Tons of popups? Homepage changed?
 

You almost definitely have spyware.

Here are some programs that will help you out:


Ad-Aware - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Spybot-S&D - http://www.safer-networking.org/

HiJack This - http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en...ols/hijackthis

CWShredder - http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products...al/CWShredder/

Spywareblaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

The google bar + Ad Aware works great for me.

Another good one is spysweeper, which I highly recommend.

I sent a muffin basket to the maker of HijackThis, because it works so well.

Thanks, I've needed these for a while, especially the hijacked home page download.

I also recommend Norton Internet Security. It is a built in ad-blocker, firewall, and my favorite part: It deletes the ad's on the websites. Stop the problem before it ever starts.

Just used the Spysweeper trial today and it worked its little tail off!!!!! 205 found and quarantined files and cookies!! And here I was cussing IE....I delete cookies about once a month, but never thought so many were hidden in there as spyware. Spysweeper rocks!!!:cool:

I'd still cuss IE - it's the one that allows all that stuff to get on there.

I just had this problem and Ad-Aware worked perfectly

I use Start Guard for home page hi-jacking. I also use AdAware and Spybot S&D. For ad blocking I've had AdSubtract for a few years and really like it. It does a lot more than just block ads.

...and this one time, at band camp. woOt?

I used Ad-aware and it found 13,000 files.

Yeah, im dealing with this shit on my parents computer... its a pain in the ass. CWShredder isnt even working for me... CWS isnt functional anymore, but its still got a ton of registry entries for me to clean up.... my laptop however, no microsoft winblows equals no holes in java VM...

FYI, they just updated SpyBot.... version 1.3 is out now.

http://www.safer-networking.org/

yea ;) Spybot and Ad-Aware rule!

pestpatrol is the best

BRILLLIANT !! just what I needed, BIG TKS.

The problem with theese programs is that it only troubleshoots the problem... not the root cause.

The real problem is the security holes in Windows and Internet Explorer.

For anyone who REALLY wants to end their spyware, adware, malware, popup, browser hijack problems needs to look into alternative methods of browsing.

Personally I use the Opera browser. It's got some great new features thaT IE doesn't have and it's about 1000x more secure and is updated often. It's got built in popup blocking and it has tabbed browsing, it keeps all the open pages inside one application. Now you don't have to have 10-20 instances of Internet Explorer open when doing research.

Another major alternative to IE is Firefox, which I hear has a more friendly interface than Opera... I would use it except it lacks support for Java which is nice to have.

Firefox has Java support when you install the Java plug-in for it :)

That said, there are many threads out there about what browser is the best. It all comes down to a matter of personal opinion, but at least the threads out here can help you/give you your options.

Here is a good thread on it.

Instead of making another thread, I'm contemplating creating a CD with the following on it that I can sell to friends at the cost of the CD-R:
- Adaware (With recent update that will hopefully update program)
- Spybot (Same as above)
- HiJack This
- CWShredder
- Might throw in Mozilla 1.6/FireFox/Opera to give them a choice of other Browsers so they don't constantly keep on crapping out their computer
- Contemplating on throwing in an Email Client so they don't need to use Outlook
- A copy of Zone Alarm to throw on their computer
- A copy of AVG with hopefully most recent patc
- A tutorial for the whole CD so that they can go through it step-by-step

Now, are there any other free programs that I should put on this? I'm trying to make this as useful and also make it free and legit.
Thanks

i too maintain a "utilities" disk that i update constantly.

i would add:
- spywareblaster 3.1 ( http://www.javacoolsoftware.com )

i use and adware 6.0 and spybot S&D 1.3 combo with norton anit virus and i always always used firefox (www.mozilla.com) firefox will do just about everything IE does and has a builtin popup blocker. i did just run into a problem yesterday with haveing about 5 DSO exploits that spybot would find. and it would delete them but they would keep comming back. if that happens i ended up hunting down their registry entries. turns out spybot and adaware sometimes only clear they keys and don't delete them. if you delete the keys of the reoccuring DSO exploits they never come back. after i did that i've been clean since then. good luck.

AAAAAA!!!! I frickin HATE IT!!!

My laptop is crawling with this shit! Ad-aware and Spybot S&D come up totally clean.... yet the pop-ups keep popping up!!

What else should I try??

This is why I run Linux on any machine I actually want to get work done on. :grumble:

One of our laptops at home is having this problem...Hijack this identifies the problem SAYS it takes off but then it happens all over again. We have tried every program mentioned in the first thread...does anyone else have a suggestion....the "homepage" its resetting to is res://wdczx.dll/index.html#37680 which is a "search" page.

I use a macintosh

for those that STILL get popups and redirects even with AdAware and Spybot....

1. make sure you have the most recent program versions and updates. Adaware puts new reflists out on a weekly basis. Spybot, at a less frequent rate. Current versions of AdAware is 6, build 181. Spybot 1.3. also make sure that there are no products being ignored (checked) inside Spybot's "ignore products" settings.

2. if you're running XP, open the task manager (Ctrl-Alt-Esc), and look at the "Processes" tab. if you aren't familiar with the processes, search google. it will most definitely tell you what is a legit system process and what isn't.

