Spyware sucks

[arcadetown]

Out of town last week using wife's laptop. Always being careful figured was safe. Wrong, a loser advertisement virus installed tons of spyware.

Installed and ran AdAware, Spybot, and Norton which got rid of most except one horrible thing that kept coming back. A google led to a website claiming to be a removal tool just for it. Another google and it was same spyware company that installs even more spyware! Numerous hours later finally came across WebRoot that got rid of everything, yay.

Later saw advertisements on TV pitching some free anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall software. For kicks googled for them and viola those guys are also spyware. Wow what nerve!

Moral #1... spyware makers are sleazy as heck and will do or say anything.

Moral #2... make sure your wife's computer also has good anti-virus software and keep it patched up to date.

Moral #3... thank you WebRoot!

[illume]

Moral #4... Don't install untrusted executables as user with Admin/root/Dog rights ;)


Spyware is also poo.

[Raptisoft]

If you've got win XP, just set up a restore point before you install anything.

[princec]

How'd you get a virus from an ad? Is that an IE-problem?

Cas :)

[DanMarshall]

oneclicksearches hijacked my browser. Nothing would get rid of it. It was as annoying as hell. Kept on getting redirected there in the middle of a surf.

Then, the hijackers who had hijacked my browser got hijacked by a different browser hijacker. One that my anti-spyware software knew about, and sorted. Now I'm clean as a whistle....!

Note to Browser Hijackers: If anyone ever admitted to me, even if they were one of my dad's best friends, that they wrote browser hijack software, I have to say I'd lamp them on square on the jaw. Scum.

[princec]

Use Opera ;) The cheese and onion union jack tickler of the browser world.

Cas :)

[bmtshareware]

Moral #3... thank you WebRoot!

WebRoot and Spyware Doctor (http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/) are the best two I have come across in cleaning up family/friends/neighbors infested machines.


Use Opera

and it is free today only! http://my.opera.com/community/party/reg.dml

of course there is always mozilla/firefox as well :)

[FlySim]

Try "Hijack This" - its free and usually takes care of the real nasty stuff.
You have to sort thru it manually - just do a google search on the stuff
you dont recognize.

Also, for really nasty cases, run it once then again in safe mode.


http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

[ggambett]

Moral #5... why exactly are you guys still using that pathetic excuse of an operating system?

[Ska Software]

Spybot S & D solved all my problems, ever.

[Purple]

The cheese and onion union jack tickler of the browser world.
Nice quote dude :) Not heard that one in a while!
Ribbed? Why would anyone want a ripped condom?

[arcadetown]

How'd you get a virus from an ad? Is that an IE-problem?
I never download anything unsafe. Was simply browing and all the sudden poof spyware galore. Many banner adverts are delivered via javascript these days so there's plenty of potential. All it takes is a low brow ad agency using some crappy unsecure ad delivery software that gets compromised. Normally solid ad agencies have proper resources and don't get exploited like this.

Firefox ins't fool proof anymore either, I've seen virus warnings triggered while browsing using it.

So moral # 2 is very firm, always make sure you've got good virus scanner installed.

I couldn't believe all the hooks this crap spyware installed to keep itself installed. And the nerve, it's called "A Better Internet". They're all just sleazy as heck. Don't believe one word any of them say, ever.

[soniCron]

Firefox ins't fool proof anymore either, I've seen virus warnings triggered while browsing using it. I agree that Firefox surely isn't fool proof, but just because you saw a virus warning doesn't mean the code would be capapble of anything malicious in Firefox. A lot of those viruses exploit Internet Explorer holes. Holes that don't exist in Firefox.

[Pyabo]

Moral #5... why exactly are you guys still using that pathetic excuse of an operating system?

Um... so we can play all those Indie games we're always talking about? :confused:

[destron]

whatever you do, don't go surfing on the internet with IE. For some reason, I keep picking up the "my-search.cc" crap, and I have to use hijackthis to destroy it.

[ggambett]

Um... so we can play all those Indie games we're always talking about? :confused:
Sure, a toy OS for games makes sense, and I do dual boot. But for serious work???

[soniCron]

Sure, a toy OS for games makes sense, and I do dual boot. But for serious work??? Hate to say it, but Windows is way more user friendly. It may be about as secure as a screen is waterproof, but at least there aren't issues with certain devices not working because of lack of driver support. (Or having to manually configure the 3rd mouse button and mousewheel in 95% of the distros out there.)

Of course, my real reason for not using Linux is because of my content creation. I spend far more time creating media than I do programming. And there simply aren't any good graphics or music programs for Linux. (No. Gimp isn't good for serious professional work. And, no, neither is Gimpshop.)

[arcadetown]

Please don't turn this into another one of those Windows and IE sucks because XYZ threads. What sucks is the Spyware makers and their sleazy tactics plus the sleazy little hacker kiddies that think it's all fun and games.

[Savant]

I bought a little iBook a while back to test the Mac waters (and to make ports possible) and I'm here to testify - the water is fine! Seriously, my next large computer purchase is going to be a Mac laptop with some real horsepower in it. I'm a convert.