This has got to be reaching epidemic proportions. I have deleted more serious spyware problems (like that coolweb shit and easywww) off more computers in the last 2 weeks than I thought possible. My home computer blew up with this shit two days ago and after **7 different programs ** to detect, remove and prevent scumware I’m STILL getting popups and fucked up messages.
Seven goddamn system scans, each one finding more and more of this godawful shit, and I’m STILL INFECTED!
WHO the FUCK makes these programs? How in the name of everything holy do they get away with this?! In my last 5 hour bout of investigating, I’ve discovered warnings on certain spyware that, if you attempt to remove it, will disable your internet connection and even cause the BSOD - and the companies ADMIT this! That their software - that reports your surfing habits so they can “helpfully” send you pop up ads, software you didn’t want, didn’t ask for and didn’t even know was being installed on your computer - can completely cripple your computer if you try to remove it!
I work tech support for some serious computing newbies. I shudder to think how much money these poor slobs will have to shell out to get their system professionally cleaned, because there’s no way they can comprehend what they’re even messing with. Fucking Christ, I can’t even beat this problem and I (reasonably) know what I’m doing! How many manhours go towards diagnosing and solving each fucking strain of this shit?
I finally gave up and posted my HijackThis log to the computercops forum in the hopes that someone can tell me how to permanently remove some of this stuff - like TVMedia - that KEEPS COMING BACK.
In fact, while I previewed this, I got ANOTHER popup. With GW’s face on it. I feel the urge to kill.
There is a special place in Hell for these low-life, shit-eating, money-grubbing ignorant skullfucks. I just know it. If I ever meet anyone connected with the programming, purchasing, or distribution of these fucking spyware programs, I will fucking spit in their face.
Will there ever be any sort of legal recourse against these companies?
I just had to deal with this. The adware scans didn’t get everything. I had to google every program they found, and then follow directions for mechanical removal in safe mode. It’s a good thing I brought my laptop home from work that day so I still had internet access.
I had a bad enough time with one computer. Sorry you’re dealing with so many!
I have no intention of starting another PC v. Apple flamewar, but I have to say that I absolutely love the fact that I never get spyware on my powerbook. I also have a laptop running xp pro, and I never use it precisely because I’m tired of dealing with that kind of crap.
Recommending or advocating an Apple would be great, if Apple computers actually were good at some of the things people use PCs for.
Speaking as an avid gamer, who spends 90% of her computer time playing computer games, both online and off, owning a Mac would do nothing for me, due to the incredibly limited selection of games that run on Apple computers.
If I were a graphics designer, or only used a PC to surf the 'Net, however, I’d probably take your advice a little more to heart.
I appreciate the advice, but recommending an Apple in a PC thread doesn’t really do much to help or solve the problems PC owners are having with spyware. All it’ll do is inevitably hijack the thread into Mac vs. PC.
I have been wondering, what about class action suits against these guys, seekng personal liability – in short, use the law to track the fuckers down and take every last cent they have? Might take awhile, but it’d be worth it. If they try to hide the money hit 'em up for tax evasion. Get bounty hunters chasing them down and breaking them down and shooting up their homes. Let’s face it, the fuckers are about as popular with the general public as child molesters, nobody’s gonna object to anything that happens to them.
I keep my system pretty clean but I just have to wonder how people who don’t know any better deal with it. I killed about 800 files off my brothers one computer 2 weeks ago. It was less than a year old and he wondered why it was running so poorly. This shit is getting so bad the law ought to go after them and throw a few in jail.
Scumware has made me reconsider my position on gun control. After having my computer totally freeze due to scumware, I set my security settings all to “disable” or “prompt”, so nearly every page I load requires me to click “No” multiple times. It slows down my web surfing by probably 10 or 20 percent, because I like to jump from site to site frequently. Even with conservative security settings, AdAware and Spybot, I still get about 10 pieces of scumware a week.
I am counting on the commercial Internet interests to put the kibosh on this shit. They must know the difficulty it causes.
By the way, what rocket scientist designed IE to allow a website to change your start page, even with a prompt? What possible benign purpose could this have? Whenever I see a window pop up asking, “Do you want to change your start page to Electric Douchebags?” I want to throw my PC in the fucking lake.
God I loathe the self appointed saviors of the world who spout such enlightment to us non belivers. That also goes for the Fucking. Periods. Between. Words.
