eZula sucks - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Craven Morehead · 04-07-2004, 09:29 PM

Win 2K fully updated, MIE 6.0 fully updated, Spybot S&D fully updated (immunize turned on) and this peice of shit spyware still got installed on my laptop. Piss me off. In the process of running a Spybot scan to remove this shit. Spybot is great however there are so many (12,505) possibilities to check that it takes longer and longer with each update. Goes to show you how pervasive this crap has gotten.

Before anyone tells me to run some other browser, I can't, its my company's laptop. I'm stuck w/ the configuration. No user software allowed to be installed.

After 1,270 seconds Spybot found 97 problems. I just scanned it last week.

F U eZula!!!!

arrrgh.......

Mephex · 04-07-2004, 09:33 PM

What about the registry ? Have you gone in manually to check to see what's happening ?

Cynthetiq · 04-07-2004, 10:05 PM

oh craven...

here's the default answer we see here...

run a linux laptop...it's easy.

okay..now that we got that out of the way...and 97 problems doesn't necessarily mean spyware full on, could just be tracking cookies... which isn't really the same thing as spyware per se.

of course now that i said that someone is going to post how it is and blah blah blah...

cookie vs. proggie. not same thing.

Craven Morehead · 04-08-2004, 11:02 AM

"of course now that i said that someone is going to post how it is and blah blah blah..."

And that someone would be me

A handful were tracking cookies but most of it was related to eZula and Lycos Sidesearch, which I assume eZula uses. Bunch of crap in the registry, an entire program group, a desktop icon, all kinds of shit. I had just done a complete Spybot S&D scan last week and only had a few to delete then. I've never had so much as I did last night.

The strange thing is that eZula was installed yesterday and I never even knew it. I did have McAfee catch a trojan in an incoming email in the afternoon. But McAfee deleted it from the email before it did any damage. I then ran a complete virus scan to make sure.

G'damn fockwits that pull this shit. I'd love to 'return' the favor someday, somehow.

Cynthetiq · 04-08-2004, 11:09 AM

Quote:

The spyware that loved me

By John Borland
http://news.com.com/2010-1032-5187106.html

Story last modified April 8, 2004, 4:00 AM PDT

The IT department finally came for my computer last week.
For weeks I had been investigating companies that claimed to offer spyware-fighting software but secretly distribute spyware or other advertising apps along with their products . Because I wanted to put myself in the shoes of the average computer user, I deliberately let down my protections to load the applications in question.

Not the swiftest decision, I was told by the IT technician who hauled away my machine to reimage the hard drive. After weeks of headaches that got worse and worse, the machine started surreptitiously pumping viruses onto the corporate network.

At last the final indignity came. Instead of simply harassing me, the weedlike programs turned their attention to my company's network and started sending out viruses
I had an idea something was amiss when ordinary Web browsing got weird. I don't typically use Internet Explorer, so pop-up windows aren't a problem. Suddenly they became a fact of life. Immediately after installing the software in question, I began seeing new windows for a site offering to give me new "Smiley" icons for Yahoo Messenger. Whenever I used Google, a site called Zesty Find oh-so-helpfully popped up in front of whatever I was really trying to find.

Before long, new toolbars showed up--unasked for--on my screen. Most provided links to other little-known search tools, like Search Web Now and--again--Zesty Find. One of them, which I still can't figure out how to get out of my Internet Explorer browser, seems to be named "zooootrllpq." And no, that's not a tropical beetle.

My Internet Explorer favorites list also received an unexpected update. A few hours after installing the antispyware software, I was the proud owner of a handful of IE bookmarks, offering links to online casinos and sexually explicit sites with topics such as "fetish" and "shemale." Other links started appearing on my desktop with no real rhyme or reason, sometimes offering pointers to Internet gambling sites, other times to online love connections.

For weeks, Flash-based cartoon ads would suddenly load and start playing over my browsing window. More traditional pop-up boxes followed me everywhere.

My mantra while covering adware and spyware for several years has been to be careful and to use spyware-killing software like Ad-aware or Spybot Search & Destroy. I deliberately broke my first rule, and I quickly found out how little help the second one can be. Both programs found adware on my computer with ease, and I've spent hours deleting suspicious files and registry settings--but every single day, the same digital pests came back. Somehow they were hiding in the recesses of my hard drive like dormant seeds, ready to sprout up whenever conditions turn favorable again. In my case, that happened to be every single time I turned on my computer.

At last came the final indignity. Instead of simply harassing me, the weedlike programs turned their attention to my company's network and started sending out viruses. That's when the SWAT team got involved.

This is the direct equivalent of somebody breaking into your house and putting up posters over your windows.
I may not be as tech savvy as Linus Torvalds, but I know my way around the Windows registry. I can usually separate a white-hat .dll file from an imposter and can identify and disarm a rogue Browser Helper Object at twenty paces. The average Windows user is--I think--substantially less equipped than I am to figure out why these things are happening, and how to stop them. Still, I was at a complete loss.

And that means something needs to be done. This is the direct equivalent of somebody breaking into your house and putting up posters over your windows that reappear a few hours later every time you rip them down.

