# my computer's infected with...Hollyscoop? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computers-infected-with-hollyscoop/628303 "2012-07-15T14:52:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computers-infected-with-hollyscoop/628303/1 "2012-07-15T14:52:59Z")
Since last night, my computer’s speakers have been emitting some kind of newsstream called Hollyscoop. I didnt subscribe to this so I’m sure its embedded with malware. I can’t just shut down all my internet programs: indeed, I first noticed the problem when I was “off” the internet. Running antivirus software as we speak. any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computers-infected-with-hollyscoop/628303/2 "2012-07-15T20:35:22Z")
Ug. I logged in last week to find somehow buzzdock got activated on my damned computer. I would guess it was bundled with something that got installed? [I was foolish and let my roomie borrow my computer to play travian, so I am thinking something got ticked off because of that] but there is a way to go to the home page of buzzdock and uncheck something to remove, so perhaps you can do the same with hollyscoop? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computers-infected-with-hollyscoop/628303/3 "2012-07-15T20:43:49Z")
Did you go to the installed program list, look for it and try to uninstall it? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computers-infected-with-hollyscoop/628303/4 "2012-07-15T20:55:53Z")
Looks legit to me. Maybe your home page got switched to their site? Look through the installed programs in Windows Add/Remove Programs. Doesn’t look like malware. Something you installed may have included a option for this site. It’s easy to miss the box and uncheck it. > [@](#): > > Hollyscoop is a weekly half-hour entertainment news Television show based on a very popular pop culture and entertainment news website [Hollyscoop.com](http://Hollyscoop.com) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computers-infected-with-hollyscoop/628303/5 "2012-07-15T20:56:24Z")
Hollyscoop isn’t the infector, it’s sort of the victim of the infector. Trojans hijack computers to drive traffic to certain sites to get click/ad revenue. One such malware is [TR/Sirefef.BV.2](http://blog.teesupport.com/manually-remove-trsirefef-bv-2-permanently-eliminate-trsirefef-bv-2-trojan/). Click on the link for info about it and how to remove it (if by chance happens to be the one you have). Definitely malware, definitely not going to show up in your Remove Program list. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computers-infected-with-hollyscoop/628303/6 "2012-08-04T18:02:34Z")
I find I am incapable of accessing Add/Remove (or whatever its called in Vista). Every time I try I get a message that IE has stopped working ( I’m on Firefox) and pppthth…thats it.:mad: NOW what do I do? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computers-infected-with-hollyscoop/628303/7 "2012-08-04T20:20:51Z")
I can’t believe you haven’t taken care of this by now. Like I said, it’s not going to show up in remove program list. It’s malware, they don’t do that. In fact, it is blocking you from even trying. You have a serious malware infection. It is doing bad things with your computer. Things you are not directly seeing. Run the usual AV programs. I like [MalwareBytes](http://www.malwarebytes.org/) first. I also run [Kaspersky Rescue disc](http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/rescuedisk/) when MB doesn’t handle it. Don’t use your computer another minute for anything until you get this fixed. Remember, if you have one virus, chances are you’ve been doing unsafe things and have more. After all malware is remove, change all your passwords, etc. If there is any doubt as to it being 100% cleaned up, backup all your data, wipe the hard drive and reinstall everything.