Lemme ask you a question.
If everone in the WORLD was to take your lame ass advice and switch to mozilla TOMORROW, how long do you think it would take the malware guys to exploit it?
It’s not security holes in IE that are being exploited, it’s a deliberate mechanism designed for the installation of local software. If everyone, tomorrow, switched to a browser that didn’t support this mechanism, the spyware manufacturers would, for the most part, be shit out of luck. I don’t blame Microsoft for this; it’s a feature that ought to be useful, and it’s not their fault that some people in the world are such shitheads as to write this software. However it is an utterly indisputable fact that alternative browsers are, at present, inherently much more resistant to spyware. This is not something that can possibly be changed in the course of a week.
The reason people keep suggesting (lamely, apparently) that others switch browsers is because it fucking well works, and you may well find that you get a generally better browser out of it too. What sort of weird situation do you want here; one where people complain about problems but those with the solutions never reply because it’s somehow rude? Switching browsers is absolutely, positively the best way to stop spyware, and no matter how much this irritates you it will remain true. If you don’t want people to suggest solutions, stop fucking whinging.
Yeah, “at present” being a very operative phrase. Tell me, are you holding your breath because at some stage the Sun will expand, stripping the earth of its atmosphere? We’ve only got one at present, you know. You should probably start now.
Regardless; any exploit of alternative browsers will rely on security holes, which a) aren’t numerous, b) will be fixed once publicised and c) are generally much harder to use to get full code installed. By contrast, the attack route for IE is a deliberately built-in feature designed for software installation, one which is not going to be removed any time soon and one which is very easily exploited. This is a big difference, and if this is not obvious to you then I’m sorry, but I can’t make it any more plain.
You must have missed the part where I said I don’t blame Microsoft. I don’t think Gates is Satan, and I like many MS products. IE is just not among them. I strongly dislike OS zealots of the “get a proper OS” type, because that is a ludicrously over-the-top suggestion to remedy such a simple problem. Recommending an alternative browser is not the same, IMO, because the barrier to change is so ridiculously small. It’s a great solution to the problem, and if you persist in using IE because you believe that alternative browsers will be covered in spyware by next week, you are a fool. I’ve been using Opera for 3 years, and since starting have had precisely no spyware. None. Not a fucking sausage. This ought to tell you something.
Well I do. Microsoft implemented a system where their browser (Internet Explorer) is part of the system and had access through the same API as the user. This is bad, bad, bad security. It’s equivalent to making a copy of your door key and hanging it by the door 'cos it’s handy.
Every security patch that Microsoft have issued since has been trying to make safe a fundamentally flawed design. They are putting security cameras and fences up, but they still can’t avoid the fact that the door key is still hanging up by the door.
Good design would have been to implement a completely separate API, where the browser doesn’t access the system by the same door as the user. That way you would not continually having to be removing software that the browser has installed while appearing to be, and have the same rights as, the user.
The point about Firefox, Mozilla and other browsers is that they do not work in the same way as I.E. They are not part of the system that the user has logged into. They therefore cannot pretend to be the user. So while there is no doubt that if everyone switched then more spyware/malware/etc would concentrate on it, they could never be the security threat that Internet Explorer is.
If you want to stop getting these infestations on your computer Stop. Using. I.E.
I’m not sure that’s an entirely accurate description of the problem. Both IE and Opera run with the user’s privileges, and both have access to the same API; IE’s closer integration with some of the GUI operation really isn’t part of the problem, at least as far as spyware goes. The real problem is ActiveX, through which too much local control has been extended to untrusted websites. IE, with ActiveX disabled, is every bit as secure* as an alternative browser (it’s just that some websites won’t work very well, since they see IE and expect to have access to ActiveX). There is, believe it or not, an ActiveX for Mozilla project out there, so this naughty suggestion that Mozilla might actually be safer will no doubt be resolved in the fullness of time.
*In the context of spyware, that is. Don’t jump on me.
For what it’s worth, I’ve been browsing with mozilla for a few months now, and I can’t say enough good things about it. Tabbed browsing is great and I haven’t seen a pop-up since I bid good riddence to IE.
I’ve been using Mozilla to browse on my Mac for some time now, and have been having trouble with popups on my Windows machine. This thread inspired me to convert it to Mozilla, too. Took about ten minutes. Goodbye, popups.
