Hatrack River Forum: spyware remover

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Posted by cyruseh (Member # 1120) on :

I clicked on a link in someones aim profile, and got swamped with all kinds of spyware files. argghhh! Ive been living with it for about 2 weeks, but the pop up porn is just getting to me. Ive gone and downloaded a couple of "free" spyware remover programs, only to find out they'll tell me how many spywares i have on my computer, but to remove, Ive got to pay. Anyone know of completely free one?
Thanks,

Posted by Frisco (Member # 3765) on :

Ad-Aware and Spybot-Search&Destroy are both free.

I forget where I got them, but I'm sure they're not hard to find.

edit:

Ad-Aware-click on freeware link

Spybot, bottom of the page

[ December 09, 2003, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: Frisco ]

Posted by luthe (Member # 1601) on :

AdAware

They advertise for their pay version but they do have a free version that will find and remove spyware just fine.

Posted by cyruseh (Member # 1120) on :

Thanks! Im gonna try adaware now!

Posted by Maccabeus (Member # 3051) on :

Cyrus, good luck. AdAware has been working well for me the past few days. A few days ago I woke up to find my screen clogged with mysterious pop-ups, when I hadn't even been surfing! *snarl*

Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :

also if it's the same link i'm thinking about, look for a running process on your computer called b.exe. and end it. and find where it is and delete it.

Posted by cyruseh (Member # 1120) on :

Thanks again! adaware seemed to work great!

Strider, I know what you're talking about, cause I thought thats what I had as well, but i couldnt find the b.exe... would it be bbb.exe?

Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :

I would highly recommend both Spybot and Adaware. For some reason, one will usually spot something the other has missed.

Also, when fixing any problems that Spybot or Adaware have spotted, close any open browser windows. There are a lot of adware and spyware programs that run with internet explorer. The primary program files and libraries cannot be deleted while IE is running.

Secondly, I'd recommend running Spybot's immunize feature. It cleans up your ActiveX settings and fixes a lot of browser exploits that allow software to anonymously install on your computer. I was on IGN today and Spybot picked up two pieces of adware that were trying to sneak in the back door. It also helped that I ran Spyblaster on my computer as well. I haven't had nearly as many problems as I had before.

Posted by luthe (Member # 1601) on :

Spybot will erroneously identify some cookies as spy ware.

Posted by Maccabeus (Member # 3051) on :

Anybody know how to stop those annoying messenger windows that pop up on your computer? AdAware hasn't stopped them, and while some of them advertise a service for doing so, every time I get fed up and try to get to one of the sites mentioned it's been deactivated for illegal advertising--ironically enough.

Posted by luthe (Member # 1601) on :

Try here.

Posted by Maccabeus (Member # 3051) on :

Well, that was simple. If you know where to look, anyway.

I wonder why that was ever part of the system. Certainly Bill Gates seems uninterested in using it to notify users of virus problems, bug fixes, updates, and the like. (He's the [Evil Laugh]

, isn't he?)

Posted by esl (Member # 3143) on :

cyruseh! I have the same problem! I deleted every file that was created when I was infected and ran spybot and everything. My profile still has that link in it though, even after running adaware. I hope it got rid of the pop ups. Time will tell.

It's curious though, that as I type, my taskbar says there's an application called MessageApp running. It's just on my taskbar. Nothing happens when I right click on it, I can't close it or anything. O well.

Posted by luthe (Member # 1601) on :

Dell computer phone home.

here is some more info, it is the second letter on this page.

Posted by esl (Member # 3143) on :

Thanks luthe! I guess I'll just leave it alone.

Any suggestions for the window that tells me my application has to close because it's performed an illegal operation? It's been coming up for internet explorer a lot lately, but never before I got that virus. It's good for getting me to homework or not use IE at least, but it's annoying anyway.

Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :

That's not a problem itself, it pops up because there's some other problem.

Unfortunately for you, that problem isn't easy to track down usually, and can sometimes be impossible to fix.

First thing to do: go into add/remove programs and repair internet explorer.