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Vallerina

Computer help needed: spyware

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I turned off my computer before leaving for CA. Well, my mom decided to turn it on and leave it on the second I left. She didn't update Ad-Aware at all, and she left it on the whole time. I got back, and neither Ad-Aware nor Ad-Watch would work. I downloaded Ad-Aware SE, and it found almost 300 "things." I still have "stuff," though. There's this mysterious toolbar that I can't get rid of under my Google toolbar. There's something at the bottom that has a bunch of crap: Make Money, Investing, Music, Travel, Casino, Mortgage, etc etc. I don't even know where these are at or how to find them. There's a ton of crap, and I don't even know how to find it all. I know that Ad-Aware isn't finding it all or isn't showing it as spyware (something like i386...it won't let me delete it, and Ad-Aware isn't doing anything about it.)

What else can I do (besides making sure that my mom never touches my computer again)?
There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning

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Do as CrazyIvan told you however it is possible that you will also need to manually delete those programs files from the registry as well.

A good starting point is to get Zone alarm, it will tell you what program is trying to use the internet and allows you to stop it right on its track.

Right CrazyIvan?;)
"According to some of the conservatives here, it sounds like it's fine to beat your wide - as long as she had it coming." -Billvon

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Hijack This has always done a great job for me - just have it delete anything that looks 'weird'

Make sure your virus defs are up to date and running too.

Don't you have a router between your computer and the DSL line?

EDIT: Does the version of Ad-Adaware you have come with the Ad-Watch program? It's a handy little bastard.
it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

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In addition to everything you've already been told, you might want to try Spybot, as they've just released another update to their products check. They also have an immunize function that will make those progams think they are already installed when they happen across your computer again.
Kevin - Sonic Beef #5 - OrFun #28
"I never take myself too seriously, 'cuz everybody know fat birds don't fly." - FLC
Online communities: proof that people never mature much past high school.

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Does the version of Ad-Adaware you have come with the Ad-Watch program? It's a handy little bastard.


Well, it did. Then, something happened and it made both programs stop working. I really don't know what my mom did to my computer, but she really screwed it up. So, I downloaded both again, but it doesn't seem to be catching anything at all. :(
There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning

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When was the last time you formated your hard drive and restarted everything...lots of times it is good to do this. Gets rid of so much stuff your computer no longer uses


"Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!"
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

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first do you have Windows, linux, mac os...if you have windows it is really easy for you to do on your own... all the others will take a little time. If you have window xp you have it really easy. First you need to back up all your important data and anything else you dont want to loose and then find your restore disks that came with the computer.

After you have all that I will help you from there


"Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!"
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

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Cool! Thanks! I'll try to get to that tonight (although, I'm going to my brother's tonight....but, we'll see!) I would force my mother to do all that crap for me, but we already see what she did once....
There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning

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do these kind of things also exist for Macintosh ??

seems my computer is very tired...



Nope. Macs are immune.



I wouldn't say immune, just Macs have a smaller share of the market, therefore its more efficent for the wankers who write malware to target Windows.

"This isn't an iron lung, people. You can actually disconnect and not die." -Dave

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First, try using CWshredder from here..

If that doesn't work, start windows in safe mode by pressing [F5] while the machine is booting up, then run Adaware and CWshredder again. Sometimes you need to be in safe mode for the .dlls to be removed unless you manually unregister them. CWshredder ususally removes the spyware that other programs cannot.

Also, assuming that you are using windows. If you have seperate user accounts, you must log in as each user to remove any spyware which they may have installed. I hope this is clear to you and good luck! :)
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Well, it did. Then, something happened and it made both programs stop working.


There's an option in there somewhere (at least on the Pro version) to do a startup scan - I'd try that too. "Hijack This" should get rid of most of the crap too.
it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

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right on there... lots of melicious script out there on the websites. I have cleaned a few up from time to time

-


"Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!"
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

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Nope. Macs are immune.



Nope!

Macs are NOT immune, there are just a LOT less agressive software written for them since they represent such a small percentage of the overall computer market.

This thread is funny, all of this information has been talked about more then once, more then twice, quite a few times. I'm amazed when people are too lazy to search, even when its obviously a topic that's been talked about adnausim.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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