3. keep your task manager open when opening your browser. watch which processes start using CPU power. those'll be a good indication if you have a browser hi-jacker. (caveat --- if services.exe starts taking a huge load, you probably have something that's integrated itself into your system files.)

4. check your "services". be sure to disable "messenger" (check BlackViper's XP services tweak page for more info) and anything that is not system required.

5. run virus scans. you should visit http://housecall.antivirus.com anytime your machine starts acting up. EVEN IF YOU ALREADY HAVE ANTI-VIRUS INSTALLED. consider it "a second opinion".

6. make sure your operating system is patched.

7. use alternative browsers. if IE has a problem, use firefox or something other than IE until the problem is fixed.


there are probably a few other steps you could try.... but that will usually cover it.

*mods* - maybe it's time we collectively wrote a pdf manual on this stuff.... that way anyone with these problems could just download it and use it. or pass it along...

just an idea.

soopafreek I can honestly say we did all of that (with the exception of googling the tasks...I was 99% sure I knew them all)....we ended up doing an windows reinstall

that should do it... :-)

I had a hijacked homepage and pop ups after surfing some porn
sites i couldnt get rid of it with spybot or ad aware so i system restored back a week or so and that worked

And an excellant idea at that. Probably would need to be updated frequently, however.

probably... that's why it's better to do one collaboratively online than something in print. if anyone's interested in helping, i will probably start something up. just gotta figure out a few logistics.

Another great resource can be found here.

Matt covers the basics that are here, and also focus a bit on preventing infection in the first place.

As a computer service business, we work on at least two or three systems per day with these problems.

EDIT: soopafreek, if you're interested in doing this, pm or e-mail me and we'll talk. I would love to do something like this, and could provide hosting

Should make a Wiki type thing =p

i guess i'll start writing up a draft and post it as a pdf. i read that overclocker's article. it's great. i'm not sure that ALL of the programs they listed are necessary, but hey, if it works....

anyway, i'll get writing and post something up next week.

fallon, i've no clue about doing a wiki entry. if after we get this somewhat ready, go to town.... :-)

I have found that "Stopsign" works great. It is however a pay real time virus scanner. The bonus with them, is that if you are still having problems after you scan, they will request a copy of your registry and develop a solution for you. I had a Hijack that would not go away, but they found the problem and sent me a custom program to kill it. Took them about 72 hours. You can find them at: www.stopsign.com.

Adware has so thoroughly trashed my OS that using HijackThis to remove it doesn't solve all the problems I have. I've found some relief by switching to Mozilla. It sucks for browsing porn threads (why people post so many ridiculously large images per page, I'll never understand), but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I'm going to have to reinstall Windows if I don't get a new computer first. As much as I prefer IE's performance over Mozilla's, I will never run it on any computer I own again.

bulletproof is good. very good.

Had all the same problems recently. I did the usual...Norton, spybot, CWS shredder, Ad-aware and them some. I found a couple of the "free" adware programs were totally evil and either identified problems that didnt exist (but could easily be fixed for $19.95) or were spyware themselves. One program from Webroot did an excellent job, but they kept returning. I had casinopalazzo, coolwebsearch, XXX dialer and so many other fancy names I cant even remember. I found many of the problems were either in the windows temp files or system32. If you find that you delete a file and it returns, then it has a zipped copy somewhere in your system. Those were impossible to find, but I stopped those by deleting qttask.exe. This file was being used by one of the CWS variants to reload itself every 8 minutes. It became a battle of wits....and the viruses won. When I found a keylogger and a worm from hell that deactivated my Norton Tools I just backed up and wiped the system. Interestingly enough every time I burned a backup CD I would have to remove a "hidden" file immediately before the burn that one of the trojans was adding to the CD. Sneaky bastards. My computer now runs faster than a virgin at band camp. To think that at one time the term "trojan" brought a smile to my face. Good Luck.

Hmm, running Norton's AV, Ad-aware, Spybot, PestPatrol, and Spywareblaster. AdSubtract Pro for ads and pop-ups. The real funny thing is I don't run a firewall. I wonder how much my router actually blocks, hmm..

These programs work great....but sometimes you will need to reformat your computer to get rid of all the spyware.

The best thing to do would be to use Mozilla Firefox http://www.mozilla.org I've been using this for months and I've had no spyware, I run ad aware and use Ie, and in about a week it's crawling with spyware. GET FIREFOX

°°°

I know those goods and they're a gift from heaven .

Thx to the makers of them , and to the poster of this thread

alright so I downloaded and ran all four of those programs and I still have a couple of stupid things called Home Search and Extended Search that I can't get rid of in the add/remove program thing and won't leave after running these programs!

i prefer adaware and bps spyware remover. its effective for me.

also, upgrade to windows xp sp2

woah...spybots everywhere..thanks guys for the help !

And TFP comes through for me once again! Thanks.

microsoft antispyware beta

Another important thing, especially if you have broadband internet, is the use of a hardware/NAT firewall. It won't help with nastys that install themselves through IE/Firefox, but it will help against virus & popups sent in other ways (Windows Messenger, for example).

