should I do??

I am freaking out here.....(in case you didn't notice yet
).....I'm scared to even check my e-mail as there is info in there from places I order from....
 

natalie_ca

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There was a thread back at the end of July about the importance of checking your computer for spyware. I made a post in it telling what I do to keep my computer clean of spyware, adware, malware viruses and trojans.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...65#post1906365

For the time being it's important that you do the following:

1. Run Lavasoft Adaware

2. Download and run Dr Web's Cureit

That should clear up your current spyware issue.
 

diego

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

ACK!! How do I get rid of it all???

I opened an e-mail from a friend & it was obviously not something they sent!! I deleted their e-mail & called them to notify them that they were sending out smut.

Now, my problem? I've got something on my computer, a little icon in the bottom right corner that won't go away! A bubble keeps popping up saying there is spyware on my computer. I don't know where that bubble came from, it is a "free preview" of some spyware thingy. Yeah, well, my computer already has something I chose!!

I ran a virus scan, deleted or quarantined 2 infected files(one of which was a trojan). What else could I or should I do??

I am freaking out here.....(in case you didn't notice yet
).....I'm scared to even check my e-mail as there is info in there from places I order from....
The thing about spyware too is that your anti virus/spyware software will not pick up these things in an email before you open it, same with anything you download. It must be already running on your pc before it is detected, yay.
After you do your scan, you want to make sure the infected file has been deleted from your PC.
Oh yea the free preview is what the company does to try get you to buy their software, and usually it says there is like 60 or several hundred spyware files on your pc, if your run your own it usually only finds 1, that 1 being the 1 that says you have spyware. Its really nice of these people to do that eh.

Originally Posted by Yorda

I've had good luck using this in the past and picked up things the virus scan I used to use will miss: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
I recommend this too, I use trendmicro software and occassionally do a house call just to make sure everything is sweet. It is recommended that you turn off your system restore when doing the scan coz that way it has access to every single file (some files are protected by system restore, therefore are not scanned) then once all the files have been ID'd you just need to delete them all, restart your pc and turn system restore back on.
 

liza24

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i download all my free software from www.majorgeeks.com

i have AVG Anti-Spyware Remover 7.5

i have Advanced Windows care personal, which also helps with slow running computers and such.

I have Spybot search and destory, wich helps with both trojans and spyware/maleware.

pm me if you have any questions, i work on comps as a hobby
 

diego

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

There was a thread back at the end of July about the importance of checking your computer for spyware. I made a post in it telling what I do to keep my computer clean of spyware, adware, malware viruses and trojans.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...65#post1906365

For the time being it's important that you do the following:

1. Run Lavasoft Adaware

2. Download and run Dr Web's Cureit

That should clear up your current spyware issue.
Originally Posted by Liza24

i download all my free software from www.majorgeeks.com

i have AVG Anti-Spyware Remover 7.5

i have Advanced Windows care personal, which also helps with slow running computers and such.

I have Spybot search and destory, wich helps with both trojans and spyware/maleware.

pm me if you have any questions, i work on comps as a hobby
It is unnecessary to run anymore than 1 anti-spyware program having more than 1 often causes spyware not to be found coz they cancel each other out when looking for a particular type of spyware. As long as you keep the anti spyware software that came with your anti virus software up to date it will work fine. Except in the case of Norton, that has to be something that was designed by Microsoft, thats how crappy it is.
 

lunasmom

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Do you use Yahoo! toolbar?

If not, download that, there is a FREE copy of Norton Antispyware included. That's the only thing I have found to actually get rid of the spyware these days. Adware by Lavasoft, spybot Search & Destroy, and AVG all just get rid of the cookies associated with the Spyware.
 

lunasmom

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Originally Posted by DIEGO

It is unnecessary to run anymore than 1 anti-spyware program having more than 1 often causes spyware not to be found coz they cancel each other out when looking for a particular type of spyware. As long as you keep the anti spyware software that came with your anti virus software up to date it will work fine. Except in the case of Norton, that has to be something that was designed by Microsoft, thats how crappy it is.
That's the case ONLY if you run the Antispyware in Realtime...i.e. it's monitoring all the time, just like your antivirus program.

If you don't have the software running in realtime (which many don't default to that during the installation) then you have no problems.
 

natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by lunasmom

That's the case ONLY if you run the Antispyware in Realtime...i.e. it's monitoring all the time, just like your antivirus program.