We're used to ads in mediums such as television or radio, but the key word there is medium. A Web site is a medium, and one expects to see advertisements contained inside the Web experience. The PC itself is property and the normal privacy and private-property laws should apply.

No-trespassing signs aren't enough, as my experience and thousands of others have shown. There are laws on the books against misleading consumers, and the Federal Trade Commission is starting to look at them in the context of spyware and adware. PC users could use a little more help. They need not to be abused by companies that have no compunction about outrageous trespassing and privacy violations. Somebody must be held accountable.

Now excuse me, I have to go set up a Roach Motel on my hard drive.

Craven Morehead · 04-08-2004, 11:50 AM

Cynthetiq, I don't disagree. I just can't change anything on this PC as its issued by my employer.

Sooner or later, I have to feel that MIE will be secured. I would hope, we'll see.

thanks, anyway

Cynthetiq · 04-08-2004, 11:52 AM

I've done a similar experiment at home and at the office, because i used to do support for 5000 desktops.

it's just crazy how people download Bonzi Buddy because the gorilla is cute then don't understand why the computer doesn't work anymore and takes a whole day to fix it.

Redlemon · 04-08-2004, 11:55 AM

Can they at least let you use the Google Toolbar on IE, to block pop-ups? I think that should reduce a lot of malware exposure (not sure, haven't run IE in quite a while).

Silverbrain · 04-08-2004, 01:35 PM

As a tech dealing with computers from all the novices in the area, I have not run into a case of needing a rebuild over spyware in at least four months. The tools to counteract are getting better all the time, but unfortunately for craven, installing other spyware removers is not an option and as such his options suffer once infected.

04-07-2004, 09:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
Craven Morehead Custom User Title	eZula sucks Win 2K fully updated, MIE 6.0 fully updated, Spybot S&D fully updated (immunize turned on) and this peice of shit spyware still got installed on my laptop. Piss me off. In the process of running a Spybot scan to remove this shit. Spybot is great however there are so many (12,505) possibilities to check that it takes longer and longer with each update. Goes to show you how pervasive this crap has gotten. Before anyone tells me to run some other browser, I can't, its my company's laptop. I'm stuck w/ the configuration. No user software allowed to be installed. After 1,270 seconds Spybot found 97 problems. I just scanned it last week. F U eZula!!!! arrrgh.......

04-07-2004, 10:05 PM	#3 (permalink)
Cynthetiq Tilted Cat Head Administrator Location: Manhattan, NY	oh craven... here's the default answer we see here... run a linux laptop...it's easy. okay..now that we got that out of the way...and 97 problems doesn't necessarily mean spyware full on, could just be tracking cookies... which isn't really the same thing as spyware per se. of course now that i said that someone is going to post how it is and blah blah blah... cookie vs. proggie. not same thing. __________________ I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. What's the best nation in the world? DO-NATION!

04-08-2004, 11:52 AM	#7 (permalink)
Cynthetiq Tilted Cat Head Administrator Location: Manhattan, NY	I've done a similar experiment at home and at the office, because i used to do support for 5000 desktops. it's just crazy how people download Bonzi Buddy because the gorilla is cute then don't understand why the computer doesn't work anymore and takes a whole day to fix it. __________________ I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. What's the best nation in the world? DO-NATION!

04-08-2004, 11:55 AM	#8 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	Can they at least let you use the Google Toolbar on IE, to block pop-ups? I think that should reduce a lot of malware exposure (not sure, haven't run IE in quite a while). __________________ I can't read your signature. Sorry.

04-08-2004, 01:35 PM	#9 (permalink)
Silverbrain Addict Location: Nor Cal	As a tech dealing with computers from all the novices in the area, I have not run into a case of needing a rebuild over spyware in at least four months. The tools to counteract are getting better all the time, but unfortunately for craven, installing other spyware removers is not an option and as such his options suffer once infected. __________________ Over Thinking, Over Analyzing Seperates the Body from the Mind - MJK

04-07-2004, 09:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
Mephex Psycho	What about the registry ? Have you gone in manually to check to see what's happening ?

04-08-2004, 11:02 AM	#4 (permalink)
Craven Morehead Custom User Title	"of course now that i said that someone is going to post how it is and blah blah blah..." And that someone would be me A handful were tracking cookies but most of it was related to eZula and Lycos Sidesearch, which I assume eZula uses. Bunch of crap in the registry, an entire program group, a desktop icon, all kinds of shit. I had just done a complete Spybot S&D scan last week and only had a few to delete then. I've never had so much as I did last night. The strange thing is that eZula was installed yesterday and I never even knew it. I did have McAfee catch a trojan in an incoming email in the afternoon. But McAfee deleted it from the email before it did any damage. I then ran a complete virus scan to make sure. G'damn fockwits that pull this shit. I'd love to 'return' the favor someday, somehow.

04-08-2004, 11:50 AM	#6 (permalink)
Craven Morehead Custom User Title	Cynthetiq, I don't disagree. I just can't change anything on this PC as its issued by my employer. Sooner or later, I have to feel that MIE will be secured. I would hope, we'll see. thanks, anyway