Help I'm infected!!!..with Adware

[BIG_Mark]

Looking for advice here...

The Mother in law has a Windows PC infected with Adware/spyware etc.. IE has been hijacked altogether and we need to clean this fawker out.

My question to you PC users is what is the best allaround program to get rid of these kind of things?

please excuse my ignorance but I'm a Mac user, we don't have any of these issues so this is new to me.

Thanks for the help!
Mark

 

[bigwalton]

PC users is what is the best allaround program to get rid of these kind of things?

You said it yourself: OS X

 

[sobrbear]

Spyware and Adware

Symantec has a removal procedure for this problem. When these get in they are usually found in the Registry keys. I had the same problem on my last computer, I had such a hard time removing it, I had to take it in and the techs had to wipe off the hard drive and re-install everything.

If its something like a program, go into the control panel option and double click on the Add/Remove icon. From there another window will open and a list of programs will be there. Look for the programs you mentioned and click the un-install. This should work. If not, then try the Symantec approach. When on the site, use the seach option and it will take you to a solution page.
this might help: http://www.symantec.com/enterprise/security_response/threatexplorer/risks/index.jsp

I am not a computer tech, I just have experience when I got hit on my PC. Good luck!

andy

 

[RJCJ-8]

Mark,
Take a look at this app. Spyware Doctor http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/
I've found it very effective in keeping my home pc relatively clean.
I've run it and Spyware Detector http://www.spywaredetector.net/ and found that Spy ware Doctor detects and cleans more and has a db of known malice websites that it will pop up a warning before you are allowed to go to the site.

They both have a $35 annual subscription fee but Spyware Doctor has Kept me from pulling my hair out over a "drive by" trojan that kept hijacking my pc and kept trying to send me to a site offering spyware removal tools, even after a fresh, clean image was restored to my machine.

Spyware Doctor is a little bit of a resource hog and uses a nice little chunk of memory but I have not had issues with trojans hijacking my machine since.

About the only thing I like from Symantec is their Ghost program for imaging hard drives.

 

[nmzj]

Two good tools and both have free trials...

http://www.spybot.com/en/download/index.html

http://www.adaware.com/

Jason

 

[trust]

I was hijacked by some adware protection software and ended up using counterspy to get the machine back, one of the computer guys at work (also a wheeler but a toyota guy) walked me through it all over the phone so it HAD to be simple. So far so good

 

[dirtyjeep]

I like adaware.

 

[RJCJ-8]

I like and run Adaware as well but it does not get them all.

 

[mtruckstuff]

Gee, there's a lot more Mac users than I thought. THAT is the answer!

Twice the price, but all this PC nonsense goes away, right now.

C'mon over from the dark side!

OT: Mac users info note: Mozilla makes a Mac-specific, OSX browser called Camino that works better than ANY other browser made, including Foxfire IMHO. Those who haven't, should give it a try.

Paul

 

[Trailbst]

For the windows machines, it's been mentioned already, use Adaware and Spybot.

 

[CBRogers]

Another Mac user here. But just got one of the new laptops that goes both ways. I mainly leave it booted to OSX, but when I need to run a CAD program I unplug the internet and reboot.

Helps to keep those pesky programs from calling home.

Looks like a reformat and re-install are in your future.

Carl

 

[Jeepskate]

I scrub them with Adaware, then pickup the stragglers with Ewido, and once it's clean (if it's really bad, often the OS is damaged and you'll have to backup the data, wipe & reload...just had to do that to my sister's PC this week) I install Windows Defender (assuming it's a Windows 2000/XP machine...I really don't mess with anything else these days) to help keep them safe and tell them to stop clicking on crap on the internet

 

[BIG_Mark]

Thanks I fixed 98% of the problem with Ad-Aware, Spybot an Windows Defender.

I learned alot from this, Like I said before 10 years of using a Mac (I work in printing) and I nevr had a single virus, adware or other malware problem. I am enjoying trying something new and will use my new PC to rip DVDs faster than my old *** G4.

Peace out.

 

[CBRogers]

Try one of those new Mac Books, or Mac Book Pros. They rip DVD's much faster now that they use the intel chip.

The only problem I have with my Mac Book is that the 13" screen is noticably smaller than my old 14". But when at home I run it spanned to a 21" CRT and that makes the image nice and large.

That new 24" iMac should be smokin'

Carl

 

[mtruckstuff]

Another Mac user here. But just got one of the new laptops that goes both ways. I mainly leave it booted to OSX, but when I need to run a CAD program I unplug the internet and reboot.

Helps to keep those pesky programs from calling home.

Looks like a reformat and re-install are in your future.

