I apologise if this has been asked and answered already* At one time I had a computer infested with popups and bogus search engines. Then I downloaded adaware and ran it. For a while this solved all the problems. It also disabled a certain application who’s name begins with G. I re-installed G thinking I could be more selective next time I run adaware.
But now, when I run it it does sweet FA. I still get popups (many ‘adserver’ things which redirect to ther popups) and the bogus search engine - (incredifind - which comes up instead of valid pages far too often). I ALSO get two (always two) ‘cannot find object’ messages every time I startup the computer (I cannot work out what app they belong to) and something tries to connect to the internet 3 times in a row.
[sub](*I know there is a thread called "adaware cannot fix this, and I will look into the advice given in this post But that thread is about a more specific problem and I am hoping my problem has a more well known/general answer)[/sub].
Plus a little rant - Why did Microsoft develop an OS that allows shit like this to happen? Having paid for winXP I am fucking pissed off and disappointed because although previous OS would crash more, they never got infested with crap.
Adaware is not a running background program as is Norton AV or Anti-Spam, for example. You must run Adaware on a regular basis to free your system of nasties. I’ve also downloaded another freebie-Spybot SD, and regularly cleanse my unit with both programs. I don’t worry about popups, as Norton does a good job of handling that, but you must pay. Good luck
I can see by this post that I have missed a vital point from my OP - I am fully aware that adaware doesn’t run in the background. I do run adaware on a regular basis. I am sorry to bold that. It’s not frustration, I just wanted to make it stand out for other people making the same assumption.
Running adaware seems to have stopped having an effect.
I spend large portions of my day dealing with parasites. Some general advice:
Check with both Lavasoft and whomever makes your app and see if there are any known conflicts.
Make sure that you are updating Adaware, if you run it with old definitions it’s like running antivirus software with old virus defs - you’ll get swamped with the latest crapware out there.
Run the complete scan rather than the basic (default) scan. It’ll catch more stuff.
Consider running both Adaware and Spybot. They often catch things that the other misses.
Adaware includes “Adwatch” which is a blocking tool (rather than just cleaning existing parasites off your PC). In Spybot’s “Advanced” settings you’ll find an “Immunize” screen that lets you block known parasites, prevent changes to your home page and so on.
Neither Adaware nor Spybot catches EVERYTHING. I always do a manual check of things like the Registry, c:\program files, c:\winnt\downloaded program files (for scurrilous plugins) and the user profiles (to make sure nothing left shortcuts in the Startup folder). If crap still sticks around go to www.doxdesk.com and you’ll find lots of parasite descriptions along with manual removal instructions, that’s saved my butt a few times.
Consider using the Google Toolbar to block most popups completely. It’s free and works very well.
Sad fact is that if you get enough parasites on your PC they can really make an ungodly mess of things. I’ve had PCs so hosed that we had to reimage them completely. Rare but it happens. You might have had something like that happen.
And my personal best way to prevent 99% (if not 100%) of parasites:
Don’t use IE if you don’t have to. Try Opera, it’s free, fast, doesn’t use ActiveX (thus almost no parasites) and by pressing F12 and clicking one box you can turn off popups completely. Problem solved. I’m sure other browsers (Mozilla, etc) offer similar features.
As for why MS would make something so friendly to jackasses, I think for a long time they have lived in a bit of a bubble - automate everything, program for the lowest common denominator and don’t think how it works in the real world. I deal with their upper-level support folks and my impression is that they are learning to think more realistically and pay attention to good practices but it’s a slow and extremely painful journey. Every time there’s another massive exploit of known problems it’s a punch in the nose and nobody likes getting smacked repeatedly.
Thanks Valgrad I couldn’t have asked for a better reply!
I first downloaded adaware just a week or two ago, but I guess that’s enough time for new crap that it doesn’t know about to turn up. And I’ll get spybot.
In the past I turned my nose up at third-party versions of microsoft things. OG knows why! I will probably get opra as I seem to see nothing but praise for it.
(I’ll do all the other things too. I thought I was running a thorough version of the scan in adaware, but now that I think of it I have been choosing the ‘default’ option)
O wisest Doper of Vannin, may I offer that I downloaded both AdAware and Spybot after a previous round of this sort of discussion, and have found that they complement each other well. Spybot catches about 85% of malware ads, AdAware about 75%, but each finds stuff the other misses. So running both is a good idea.
I’ve had very pleasant results with Panicware’s Pop-Up Stopper – the only negative (and not much of a one) is that if you wish to yourself do something that results in a pop-up (i.e., “click here for an enlargement,” you must hold down the Control key to override the pop-up-blocking mechanism). It catches nearly every pop-up, almost always before they make it onscreen.
