Q.E.D., I installed the WeatherBug about a month ago and now have evil beings lurking inside my laptop. I’ve deleted WeatherBug - but I still get massive pop-ups, unwanted toolbars, and your run-of-the-mill adult links lurking on my screen.
I could very easily ask the IT dept. at my company to remedy the situation, but I fear it would call their attention to my tendency to surf during business hours.
Is there a truly “free” way to get rid of this crap? I ran a “spyware” program which identified tons of files/cookies that I recognized, but it required money to delete…
Both Adaware and Spybot are free and will detect and remove nearly all spyware between the two of them. I do recommend people use both as they seem to compliment each other nicely.
Don’t know a cure, but I can verify that WeatherBug is a royal PITA. I don’t know the identity of the diabolical fiend behind it, but it’s harder to get rid of than barnacles.
I have to deal with this stuff for a living and would highly recommend using both Adaware and Spybot (they each have some unique features and will probably catch a few things that the other misses). Make sure to update all the detection patterns before running. In Spybot, go to the Immunize screen and make sure to block known parasites and block known bad downloads. You can also use the Google toolbar to stop many popups, or use a different browser (I really like Opera) which doesn’t have a lot of the MS IE problems to begin with.
Also remember to check the following locations for nasty stuff after you have run those tools (assuming we’re talking a Windows box here):
c:\program files - look for directories of known bad stuff and delete them.
c:\winnt\downloaded program files - check the properties of any plugins by right-clicking and choosing Properties. You’ll see an indicator of where the plugin was downloaded from, if it’s associated with any adware or parasites, delete it.
c:\documents and settings - check the various user profiles for anything in \start menu\programs\startup. You’ll often find links to the scummy stuff in there which is why it keeps launching when you logon.
Check your system Registry (Start-Run-Regedit) and look under hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\windows\current version\run. You’ll find all the stuff that runs automatically at startup, if there are any entries that launch whatever nastiness is in question, delete them. Tread lightly, you can make a real mess of things if you goof up your Registry.
The best defense is to block the stuff from the get-go. Spybot, Google toolbar and alternate web browsers are your best bets.