Carl

Carl, keep us Mac owners updated on how your new hybrid handles PC viruses. I need updated info before I drop for a new one. Thanks!
Paul

 

[CBRogers]

Well as a hybrid it is great. They are run on two seperate partitions on the drive. So when you boot from one to the other they are completely separate.

The mac side runs a unix style disk system so without having the password and permission level you cannot get in a edit/view files. Besides that there is not a MAC hfs file system driver. Now when you are booted into the mac you can see the PC drive as it attaches as a NTFS formated disk. Just like if you mounted an external PC dirve.

You can mount external Unix drives too on the Mac.

Anyway I only run the PC version when hooked up to power and need to run a CAD package. I can actually run Unigraphics, ProEngineer, and Catia, on my mac book. Then reboot and do all of my house finances, surfing, photo stuff and all on the mac.

Reboots take about 30-45 seconds.

Downside of the windows operating system is that it is not streamlined for power usage like the mac is. So if I was watching a DVD on the PC side I would get abotu 1.75 to 2 hours of battery, and I can get like 6-8 on the mac OSX side. They do a lot with caching and power management to make it work.

All you have to do to install the windows enviroment is download the Bootcamp drivers from Apple, burn a disk with these drivers, and obtain a copy of Windows XP. The bootcamp stuff will re-partition the drive on the fly and install all required drivers for the windows operating system. There are a few little issues with blue tooth, but they are pretty easy to work arround. There is a guy here at work with one, and he had to get a seperate usb/buletooh adapter to get his head set to work correctly with Skype for phone service, but his usb stuff for his dive computer worked just fine. And the Delorme USB GPS worked fine too.

Really hard to beat the new combination. And if you are looking for a new powerfull desk side PC that MacPro desktop is very competitive with a Dell. For what I use at work we can save about $2k by going mac next time. But that is on a $8.5 dual xeon CAD machine.

Apparently you can install Red HAt and Yellow Dog Linux in a separate partition too. I am not a programmer so I have not gone that route, but it sounds interesteing.

If you want to know more let me know.

Carl

 

[Jeepskate]

Grab Ewido from http://www.ewido.net/en/download/ install it, update it, then boot into safe mode. Good bet it'll catch a few nasties the others missed.

 

[mtruckstuff]

Carl,
I have an aluminum PBook and it handles everything I need to do...PLUS I can sit in front of the TV, and bother you guys at the same time. I'd never get a desktop again. Worst problem I have is the ill-designed power plug. Proprietory parts and no replacements, just a new $80 power brick.Can't win 'em all, I guess. Luckily, I'm good at rigging. Send me your software wish list (if you have one), maybe I can fill a few gaps. Thanks for the info and offer!
Paul

 

[BIG_Mark]

Well I had this PC in the garage, turned out it was pretty good. As for a New Mac I was highlt temped to buy a new Dual Core 20" Imac the other day but decided IF I'M GOING TO SPEND $1600 ON MY CREDIT CARD IT'S GONNA BE ON THE JEEP!

Anyways I plan on going hog wild this Spring when the next OS X.5 comes out. By then the PC on Mac thing wil be better and the machines will be faster and less expensive then they are today. Yea yeah yeah I know when you compare a Mac side by side with a comparable PC they are almost equal in price (less expensive if you get a Dell dude..) COnsidering My "old G4" was purchaed in 1999 and It's still working today is a testemony to the quality.

How many of you PC guys are stil using your 1999 Windows box?


Hmmmn..

?

None maybe?

ANyways I got the bugs worked out thanks for the help all!

 

[ryankopecki]

I have a few windows machines from the early 90s. Pentium 2, 350 mhz. Aquired a bunch of them and gave most away. Also aquired a bunch of 128 and 64 mb sticks of ram, and the computers had 4 slots so I filled them. They still work good for normal uses like word processing, internet looking, and watching movies. Used to have one setup in my living room with good graphics and sound cards for watching movines off the internet. It had a 4 gig hard drive, which was enough for windows xp and about 3 movies. But it was hooked to the rest of the network so movies were stored on other computers or on cds or dvds. Got rid of it after getting net flix, that's good stuff. I think new computers are a big waste of money for most people. They usually get a new one to replace an old one that is slow. But if they got rid of all the viruses, spyware, adware, search bars, and other such crap on the old one it would be fine again, usually requires reformatting.

My main computer is an AMD 1.4 gig from about 02. Still works good. I've found that to keep up with the new programs, all I really have to do is add more ram. I started with 256, then got another 256, now have 2 sticks of 512 and could use a little more. Also did a little clocking on the processor a few years ago. My motherboard has some sort of program that sets the clocking based on heat, so for most things its real fast, but for converting movies it slows down after it heats up.