Finally, though, the ubiquitous search-engine-replacer malware is going beyond what AdAware and Spybot can control. CWShredder, for which there are a bunch of links on threads within the past month or two, is excellent at eradicating it.
Thanks PolyCarp. It is encouraging.
I tend to shift-click almost every link. Can one still shift-click links with a Stop-Up Popper installed? Holding the ctrl key as well as the shift will be no problem.
If the search engine problem isn’t solved by adaware and spybot I will look at CWShredder (although I don’t want to end up with too many parasite prevention measures installed).
Valgard gave great advice and performing his recommendations will help a lot. Perhaps the best is the switch to another browser. Opera, Mozilla or Firebird are very good, don’t allow popups, tabbed browsing and none of this stuff you get with IE. Try one of them for awhile, learn how they work, you will be pleased. But if you insist also download Spyware Blaster. Its a nice little program.
Certainly an option but MS hasn’t made it very simple - Tools-Options-Security, then you have to figure out which “zones” you’re setting a custom security level for, and then there’s at least a half-dozen different options related to ActiveX in there. I’m also suspicious that the next time one upgrades IE or installs a new service pack that security settings won’t revert back to defaults, many MS patches & upgrades have done this in the past.
(And thanks Toddly!)
The best defense is still to proactively prevent the things from installing on your PC, rather than using a cleaning tool (no matter how good) to scrape 'em off after infection occurs - parasites have to be dealt with like viruses (a point I’ve been trying to hammer home to the folks at my job responsible for defending us against this junk). Disable ActiveX, use a good popup blocker, look into third-party browsers and get something that looks for and blocks known parasites. In a corporate setting, block access to known bad URLs at your firewall. Sorry, I’m on a roll…
I don’t think that MS has done such a poor job. It’s just that since IE and different versions of Windows are so common, people doing nasty stuff will look for ways to exploit these systems. HAd everyone used Opera, the situation would be the same, though taking a different route.
Does anyone have a trusted link for spybot? I searched for it on google, but the site I got is a bit suspicious. The download filename is something different and the url where it downloads is different too.
It sets a “kill bit” in the registry that prevents malware it knows about from even installing.
I also run Spybot SD every few days, and keep both fuly updated as new definitions seem to come out about once a week.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc. Or, in English, one has nothing to do with another. You’re getting more spyware on XP because there has been a big increase in the amount of spyware on the web in the past year or so. The fact that it happened after you got XP has nothing to do with it – you’d have the same problems if you were running Win 98 or 95.
And much spyware is browser independent – people put it on their machines because they’re downloading something they want and don’t realize it’s there.
Now there is an issue with Active-X controls, which is often how spyware is installed. However, though they could be more secure, the idea behind them is perfectly reasonable – to allow more flexibility in what a web page can do. People are abusing the potential. Now, MS should have done a better job of preventing malicious use of Active-X, but they recognized the most users were more interested in the flexibility than the potential downside.
I love Panicware’s Pop-Up Stopper when I use MSIE; however, I recently switched to Mozilla Firebird, and the extensions available for that browser (I’m thinking specifically of Adblock) are really pretty good at stopping malware from infesting one’s system. Firebird has not yet allowed a popup (and permits blocking Flash pop-over ads selectively) in two weeks of heavy use.
I use Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D; I highly recommend using them to double-team your machine. AdAware runs on startup with a full scan. I run Spybot with about the same frequency, and “immunize” each time. I also leave ZoneAlarm running on my machine for the first 24 hours after each reboot, to track programs that might be trying to send data out of my machine (although I deactivate it soon thereafter because its processor usage occasionally spikes while I’m gaming, causing performance hits that are unacceptable).
Each of those programs has found maybe three items in the last six months. I still consider it much easier than troubleshooting after the fact - and I think the OP will probably agree.
What exactly does Active-X do? If I disable it, what “good” stuff will my computer not be able to do? I have been getting hit with browser hijackers like crazy lately, so this might be a good option for me, as long as I can still occasionally download things I want.
Without Active-X, you won’t see flash animations. And if you tell the browser to prompt you, it’ll pop up a dialogue box: “Do you want to activate Active-X controlls on this web page? YES or NO.” As there is flash just about everywhere now (and I also believe that java gets stopped), you’re either disabling a lot of stuff or getting that VERY annoying box, complete with sound effect (!BING!) even more often than pop up ads. I lived with it for a while, but it got too annoying.
If you are going to run a certain application that starts with a G, I guess you’re going to have to live with the crud it more than likely downloads onto your computer.
I use Mozilla and don’t use dodgy file sharing applications. Consequently I have very few problems with ad and spyware. But you do start to wonder that those who do aren’t bringing it on themselves.