I just downloaded ad-aware and it found 49 objects.

I'm not really sure how this works, I took the free version so does this mean i have to do manual updates? Manual scans? and does it work like anti virus and blocks anything that try's to get onto my system? Or do i have to scan like 5 times a day to keep my system cleaned?

Thanks.

I don't think that any spyware scanners will block spyware. Spybot-S&D comes with its "Resident" which watches your registry for changes to startup programs. The best way to keep your system spyware-free is to not use IE, use a firewall, and watch what sites you go to and what you download.

Thanks..I thought this was a program that i needed to keep open at all times.

I have nothing bad to say about IE, This is the first time ever i have had spyware remover on this system (New) and never had it on my old computer (roughly 5 years)..And i have never really had any problems at all.

I just thought i would get spyware remover just to be safe as this is a new system.

Even on my old system i went atleast 2 years without anti virus and just a firewall, Then decided i should get some anti virus..got home scanned the whole system and it was clean :D

Anyone else notice some sites have found ways around Firefox's popup blocker? Ive been getting a few popunders here and there recently.

all of those programs are so cool!!! unfortunately they can't remove the spyware on my pc right now

I still keep getting pop-ups. I have wondows xp sp2, ad-aware se, pop-up stopper pro, and adware away. What else do I need? Everytime i place counter-strike, pop-ups keep coming up and i still don't know how to stop them. Is my computer hacked?

You may have some malware running that

a) doesn't get cleared/detected by your anti-spybot stuff
b) is actually a virus. have you downloaded an AV program?

Your only recourse in some cases is to rebuild the computer from scratch.

Also, are you running from behind a firewall? If so - you don't have the DMZ turned on for your computer, do you? Some people do this to make gaming easier...but what it really does is put your computer -- naked, so to speak -- directly out on the net.

Yeah, as Firefox gets more popular, people start working on ways around teh popup blocker.

Using flash to launch a new window seems popular.

I feel good. I just cleaned my computer of any VD's with adware, spyware and pop up blockers.
lifes good with a faster computer.

I recently had something like this. I had some nasty stuff that kept regenerating "ebates" registry entries. And some program called elitehzd32.exe kept embedding itself in my system process. Ad-Aware, Spybot, and HijackThis were powerless. I had to reformat... the day after reformatting. That was a record for me.

Every 10-15 seconds, an ad would popup. Made games unplayable.

I tried that site, and it was so slow I had to stop. It took 5 minutes to scan 60 files. Maybe I need to try at a different time of day?

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ works best with internet explorer.. its the only time i ever use IE! the 6.0 beta version will clean viruses and spywares.

had the same problem, installed full mcafee suite and no problems

wow! nice info! I just wished I would have read this topic a week ago. had to do a factory restore of a pc at the office last week due to the popups and homepage hijacking, even after running adaware, and spybot s&d. thanks for the tips, will definitely come in handy next time...

My mother's computer is now protected. Thanks!

Hi-Jack This works great if Adaware or Norton cant detect the spyware. Just choose what shouldnt be running

I've found spybot, adaware and even hijack this to be ineffective against my recent incredibly stupid act. Long live ewido.

Hi eveybody,, hope somebody can help me.. lately when surfing around the web and well truthfully around some adult sites, I go to click on a link and it will take me to a different site, but the page url iswww.accessbestpharmacy.com, but the actual website that loads is something different, so that when clinking on links in that site it will always bring up a google search for just random things.. I've used sypot, adaware, hijack this,, but seems to find nothing. Although when i used spybot, it found some www.accessbestpharmacy.com urls, but i delted them.. they never came back but i'm still having the same problem.... anybody else have this??? thanks for the help

(Sigh) After years of being careful, I let my guard down and installed software from a questionable source and now I am greeted daily by some porn pop-up (even while IE and Firefox are closed)

Thanks for this thread... hope I can scrub this one out...

Jason

Im having similar problems as jusolson00.
for me ad-aware doesnt seem to want to finish running. that or it pauses halfway for an extremely long time...

even with tfproject.org, i have to type that into the search, then click the link. f i type it into my address bar, it says page not found.
Advice would be appreciated!

my homepage got hijacked a while back and after a frustrating effort to fix it I just deleted the shortcut to IE onthe desktop and drag/dropped the homepage link to Comcast to the desktop where the IE shortcut used to be.

may be a ghetto solution but it works for me...any reason why it's a bad solution ?
the hijacker was this :
es://shdocpl.dll/blank.htm < don't click on this !

this this has come up again and again recently:

A new program to fight against malware of all kinds.

[ANCHOR]Sandboxie[/ANCHOR] (Homepage)(Filehippo)(5/5)(W) - "Sandboxie runs your programs in an isolated space which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programs and data in your computer." - Think of it as a condom for your computer. You get to do all that dirty stuff while still able to tie of that sandbox and throw it away--squeeky clean. I always run my browsers sandboxed. ([ANCHORLINK=Sandboxie]link here[/ANCHORLINK])