My computer is getting scrubbed tonight-it's really messed up

[bobthedrummer]

I got infected by a pop-up about a week ago that keeps trying to sell me an optimizer and kicks me off the Internet after a few minutes-it installed hijackers, toolbars, all kinds of shit-I hope the fuckers that did this aren't political because they can control my fucking pc.

I'm out of here until this gets fixed.

[niceypoo]

1. go to download.com and get

the free version of ad aware. Also get spybot, also free. when you get a popup ALWAYS close it by clicking the X in the top right corner OR by pushing alt + f4.

[Trajan]

3. Good advice ....

It quite a task to keep one's system free of malevolent crap these days .....

They design the pop up with that 'cancel' button built into the screen field: do NOT press that button ... X out ala MS window control ONLY ....

Actually: you can right click|close on the taskbar as well ...

[LTR]

2. That's spyware

I've removed that exact program before.

Get Ad Aware and it should remove that little nasty. Be sure to update it first when you install and run it the first time.

It is a running process, and running processes can't be removed until they are shut down. Ad Aware will ask you to restart, and it will remove it at system startup.

If you know the names of the nasty programs, you can CTRL-ALT-DEL to shut down the program. You can also go to Add/Remove programs to get rid of it.

Here's a direct download link for Ad Aware:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloadget.php?id=506&file=3&evp=8dbaff7daca8f4b55bf695220993fc0f

The latest definition file (update) is here:

http://download.lavasoft.de.edgesuite.net/public/defs.zip

[LTR]

5. And for hijackers...

...hijackers infest the HOSTS file. Your HOSTS file is located here:

Windows XP = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows 2K = C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Win 98\ME = C:\WINDOWS

Once you get rid of all the crap with Ad Aware, run it again until everything is gone. Then you can open your HOSTS file through Notepad and see what is there.

For added security, you can even create your own HOSTS file that will block malicious sites. This site will show you how:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

I do this myself, and also have Norton Internet Security, as well as Ad Aware and Spybot. I rarely get a spyware outbreak.

Be sure to do an Ad Aware or Spybot scan (I recommend both) once a week or so, or after installing programs like Kazaa or AIM (this one is particularly nasty, and I tell people to avoid it and switch to Yahoo Messenger or other).

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Give it the double-spyware whammy. Triple, even.

Get Ad-Aware. It's good.

Get Spybot Search&Destroy, too. It has a programlet called "teaTimer" in it that stops nasty things from changing your registry, without your permission.

Get SpywareBlaster. Does a lot of the same things as "TeaTimer" but in a different way. Think of it as a rules-based firewall against spyware.

Then, get SafeXP and lock down the final security holes in XP.

Cost for this? $0.00. Can't beat the price and 98% of your spyware problems have been nipped in the bud.

[denverbill]

6. Install CWshredder.

We had a nasty browser hijacker a few months ago. We'd run Adaware and Spybot and it would still come back. CWShredder got rid of it for good.

[Chovexani]

7. Ouch

Everyone made really good suggestions, and I would also add that you really need to switch to Firefox.

Honestly no one has any business using IE for anything except Windows Updates and web site authoring (testing how your site looks). I used to get spyware up the yin-yang on my PC, as soon as Spybot and Ad-Aware would get rid of it, it would come right back. When I switched to Mozilla (can't use Firefox on this old POS machine), it was the best thing I could do for prevention. I haven't had a single spyware outbreak since, but I still scan with Spybot and Ad-Aware (and make sure they are up to date).

[TransitJohn]

8. I highly recommend

www.spywareinfo.com

The discussion forums are a godsend, plus LOTS of free utilities.