ratbastid

Okay, now just hold on a sec before you go merging this with the sticky thread, Big Bad Mr or Ms Moderator.

I've got this laptop. A Windows laptop. It's mostly just for fun, but I have some external hardware that really only talk Windows, so I need it around. Ever since a friend of mine played a stupid little Flash game on it from some unknown web site, I've had popups and all sorts of malware infestation.

Problem is, I keep cleaning things up with Ad-aware and Spyware S&D. Right at this instant, both of those come up clean. Yet the god damn pop-ups keep popping up!!

I've installed HackThis and eliminated some obvious things, but I don't really know Windows well enough to know if I got everything.

I've also installed SpywareBlaster, though I can't really see that it does any good. I also found and eliminated some things in Windows Add/Remove Programs.

What ELSE should I do?

:sigh: This is why I run Linux on any machine I actually want to do work on...

Lasereth

ratbastid, I'm actually having the exact same problem. I've ran Hijack This, CWShredder, Ad-Aware, Spybot: Search and Destroy, and Symantec Anti-Virus. Most come up clean everytime, and those that show any problems fix them with ease. Even after this, every damn time I leave my PC for a while, I come back with 10 popups. Where the hell are they coming from? I'm pretty sure it's a new self-aware adware that's being made. It keeps getting smarter and smarter. I'm about to format my freakin computer over a few damn popups that no program can eliminate.

I'd appreciate any other suggestions as well!

-Lasereth

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choskins

I am experiencing the exact same problems. I only run Spybot: S&D, Nortons, and Pop Up Stopper. However, in the past couple days, I can't stop the popups.

[bump]

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Redlemon

Probably the browser hijacker known as CoolWebSearch? It is the big evil these days.

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mikec

run msconfig and kill anything in startup that's questionable.

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Bill O'Rights

I had the exact problem a couple of weeks ago, on my work machine. The worst part was that I picked it up checking a questionable site from TFP. Nothing, and I mean nothing would get rid of it. Aparently it hides somewhere, looking all innocent, and reinstalls itself on reboot. Our admin guy pissed with it for three days, and finally just nuked it, and reinstalled everything. Fortunately, it didn't spread into our network.

I dunno man, I do feel for ya. I know that it's some damnably annoying shit. But this one...whatever it is...it's a nasty little fucker.

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Stare At The Sun

MOZILLA FIREFOX

Installed it about 2 weeks ago. No pops ups, none whatsoever. Transfered all my settings over from IE, and works just the same. And, has that litle google bar up top.

Tellin ya man, get it!

Lasereth

CWShredder (CoolWebSearch Shredder) takes care of that one. It is very, very prominent in spyware and adware, though.

I may switch to Firefox, but that's not helping me get rid of the popups I have right now! They popup just sitting at the desktop doing nothing but talking on AIM. I get like 10 an hour. It's ridiculous.

-Lasereth

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

mikec

if popups are appearing when your desktop is just sitting there, that means some program is running just to deliver ads to you. I just had a client with this issue. There were many sketchy startup items in msconfig, and I killed all but the bare essentials, and voila, no more popups.

kill the messenger service too, but those are dialogue boxes rather than popups.

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MSD

Bring up the taskmanager, and see if something called "omniscient" is running in the process list. If it is, it's Search Assistant. That did the same thing to me.

Go through add/remove programs and see if you can find anything you can't identify.

choskins

I tried to clean up everything in my msconfig I didn't recognize. I am still getting pop ups, but now when I right click and hit S for save as, it just sits there. For some reason, I have to click on save as. I don't get the alt shortcuts anymore. Can you tell me how to fix it

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ratbastid

It's not CWS. CWShredder came back empty.

There are two suspect processes in my task manager, VfgN3d.exe and JgbwxMF.exe. Everything else, I've either seen before or is named something sensible.

I killed them both. My philosophy here is: Kill them all, let God sort them out.

Let's see if that makes any difference.

choskins

Alright, guys. I think I figured it out.

Go to regedit, local machine, software, and delete the folder for Targetsoft.

If it's there, it is spyware. You can get rid of it. Worked for me.

FYI, I switched to Mozilla. I like it so far.

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wraithhibn

My boss has the Aculice virus thats giving him tons of pop-ups and slowing his comp done, I havent been able to find much on this, but it may be your culprit.

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zero2

I usually try to do things in the following steps:

Step 1: Check add/remove programs for programs that you didn't install
Step 2: Check task manager, for strange programs that are running.
Step 3: run CWShredder
Step 4: run Spybot Search & Destroy
Step 5: run Spysweeper

Tips: Don't use internet explorer, its too popular, and because of that, it has a bigger "payload" use Mozilla.

Don't want to give up Internet Explorer:
Stay away from unsafe sites. Or surf using a proxy such as proxify.com

Don't install software or weird toolbars.

Run virus scan on anything you download.

Don't open up attachments sent by people you don't know.

Secure internet explorer settings:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/.../settings.mspx

Keep your computer up-to-date on patches, security updates.

Keep your antivirus & Spyware remover up-to-date.

Install a Firewall.

And if all fails, reformat, and switch to mozilla/avant/netscape...at this point anything is better than internet explorer.

souzafone

ratbastid, just a hunch here, but i would run all your usual spyware programs after cleaning all the cookies and crap and then try a third party registry tool to search for invalid references. If something's in the registry, it might find a way to reappear when windows is restarted.This one works well for me using xp. it's called regseeker.http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

soopafreek

spybot 1.3 has a registry checker built in. you just have to start a scan... it's called "system internals".... may not do exactly the same thing as regseeker, but hey, it's already installed....

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aaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!

Church

Another thing that some people don't realize, is that they go way overboard when they try and remove these things. You can have the all Spyware killer fucker up programs you want, but sometimes they are just installed as programs and you can delete them in Add/Remove.

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LewisCouch

Ridding your laptop of malware can be quite frustrating since there are so many places to hide on a windows platform. One somewhat mysterious place is the "CONTENT.IE5" folder. It is utilized by IE, ostensibly to aid in caching when viewing specific web sites. This is just another item that I routinely look at when this type of problem arises. Do a Google search on this badboy, it's rather eye opening.

FireFox = great browser

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bob32

If you have a program in your task manager that's questionable, go here - http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...s/tasklist.htm

This site will tell you what the program is and if you should remove it. Unfortunately for removal, they just pimp their own software for it. But I think most people here know how to edit files that startup (via regedit, msconfig,...)

G5_Todd

people that code / run pop ups should be fed to sharks........

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Silverbrain

I have been having a bitch of a time this past week myself...this morning webroot released updated defs for its SpySweeper program, and it finally found the problem, the next variation of CWS. I then ran pestpatrol to pick up the exe's spysweeper missed and now the system is running perfectly.

P.S. the author of CWShredder is no longer making any updates to his software...thats gonna suck!

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Jam

i had this problem, i would leave the computer for ten minutes and comeback to 50 popups.. i reformatted