Adware Giving Me The PC Blow Up Blues

beth

Administrator
Staff member
The internet is getting to be a real pain place to be at. 4 mos ago I reformatted my HD and reinstalled everything just because adware Trojans had infected my pc and I could not get rid of them.
Now, here I am again with the same retarded problem. I have downloaded and used every reputable anti-adware that I could find. StopZilla, Ad-Aware, Stop Popups, Spybot, Spywareblaster, CWShreader, etc. Nothing gets rid of this annoying, aggravating, infuriating, invasive crap.
No, I don’t wile away my time on the internet visiting ---- sites. It seems that unless you go directly to sites that you know are “safe” [are there any of these?] then you get infected with this. I can only assume that hackers are playing games because I can not believe that anyone selling anything can actually get customers by installing Trojan adware on their customers PC.
Windows really sucks. You would think that Bill Gates makes enough mula to pay his programmers enough money to keep “vulnerabilities” in the OS OUT! Apple does.
I don’t understand. Is every web site now a potential threat? I have no idea how this happened to my pc again. Is there a good firewall out there to prevent this? I use dialup….yeah, I know, I’m terribly antiquated.
 

meow

Member
there there. it's okay, calm down. everything will be okay.
i've got this program on my computer called "zone alarm" and it works wonders. It doesn't remove the problem, but if the problem is there, it doesn't let it access the internet. When an adware program is trying to access the net thru your computer, a little window pops up that says "do you want blahdy blah to access the internet?" and ya just click no.
I would get norton internet security. comes with a firewall and all kinds of goodies.
 

lovethesea

Active Member
zone alarm is great. I am hateing computers more and more because of the morons out there making our lives a living h@ll !! I'm not the brightest bulb in the box with computers, but I KNOW zone alarm works, because its always popping up telling me something wants access. We also have a firewall through McAffee. So far so good.
(knock, knock..throwing salt over my shoulder :rolleyes: :D )
 
D

daniel411

Guest
Yay for Apple :) Except Iphoto... its stupid, or I am and can't figure it out. I'm really sorry you're having so many problems though.
Sadly yeah, people make crap loads of money through spam sales. I'm baffled why anyone would give up a visa number to a person who contacts them in such a way... but people do.
 

orion7

Member
I have found that Spywareblaster and webroot spysweeper work well. Spywareblaster sets the internet options to restrict sites that load spyware and spysweeper has an active shield that stops the spyware from loading on the computer. The only thing is only download from trusted sites like quicktime, realplayer, netscape, etc. Because there are some very tempting freeware programs out there that are loaded full of spyware. Mostly mp3 download programs like kazaa, etc. I wish there was some software that would scan the program for spyware before you load it on the computer. I rarely catch worms or viruses I think it is because I run a firewall all the time.
The only thing I have not figured out is why all xp systems have two such spyware programs built in. I have helped numerous friends and each have found alexa toolbar and seek seek on each and every xsp system I have checked.
 

wamp

Active Member
Also, Disable any browser extinsions and Install on demand features you have in your Advanced Internet settings. This has really cut down on problems with our PCs here.
 

dave flood

Member
I had the same problem , only I ended up building a new puter. It worked out to be cheaper this way. :) Ineeded to update anyhow.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
So, Scotts, you think Norton Internet Security is the answer? I am a Norton person myself and have always used their antivirus and even the System Works utilities. I could easily give this a try, especially since its almost time to reknew my antivirus subscriptions.
BTW: If you shop around on the internet and are willing to take a OEM you can get Norton for a lot cheaper than $70. People are paying for the box at that price.
wamp, speak English, please. :D Computer geeks are so sexy aren't they. hehehe
Dave, will you give me your avatar?:D
 

nemo lover

Member
beth
I had a problem simalar to that. I would connect to the internet and three to five minutes later I would get booted off the internet. I had the blasto worm. Went to windows and tryed to download the critical update but no luck. Fortunately my dad came and fixed it for me. no probs since.(knock on wood)
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Can you send your dad over to fix mine? :joy:
If this keeps up, I'm going to stay off the internet. Its too aggrevating. Especially with dialup. It takes 5 mins for a page to load now. What a bust.
 

krowleey

Active Member
wow you actally pay money for Norton? :hilarious
J/K i run cable through a homenetwork router. no trojan gonna sneak in on me, no open ports without asking me first. dont know how you have so many problems since most of the trojans and worms are on xxx sites and hacker sites.../shrug
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Its adware, and toolbar snatchers. I'm not really getting ---- ads, but everything else. :rolleyes: The days when sneaking into an xxx site was the only risky endeavor are over. The invasive ads are everywhere....which is why the government is now considering some sort of DO NOT AD law.
I found Internet Security for around $20 at Amazon. CD only. No box. lol So you buy $20 worth of software and $50 worth of box. :scared:
 

nemo lover

Member
my problem was I just got the comp and had barely no security. I don't look @ those sites either. All my dad had to do was quickly dowload a service pack from windows "blaster worm removal" . Took quite a few times but he did. He dowloaded ad-aware and gave me norton anti-virus. And now I have two firewalls zone alarm and black ice defender (little old) and the one that came with xp. every things is running smoothly now.
The worm I had would pop up on the screen in a microsoft box and say that windows was sutting down in five/three/? minutes and start counting down then shut down. any unsaved stuff was gone.
good luck beth (think happy thoughts):D
 

coloradodeb

Member
Try going to Downloads.com type in search area lavasoft......there is a free download that will stop the garbage that tries to enter your puter...sure helped me!:yes:
debs
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
I've been there and done that. I have that cleaner software and it works fairly well, but the particualar adware that I have is very stubborn and keeps reappearing.
The names are Clientman and CleverIEHooker. IE users beware!
 

jasontk

Member
At this point.... I would just reformat and start new. Install some good software to keep spyware out. I have heard of a McAfee program that monitors your computer like an anti-virus program, stopping spyware before it can install itself. (not sure of the name but I could look into if someone was interested)
When I get any spyware that Ad-Aware 6 won't remove I just reformat. It's much easier than trying to fight stubborn programs that don't want to be removed. But, if you aren't real experienced with computers it can be a real hassle. It's never to late to learn though :) I think it's a very important part of computer knowledge.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Well, I started this discussion by saying that I had just recently reformated because of this problem. I can't reformat every mo. Its a lot of work reloading all those programs back on not to mention downloading all the latest drivers from various webpages [using dailup].
I used one of the programs last nite that would ID the problems but didn't seem able to get rid of them. But, with that, I could see where the problems were on the registry. So, last nite I did some manual removals in the registry. So far so good! We'll, see. Sometimes, they are like ticking bombs. Just when you think you've gotten rid of them, they are back! :mad:
 

jasontk

Member
Whoops, didn't see that. I guess I should stop skimming and start reading. If you are doing manual registry removals then you obviously know what you are doing. Glad to see that. The only advice I have is be VERY careful while using your computer and pay very close attention to EVERYTHING you install. A lot of spyware likes to tag along with other software. Good luck!
 

tangman99

Active Member
Spybot Seach and Destroy just came out with version 1.3 if you were using 1.2. I just downloaded it and it added 400 more things to immunize against. If you are using 1.2 and check for updates, it won't tell you about the new version. It just says no updates available.
 
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