# Spyware - the Next Generation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314 "2004-03-19T23:58:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/1 "2004-03-19T23:58:59Z")
My home page has been unwillingly changed by these sleaze-balls: http:/any-find dot com/index.htm I thought I kept current as far as spyware or malware was concerned and I run Spybot regularly. Well, I ran Spybot but the next day that same page was my homepage. And yes, I manually changed my homepage to what it should be but it is no use. This has been the case for the last couple of days. So, maybe this is a new form of “sleaze-ware”. I imagine it has changed the H Key registry and who knows what else. I would appreciate any help in getting rid of the “scum-ware”. Just a quick mention that when I clicked their “contact us” tab, a new screen came up as if it were written by someone pretending to do you a favor. He states “if your computer has been infected by the software that changes you homepage, go to this site, download this, etc…” I found that _very_ suspect considering that very page is still in the [any-find.com](http://any-find.com) domain ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/2 "2004-03-20T00:33:36Z")
Have you tried Ad-Aware? I had a similar problem recently that Spybot wasn’t touching, but when I ran Ad-Aware it nailed it, along with a half-dozen other nasties that had been coasting under the spybot. Worth a try mabe? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/3 "2004-03-20T01:18:42Z")
Don’t run just Spybot. It picks up some stuff, but not everything. As **belladonna** suggests, you also want to run Ad-Aware, which has probably an 80% overlap with Spybot, but finds things Spybot doesn’t (and vice versa). In addition to those, you also want to run SpywareBlaster, which sets a kill bit for known ActiveX controls used to modify your machine (thus preventing them from even running), and HijackThis, which lets you manage mods to your browser. You can find these apps and many more at [SpyChecker](http://www.spychecker.com). (There should be a master spyware decontamination thread pinned to the top of the forum, we get these questions so often…) ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/4 "2004-03-20T01:30:13Z")
Thanks **BellaDonna and Cervaise** That seems to be a good idea about posting a decontamination thread. (No doubt it would have to be periodically updated). Unbelievable - computer users have to run anti-virus programs, firewalls, spyware, adware - this crap “sleaze-ware” is never going to end is it? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/5 "2004-03-20T02:24:42Z")
Ad-Aware hasn’t been able to stop the hi-jack of my IE home page setting. Nothing has… The most effective thing to do is to drop Internet Explorer. That’s a common theme/answer in these types of threads. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/6 "2004-03-20T02:29:24Z")
Heard on radio there’s at least one malware/spyware company that infects your machine with a program which repeatedly changes the homepage and annoys you with a persistent popup ad _selling a cure for programs which change homepages and dause persistent popup ads!_ What balls they have. Congress is working on a law to deal with such things. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/7 "2004-03-20T02:38:38Z")
**Mr Duality** That seems to have hit the proverbial nail on the head. As I said, it does seem _very_ suspicious that the site offering “help” to rid you of that “awful” program is using the same domain name as the damned program that caused the problem to begin with !! I hope Congress does clamp down on those miscreants. I wish Congress would also get serious about stopping spam too. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/8 "2004-03-20T05:38:25Z")
I know it’s only a workaround really, but I think the best solution is to not use IE. I only use it in the very rare instances that a page won’t load properly in Mozilla Firefox, which is waaaayy better for my surfing style anyway. Once you go Mo, you’ll never go back. ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/9 "2004-03-20T05:58:50Z")
All is not lost yet… try this program also. [http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html](http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html) I usually tell people to run AdAware and SpyBot to catch all the nasties, but when it comes to browser hijacks, this is the tool to use. I hope it helps in cleaning up your problem. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/10 "2004-03-20T20:12:03Z")
**Cardinal** I have downloaded Firefox and it seems to be working fine. **squee** I downloaded the cws shredder and it seems to have fixed Internet Explorer. (at least until the latest “sleaze-ware” hits the Internet). Thanks to all of you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/11 "2004-03-21T20:16:16Z")
So…I downloaded Mozilla. Opened…and got nothing. Zippo. No response. help? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/12 "2004-03-21T21:41:43Z")
Works well. Intuitive and speaks in plainer layperson’s terms when communicating anything in pop windows. Pretty smooth. Had to delete some file after reading some troubleshooting tips. Was very curious about firefox. but it def won’t open on my PC and troubleshooting seemed a bit more involved. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/13 "2004-03-23T00:11:03Z")
The great thing about Mozilla and Mo Firefox is that you can open new tabs in the background by clicking with your mouse wheel, which is fantastic for surfing the SDMB: “I’ll take this, and this, and this, and this thread…” all while not covering over the page of the forum with the thread links. There are also mouse gestures you can install from [http://www.mozilla.org/start/1.4/addons.html](http://www.mozilla.org/start/1.4/addons.html) This lets you go forward and back in your browser window by clicking right-left and left-right. I lurrrve it. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/14 "2004-03-23T00:27:02Z")
You might also try downloading and installing [Xteq](http://www.xteq.com/). Admittedly, this is a bit of overkill when it comes to spyware (not that overkill is a **bad** thing, IMHO), as it’s primarily designed to allow one to tweak their system, _however_ several of the functions in there _do_ enable one to easily undo changes spyware makes to their system, and adjust your system settings to make it more difficult for spyware to operate. As a bonus, it allows you to do things like speed up your machine’s boot/shutdown time and it allows you to easily change the “Welcome” screen which shows up whenever you start your machine. ---
**Author:** ![bbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbeaty)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spyware-the-next-generation/235314/15 "2004-03-23T05:17:57Z")
> [@Mr. Duality](#): > > Heard on radio there’s at least one malware/spyware company that infects your machine with a program which repeatedly changes the homepage and annoys you with a persistent popup ad _selling a cure for programs which change homepages and dause persistent popup ads!_ What balls they have. > > Congress is working on a law to deal with such things. A group is working on a lawsuit, and possibly racketeering charges (their behavior may actually be extortion.) They’re collecting user stories as informal evidence. Post your complaint at: Center for Dem and Tech: spyware complaint form > **[Spyware Enforcement - Center for Democracy and Technology](https://cdt.org/insights/spyware-enforcement/)** > >  By now most computer users have become familiar with the term "spyware," largely because they or someone they know have experienced it first-hand. Computer users are increasingly finding programs on their computers that they did not know were... Or even submit a complaint against the spyware company to the FTC: FTC consumer complaint form [https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z\_ORG\_CODE=PU01](https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq%24.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01)