If you don't have the software running in realtime (which many don't default to that during the installation) then you have no problems.
I don't like having many things running in the background, so I only run my spyware when I want to. I do however have my virus scanner on all of the time. Never turn that off unless you are not connected to the internet, especially if you use an OS above 98SE.
 

kaylacat

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I use xoftspy and I swear I havn't found anything that compares. You have to pay for it though. I also use adaware.
 

diego

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Originally Posted by lunasmom

That's the case ONLY if you run the Antispyware in Realtime...i.e. it's monitoring all the time, just like your antivirus program.

If you don't have the software running in realtime (which many don't default to that during the installation) then you have no problems.
Can't say that I've heard of an anti-spyware program that runs in realtime since spyware isn't detected before its already on your PC. Leaving that aside though, 2 years ago I had Adware, ccCleaner and spybot S&D on my PC, when one day my PC got completely @$$
ed by spyware, there wasn't a single technician in NZ that could fix the problem. So I ended up calling a tech all the way over in the US for help, his first question "do you have anti spyware software installed?" as soon as I mentioned I had 3, he said theres your problem. They do often counter each other and depending on the spyware they will neutralise each other meaning you can't get rid of the spyware, which unfortunately is so true. After about 30mins of following his instructions over the phone and getting nowhere, he said "I'm sorry to say, but you will need to nuke your hard drive" talk about gutted. Couldn't save anything incase I saved just 1 spyware program and reinfected my PC. Its not as bad as a virus, but nearly. Anyhoo since then I have only 1 anti spyware program and never faced another problem since, except for security pop ups telling me that a certain site, has the potential of a phishing site, but thats non spyware related.
 

gingersmom

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Originally Posted by DIEGO

It is unnecessary to run anymore than 1 anti-spyware program having more than 1 often causes spyware not to be found coz they cancel each other out when looking for a particular type of spyware. As long as you keep the anti spyware software that came with your anti virus software up to date it will work fine. Except in the case of Norton, that has to be something that was designed by Microsoft, thats how crappy it is.
NOT true, as Spybot picks up spyware that LavaSoft Ad-Aware does NOT. I run both after running McAfee.
 
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white cat lover

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Yeah. I'm getting some stupid bubble that pops up saying I've got Malware(sp?) on my computer. But, the "bubble" isn't from my anti-virus software!!
I can't get the blinking icon from VirusProtect Pro to go away!!!!!!
I didn't download it & I have no clue where it came from, but argh do I ever want it to go away!!!
 

liza24

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Originally Posted by DIEGO

It is unnecessary to run anymore than 1 anti-spyware program having more than 1 often causes spyware not to be found coz they cancel each other out when looking for a particular type of spyware. As long as you keep the anti spyware software that came with your anti virus software up to date it will work fine. Except in the case of Norton, that has to be something that was designed by Microsoft, thats how crappy it is.
i have to differ. some programs only look for certain things, and therefor dont get EVERYTHING. i do this alot, and NEVER had a problem
 

lunasmom

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

Yeah. I'm getting some stupid bubble that pops up saying I've got Malware(sp?) on my computer. But, the "bubble" isn't from my anti-virus software!!
I can't get the blinking icon from VirusProtect Pro to go away!!!!!!
I didn't download it & I have no clue where it came from, but argh do I ever want it to go away!!!
Hi Nat!

Here, read this link: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic98219.html

Download those two tools you need to fix it.

This should save you a lot of time and energy (and less swearing).

After you finish with that then reboot and run your AV software, followed by Antispyware software.

Good luck!
 
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white cat lover

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OK. Next question! I have a hard time knowing what's "real" & what isn't...... a pop-up came up saying that my ISP has been tracking me entering "adult sites"....are they really doing that?


I just keep getting various pop-ups saying "download this anti-virus/spyware", etc. that are starting to freak me out!


ETA: Thanks for the link lunasmom!! That is exactly what was happening. Keep your fingers crossed that the dl I am doing right now will get rid of that!
 

liza24

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dont click on popups!

there figuring you will click on it. Then it will direct you to so and so site, and they can download a tracking cookie on your comp to show what sites you have been to.
 
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white cat lover

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Well, I owe one gigantic huge thanks to lunasmom!!! The link you provided directed me to DL something.....and well....the stupid VirusProtectPro objects in the bottom right corner are gone!!!


I've got everything gone..... I'm still
though!
 

lunasmom

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Good to hear! That site has never failed me


once you mentioned the name of the spyware/virus, that helped a lot in finding a solution.

Still make sure your A/V software is up to date and run a scan on your computer. Sometimes these things can leave little extras that we don't want!!!
 
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