Computer problems- spyware

[Aurelian]

Just informing everybody that I am not using my IMs, or responding to any e-mails for the time being. My sister's freind got my computer infected with SpyWare, and it took out my firewall and anti-virus. I can't find anybody who doesn't want a week's worth of pay to remove it. I do not want to infect anybody else.

[Shatara]

Sure you don't mean 'Virus'?

'Cause I've never heard of spyware that did anything but..well...'spy'.

[Aurelian]

No, I have alarms going off all over my computer screaming SPYWARE ATTACK! My Firewall and anti-virus, both Norton, have been disabled and I can't restart them.

[Ngatuny]

Good luck fixing that problem Roquivo.

[Prince Simba]

Suggestion:

Start > Shutdown > Restart > Hit F8 a million bazillion times until you get to the OS selection screen > Safe Mode > run anti-virus/spyware

[Xinithian]

www.trendmicro.com

[Aurelian]

All fixed, but thanks anyway! :cheese:

[Sombolia]

Good to hear =)!

I have so much adware on my computer it's not even funny >_<;

[Juniper]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v417/pntbll248/Spyware2.bmp

I've gotten 1300+ at one point in time though.

For really bad spyware infections, I just reformat. What you're thinking of isn't spyware though, it's malware. Malware may change your desktop wallpaper, give you thousands of pop-ups, bypass anti-virus and anti-spyware scanners by denying access, etc...

[LunarCat]

^ i have that program on my computer! :p

is there any possible way for you to get spyware protection software?

[nathalie]

Last time I had spywhere so bad on the PC, I did everything to get rid of it, but for some strange reason it didn't got deleted.

Had to re-install Windows again.

[Aurelian]

I got help from a computer smart freind of mine. He recomended AdAware(Shown in Pntbll's reply), and SpyBot. Both have been excellent, and removed the spyware for me. I deleted over 1000 files of spyware.

[Shatara]

You mean you didn't have em before? o.O

[Aurelian]

I had NO spyware protection before. Not sure how I managed to go so long without an attack.:confused:

[nathalie]

I used to have SpySweeper, was pretty good, in my opinion.

Now I have like 4 programms for spywere. Don't wanna install windows again...

[King Simba]

I have this internet security program installed on my computer so I don't really get that much Spyware. :hmm:

[Suki]

*smiles* Thank ze Lord for Apple! :cheese: Never gotten a vuris on this baby. And my mom's is from 2001. None either. :D

[Shatara]

Hmm...truthfully, I don't have anything on my laptop...

...but then, i've been using Firefox from the day I got it, so it's never been a problem.

[Sombolia]

Apple.. I. Want. Tiger. OSX. >_>

AdAware... I need that. I have something on my computer, it worked for a while, and theeen.. back to hundreds of popups a day >_<

Is there some way to remove IE from your computer completely? :p

[Aurelian]

You can uninstall it if you can find it's directery. IE can't run itself. As long as you download and use a different browser(I highly reccomend FireFox), you should be fine.

[Sombolia]

My ISP is AOL, so all my popups come from IE. :rolleyes: I need to get Firefox..

[Ngatuny]

Originally posted by Suki
*smiles* Thank ze Lord for Apple! :cheese: Never gotten a vuris on this baby. And my mom's is from 2001. None either. :D

Amen to that :D:cheese:


Originally posted by Sombolia
Apple.. I. Want. Tiger. OSX. >_>

Got it :p installing it tomorrow.:evilgrin:

[Juniper]

Originally posted by Sombolia
Is there some way to remove IE from your computer completely? :p

Yeah, just do what Roquivo said. I wouldn't advise it though, a lot of mainstream programs use parts of IE to function, without ever actually using the browser

[soulImbibe]

Best way to avoid viruses/spyware/malware/adware is to not let anybody use your computer :grrr:

It's very hard to get infected these days if you carefully watch for suspicious downloads, pop-ups, etc. Email servers now are removing major viruses before they even get to your computer, and the days of bootsector viruses from infected floppy disks are long gone.

An easy way to see if your system may be infected without downloading the detection programs is to periodically keep an eye on Task Manager and see if there are any new or unusual tasks showing up that consume a large amount of CPU time or memory.

I haven't used anti-virus or anti-spyware since last year. The programs are great for people who don't know their system inside and out like me though.

Interesting tidbit: if you take your computer to Best Buy to have the Geek Squad remove your virus or spyware, they will strongly recommend that you purchase SpyCatcher to monitor your system and remove bad software. The irony is that the technicians themselves use ad-aware to remove customer's spyware, which is a free program. Sometimes free is the best way.

[unregistered user]

Originally posted by nathalie
Last time I had spywhere so bad on the PC, I did everything to get rid of it, but for some strange reason it didn't got deleted.

Had to re-install Windows again.
reboot your PC is fun :D
:cheese: