Guide for Eliminating Spyware, Adware, and Random Popups

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Since so many people have been coming to this forum with Spyware and Malware Issues, I thought I would link a guide from Tweak3d.net on how to remove Spyware, etc.

How to Eliminate Spyware, Adware, and Random Popups (http://www.tweak3d.net/articles/spyware/)

Before following the steps in this guide, be sure your PC is virus-free. If you don't have a virus scanner, check your PC online (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/) or download a scanner!

Take Care,

Richard

[Mooney]

Richard,

Thanks for that great advice! i have just installed the software and was pretty shocked to see all the crap that had been slowing my PC down!

Finally, i got rid of IE6 and installed Netscape, which has a ad blocking facility built into it... combined with Norton firewall I dont get any PPRUNE ad's or pop ad's anymore - whe hoo :O

[AERO DYNAMIK]

Pest Patrol do an excellentspyware product which is updateable plus it also has cookie patrol which will enable you to view sites that require cookies but it will terminate them so they dont effect your pc, recommended www.pestpatrol.com

[E-Liam]

Hi everyone,

As this is now a sticky, I thought I'd recommend a few programs that are free, and work very well.

Adaware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/)

Before you scan with AdAware, check for updates of the reference file by clicking Check for updates now, and following the prompts.

Now to set it up for optimum performance...

Make sure the following settings are configured. Remember that ON=GREEN.

From the main window click Start | Activate in-depth scan.

Then click Use custom scanning options | Customize and have these options switched ON...

Scan within archives
Scan active processes
Scan registryDeep scan registry
Scan my IE Favourites for banned URLs
Scan my host-files

Then click the Settings button.. (the gear icon on the top row) then Tweak | Scanning engine and check..

Unload recognised processes during scanning.
Cleaning engine.
Let windows remove files in use at next reboot.

and uncheck..

Automatically try to unregister objects prior to deletion.

Then click Proceed, to save your settings.

Now click the Scan button.

When scan is finished, check the little box to the left of each entry to select them for removal, and get rid of them.

Then reboot.

You only need to configure Adaware once, but you should check for the latest updates each time you use it.

Spybot S&D (http://spybot.safer-networking.de/)

To configure Spybot, click on Settings, and Settings again. Go to the Webupdate section, and check Display also available beta versions.

Now press Online, and search for, and put a check mark next to all updates, and install following the prompts.

Next, close all Internet Explorer windows, and click Check for Problems. Once the scan is complete, have SpyBot remove all it finds marked in RED.

Then reboot.

Again, check for updates each time you use the program.

Other useful programs to include in your Security Kit.

SpywareBlaster (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html)

SpywareGuard (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html)

IE-SpyAd (http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm#IESPYAD)

You should also make sure that you have both a Firewall, and an up-to-date Anti-Virus program installed. Here are a few links to some free Firewall programs...

Zone Alarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp)

Sygate (http://soho.sygate.com/products/shield_ov.htm)

Kerio (http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_home.html)

..and Anti-Virus programs...

AVG (http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php)

Avast (http://www.avast.com/i_idt_153.html)

AntiVir (http://www.free-av.com/), although, during the present problems with DOS (denial of service) attacks on many security sites (this one included), you can alternatively download from here (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=955).

Of course having the latest Windows Updates is vital. Go here (http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp), click Scan for updates in the main frame, and download and install all CRITICAL updates recommended, being careful to follow any recommendations for individual installation, where appropriate.

There are many other programs advertised on the web, but all those above come highly recommended by the security community.

If you have further problems, then please visit either theTechGuy Forum (http://forums.techguy.org/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=54), or TechSupportForum (http://www.techsupportforum.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=27), where I or one of the other chaps, will be happy to help further.

This isn't an advert for either, it's just that I fully understand your forum's policy on wanting to keep away from indepth technical help, such as we carry out on those boards.

I hope that this post has some useful advice for all of you...

Cheers

Liam

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Liam,

Nice addition. ;)

Richard

[tony draper]

A warning, I downloaded adware and spybot to try them out, there must be some conflict having both on the machine at the same time because it porked my browser, I had to format and reload my operating system.
Delete one altogether before trying out another.
What I want is something that will stop dammed search engines installing themselves as my home page, awaware does not seem to be able to do this.

PS is it possible to delete internet explorer altogether and reinstall from the windows disk?

[goates]

To further reduce the chance of malware, and to eliminate any problems with Internet Explorer being hijacked, you may want to look at Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org/) or Opera (http://www.opera.com/) .

I have both Adaware and Spybot on my machine, and the only issue is that Adaware will pick up on files backed up by Spybot. Spybot also has a function built in to prevent IE's homepage being hijacked and to immunize your computer against many malware programs.

goates

[B2N2]

:mad: computers, installed Spybot 1.2 yesterday and the Sygate firewall.
Spybot found 258(!) little programs which I deleted.
After installation of the firewall for a solid hour I got 2-3 warnings a minute about "requesting acces"
Think I got myself in a little too deep here.
For some reason MSN messenger does not run anymore.
I get an error message which says to check the internet connection...?
HELP:confused:

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Guys,

Lets try to keep this thread on topic. If you want to talk about options etc., lets use the thread:

How to Eliminate Spyware, Adware, and Random Popups (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=116753)

And this thread clean so people looking for help for their problems do not need to read though a bunch of posts that do not help them solve their problems.

Take Care,

Richard

[mazzy1026]

The google toolbar is great for stopping popups.

Maz

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Maz,

The Google Toolbar will stop Popups but it also has the potential to mask Malware problems on the computer too. I try to solve the problem without a Popup Stopper so you know when your computer has Malware Problems. ;)

Take Care,

Richard

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

WeatherJinx,

I am sure all your fellow PPRuNers will be very happy to hear you tell them, when they are having a problem with their computer:

Go out and buy a MAC

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Richard

[WeatherJinx]

That (so very clearly) wasn't my point..:suspect:

[fly babe]

E-Liam

I would like to take you up on your advice but...

from Start I cannot find Activate in depth scan... any advice?

[E-Liam]

Hi fly babe,

When you click the Start button, the next pane you see is entitled Preparing System Scan.

The last option in the list say Activate in-depth scan (recommended). Make sure that the little radio button is green (it also has a tick in it). If it's red (with a cross) then just click it, and it will turn green. I was going to post a screen shot, but haven't worked that one out yet. :)

Cheers

Liam

[Helen49]

Hi Naples Air Centre, with reference to the link you recommend, I have tried the download of spyware protection which detected infected files and then offers to sell me the product in order to remove them. Fair enough. However I am not sure whether or not this package will include the 'elimination of pop-up' package etc.

Can you help.......also does this remove the need for Norton or is the latter still required as well??

Hope you can help!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Helen49,

I am not sure which package you downloaded. In the Guide it mentions Ad-Aware, but I am not sure if that is the one you are talking about or not.

Personally I just use the free version of Ad-Aware and regularly run a the scan manually. But that does not contain any kind of Popup Blocker.

Take Care,

Richard

[E-Liam]

Hi Helen,

Which product did you download? The adverts at the top of the tweak3d site are generated by Google. Not one of them is particularly good, and a couple are adware in their own right. This doesn't detract from the general info provided, as the site doesn't choose those ads, they turn up automatically.

Keep Norton.. if it's working properly (there have been a few problems, but they can be fixed) it's just about the best protection on the market.

Have a read through the post of recommended free products that I placed in the same topic. Adaware, when set up as I stated, will find and fix most spyware, and used in conjunction with Spybot works very well (and free). If you have any particular problems feel free to start a new post, (just to stop this sticky getting too long..) :) and I'll be happy to help you out.

Cheers

Liam

[Dan Winterland]

Recently, a friend of one of my son's visited some sites, one of which which downloaded a worm while they were on our family computer. After installing Norton internet security and Ad Aware from www.lavasoft.de and also making sure the Windows XP firewall was optimised, I now get no pop-ups, attacks or unauthorised access. Ad aware also removed 87 unauthorised programs.

And my son is banned from going on the computer with his friends!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Dan Winterland,

Boys will be boys. It might be worth teaching him what things to look for when surfing that cause the problems, like the Certificates to install (Gain - Gator, etc.) so he learns and will become a smarter computer user.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. Having him read the Tweak3D Article would be a good start.

[Kalium Chloride]

Just a note of awareness -


I recently found that my phone bill had increased by 25% because my PC had (unknown to me) been quietly dialling a premium-rate number while I was on-line.

While I can't take the kind of revenge I'd prefer, I have called my phone service provider (British Telecom) to block my phone from calling premium-rate numbers.

If you have an itemised phone bill, then check it to make sure you're not being ripped off by these dickless nerds.

[ExSimGuy]

One of Bill Gates' annoying features is that he WONT let you unload IE - only lets you "go back to last revision" (if you've upgraded)

Nice way of ensuring that IE stays on any compute that was loaded with it (most that have WinDoze!), but annoying when you think it may be "burgered" and want to "delete-clean install: :mad:

[long final]

Tried most of the above but still get predictive typing on the address bar. I have deleted cookies, history etc and tried to turn predictive type off, but it does not work. It's not the end of the world but it is annoying. Any Ideas??

Plus, what happens if you just delete the ie folder and then re-install?

Thanks

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

long final,

Best option would be to start a new thread and we can work on your problem there.

Take Care,

Richard

[Andma_au]

I use ad-aware for all my spy-ware and it seems to get rid off it 100% best of all its free.

[Saab Dastard]

For anyone running Windows 2000 or XP, I recommend using an account that only has USER privileges when browsing, as this helps to prevent any nasties from making changes to your system.

SD

[Ausatco]

For what it's worth, I've found a combination of Spybot S&D, AdAware, Pestpatrol, ZoneAlarm Plus and PC-Cillin to be pretty much bullet proof.

Oh, there's the router's firewall, too, but I'm not paranoid!!

AA

[OneWorld22]

Richard or E-Liam, could you just confirm that running Zonealarm and Norton AV will not work?

Does it have to be one or the other? Or can you run the two together?

If its one or the other which is best, ZA Pro or NAV?

[E-Liam]

Hi OneWorld22,

If it's just NAV and not NIS, you should be fine. Running two AVs or two Firewalls isn't recommended, but one of each of whichever make will(?) be fine. Are you having problems? NAV 2004 has a few.. err.. teething problems. :)

Cheers

Liam

[OneWorld22]

Hi E-Liam,

I have NAV 2003 which came with my Dell Desktop.

I got the sasser virus yesterday and got rid of it by following instructions on the Symantec web site, my NAV did not pick it up.

I downloaded the trial version of Zone Alarm Pro last night and I think its excellent, the firewall seems to be on the money. My NAV has no Firewall.

Can I run the two?

[goates]

OneWorld,

You can run both NAV and Zone Alarm together just fine. The only option or setting that you need to be careful of is the email checking in ZoneAlarm. NAV is probably already set up to check your emails, so you don't need a second program trying to check the same thing.

I have one WindowsXP machine here at home that has both NAV 2003 and ZoneAlarm running together without any trouble.

goates

[OneWorld22]

Thanks man, I've disabled the e-mail checker on ZA. Seems to be fine.

[BALIX]

Is there a new kind of pop-up out there? I've been supressing pop-ups very effectively with Pop-Up Stopper for some time but recently I have begun to suffer from them again. The thing is, they don't appear to be specific to any web page but just tend to apppear whenever I change the page that I'm viewing. Pop-Up Stopper manages to deal with them sometimes but not all. The pop-up control on the Google search bar can't deal with them at all.

I get the impression that they are generated by some sneaky browser plug-in but Spybot and Adaware do not eliminate it.

Any clues?

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

BALIX,

It would be best if you start a new thread and we will see if we can solve the problem you are having.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. Do not forget to disable Messenger in Services.

[ExSimGuy]

I got 4 months free Norton Antivirus (combined with popup stopper, adware bolcker etc) with my new Acer laptop (gloat - WiFi and all!!) and no pop-ups yet. Guess I'm gonna pay cash when it comes to renewal time!

(and it caught 4 viruses already in the first month - all Netsky variants, if anyone is interested in that info)

[Bally Heck]

Ho ho ho.

Can't help but a wry smug smile whilst browsing this thread on my Mac.

Flame me. burn me. send me viri'

Don't care.

Just works.

Baaaah!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Bally Heck,

Glad to hear you are happy with your Mac.

Richard

P.S. Do not forget, this is supposed to be a help thread, not a gloat thread. ;)

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

colossus,

Please start a new thread and we will address your issue there.

Take Care,

Richard

[planemad2]

I am currently running Windows XP Home with IE 6, and had problems with pop ups.

Just down loaded the new (free) SP 2 from Microsoft, and it includes a really great pop up blocker. :ok:

It also blocks all pictures in emails, unless you want them.

It also includes a firewall and anti virus, but I already had these.

Just be careful it is a VERY big download, NOT recommended for dial up connections.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

planemad2,

SP2 does not have an Antivirus Program in it. SP2 just bugs you till you get one and update it. (That is, unless you go in and turn off the alerts.) ;)

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. If you are having Popup Problems, start another thread in this forum and we will solve the problem for you, without just masking your problem with the Popup Blocker.

[planemad2]

Okay, well I shouldn't believe everything Microsoft say at their site. ;)

I said there was both a firewall and antivirus included, but as I said I didn't use them as I already have both from McAfee.

The pop up blocker certainly works well though. :ok:

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

planemad2,

Why are you having Popup Problems in the first place?

Where are you getting them, which sites? Do you get Popups in PPRuNe? (If you do, start another thread.)

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. If you have a link to the M$ Antivirus Program, I would like to see it. :ok:

I am pretty sure all they do is give you these links:

Microsoft Windows Security Center Antivirus Partners (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/antivirus/default.mspx)

[planemad2]

As I said, I didn't even look at the antivirus or firewall, as I already have them from McAfee.

I am sure what you say is true. ;)

I used to get annoying pop ups everywhere, not on PPRuNe that I can remember, but heaps of other places including many Airline web sites for instance, and other Aviation sites.

This blocker (with SP2) blocks all of those, unless you want them, and even blocks all images in emails, again unless you opt to see them. :ok:

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

planemad2,

Ok then. I offered since it sounds like your computer has malware problems, but I cannot force you to fix them.

All the Best,

Richard

[planemad2]

Well I didn't realise you were offering? ;)

I used to have McAfee anti virus and just a free (zone alarm) firewall, and was having a lot of problems.

Since recently also purchasing the McAfee personal firewall, as well as their anti virus, I do not have many problems, especially now Windows blocks any pop ups automatically. :ok:

I also have that Adaware installed, and it keeps picking up a thing called "data miner", whatever that is? :confused:

It doesn't seem to affect anything.

EDIT..... just checked it, some 41 items there, all of them were Vendor - Tracking Cookies, Category - Data Miner, all were associated with my cookie files.

It says it is a LOW risk?

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

planemad2,

If you would like to give it a shot, download Hijack This! (http://www.thespykiller.co.uk) and post the log file in a new thread for Liam or myself to look at. (Liam is the real expert with HJT!) Do NOT make any repairs. (Hijack This! pulls up everything, including programs that are supposed to be in your computer.)

Take Care,

Richard

[planemad2]

I have had a look at that, but think I will just leave it alone.

Thank you anyway for your help.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

planemad2,

If we can help you in any way, let us know. We will be here. ;)

Take Care,

Richard

[planemad2]

Okay, if you are happy to help, thank you. :ok:

I downloded that thing you said, SPYBOT, and have run the Search and Destroy function.

Iniatially it found heaps of things, and I fearlessly (but maybe stupidly) deleted all of the things it found. ;)

I have run it several times since, and it only finds one thing (5 items) called DSO Exploits?

Each time I delete this but it comes back each time, nothing else just DSO Exploits.

This is what it says about it..........

Company: Microsoft
Product: Internet Explorer
Threat: Security hole

Company URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/
Company product URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/
Company privacy URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/info/privacy.htm

Description
There's a security hole in IE allowing websites to execute code without asking you first. You can find more information at http://security.greymagic.com/adv/gm001-ie/

Also the Adaware still keeps finding that same Data Miner?

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

planemad2,

That Security hole was patched years ago. That was reported back in February of 2002.

If you want to talk about this. You need to start another thread. This thread is to give people the info for solving their problems, not for troubleshooting.

If we had everyone with a problem, posting in this thread, it would get so big, people that come here for help, would not find the info.

So I ask again, please start a new thread.

Take Care,

Richard

[planemad2]

Sorry, you asked me to post about it???? :( :{

[Biggles Flies Undone]

I've had Spybot and Cookie Monster for a while now, but I was amazed how much Crap Cleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com/) found. It's freeware, too :ok:

[planemad2]

Got that too now, thanks. ;) :ok:

[planemad2]

Biggles Flies Undone,

That Crap Cleaner is GREAT, thanks for that. :ok:

Recommend it to everyone. ;)

Best regards,

planemad2.