ugh.... spyware.....

[ultimatesaiyan605]

anyone know of anything I can download to get rid of this shit? Yahoo, AIM, AOL Explorer (Interweb browser I use because internet doesnt work all the time), Norton, won't run, start for that matter.

Worse... IT DELELTED DooM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CrazedImp]

Try this (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/).

Free scan, should get rid of a few things. If anything else occurs try downloading the free version of AdAware and try SpyBot.

[Doom-Dork]

Avg Antispyware (use to be Ewido malware remover) will get rid it.

[Aliotroph?]

Heh, never heard of any spyware deleting things like DooM.

Some combination of those scanners will probably kill whatever you got infected with. Norton isn't any good at killing most of that stuff anyway. Just make sure you can run Norton when you're done or you might have to reinstall it. Personally I think Norton is crap. It's more likely to break and destroy your net connection than protect you from anything (same goes for McAfee).

[ultimatesaiyan605]

Heh, never heard of any spyware deleting things like DooM.

Some combination of those scanners will probably kill whatever you got infected with. Norton isn't any good at killing most of that stuff anyway. Just make sure you can run Norton when you're done or you might have to reinstall it. Personally I think Norton is crap. It's more likely to break and destroy your net connection than protect you from anything (same goes for McAfee).

Well spyware wsnt the only thing on my computer. I ran the scan like CrazedImp said, and I had about 1500 infected files or viruses or w/e....
I just downloaded CCleaner and cleaned up some of this crap, but I think the spyware and trojans are still on there.
I'll try the AVG thing next....

I guess someone/something got to my files and deleted them.... because none of what I said would load at all.

[Doom-Dork]

To get that much crap on your computer, it sounds like you don't have a firewall, or at least an active firewall.

[ultimatesaiyan605]

To get that much crap on your computer, it sounds like you don't have a firewall, or at least an active firewall.

Nope. Norton was supposed to be my firewall, but I had to turn it off due to its hate for internet. Meaning it wouldnt load any web pages... Fucking norton -_- UGH I HATE COMPUTERS.... exept ones with DooM, anyways.... =p

[Aliotroph?]

Advice from a tech support guy:


Norton is shit. DO NOT USE IT. Same goes for McAfee. Every single day I see a copy of XP busted by Norton or McAfee. They're trash.
If you need a firewall you don't know how to surf. Honestly, I don't get viruses and I haven't had anything resembling an active firewall working on or with this machine in two years. I also don't have an antivirus.
Firewalls do work (you just don't need one -- except for the once in a blue moon when you do...). The firewall in your router is all you'll ever need though. It's better too.
IE sucks. Firefox (and just about everything else) owns it at security. IE7 goes a long way to fix this if it doesn't break or get toasted by Norton.
Many spyware scanners are surprisingly good. Oddly enough, none of them remove everything that's well known. If you get the nasty ones that make little Explorer balloon security warnings try tools like Smitfraudfix.
Avast is a good antivirus if you can figure out its schizo GUI.
Someone is going to come along and make me look stupid. I know far from everything. :D

[FATAL]

Nope. Norton was supposed to be my firewall, but I had to turn it off due to its hate for internet. Meaning it wouldnt load any web pages... Fucking norton -_- UGH I HATE COMPUTERS.... exept ones with DooM, anyways.... =p
You know you're not supposed to turn them off? They don't work then, and blaming them afterwards is quite silly indeed. Norton doesn't block any internet activity unless you crank up the protections, and even then you should always be able to use web browsers. I was able to host games online, do p2p transferring and whatnot with no hassle at all. I highly suspect that if Norton blocked your internet altogether (I've seen it happen), your computer is already infected.

Norton is shit. DO NOT USE IT. Same goes for McAfee. Every single day I see a copy of XP busted by Norton or McAfee. They're trash.
Hah, your anti Nortonism is quite strong. Perhaps the people call you because they don't know how to use it. ;)

Norton is just used so often that the reason why you relate it to troubles may be because the chance of a computer having Norton as the firewall is quite large. I don't know, just giving ideas. It may indeed be borked, but I've been on good terms with it, except that my license crack wore (dang patches) out and now I have to use fsecure.


Oh and as for the stupid thing...

You liar! I know for 100% certainty that viruses and such mean things can find to a computer even if it just had the network cable plugged in. I did a little experiment with a fresh reformatted computer, and it didn't take long (less than an hour) when it got online without protection until I could almost visually see worms and such crawling through the network cable to the HD. I can't imagine how you manage to do without.

Or then you have the very hip Windows firewall on. I guess it can block something. :)

[Aliotroph?]

I have Windows patched and I'm running Win2K. Worms just don't like patched systems. There isn't even a Windows Firewall on this box and last time I looked my router firewalls was off.

As for Norton, it just breaks too often. Just about every computer I've ever removed it from required the removal tool (including some of our own machines). When Norton or McAfee die they die in scary ways. in the best case the firewall breaks and you lose IE until you turn off the firewall. In the worst case half of your Windows apps won't run properly until the firewall is ripped out. McAfee is partiularly good at that; it'll block anything that looks like web technology. Things disabled include: Control Panel, half the pages on the web, System Restore, the DellConnect client program, etc. It looks like a nasty Windows error but the McAfee removal tool fixes it.

Really I just don't like the idea of having a big, complex piece of software sitting there doing something my router can do anyway. Playing around in the guts of Windows is a fine way to cause all kinds of instability if something gets corrupted and lots of viruses head straight for Norton's throat.

I don't like F-Secure either. It seems to work fine but it's too "in your face." I don't like all its prompts and extra services.

Now I freely admit that most people who call me probably don't know how to use Norton. Half of them don't even know how to use IE, but Norton shouldn't be breaking and frying their browser as often as it does. Norton is still better than McAfee in my opinion though. McAfee breaks more often and in uglier ways. Then it's impossible to find their technical support number. They'd rather you didn't call.

[Raptor Jesus]

I don't like any of the commercial products. Why spend money when you can get programs that are just as good, or better (from what I've seen) for free on teh netz?

[Zinera]

Kaspersky Antivirus or Avira Antivirus
Ad-AwareSE
Spybot
CCleaner

and your computer is fine!

[ultimatesaiyan605]

Kaspersky Antivirus or Avira Antivirus
Ad-AwareSE
Spybot
CCleaner

and your computer is fine!

I have CCLeaner but Spyware, AdWare, and Trojans are still here...
Ill download that Spybot and Ad-wareSE thing right now....
I'm not sure if Mozilla is more secure (I've heard that it is) So I just downloaded that also.

[CrazedImp]

Mozilla is definately more secure. I, and i'm sure many others, would always suggest you use Firefox over IE anytime.

I also personally find Firefox easier to use, and it doesn't crash as much as IE does.

[Pieter Enis]

And it gives you extra tabbing power :p

I use AVG Antivirus
You can choose whether you want to pay or not. In using the free edition I usually get all my Viruses removed.
And Ad-Aware takes care of the little amount of Spyware I get.
Still will have to reformat this PC tho, I think re-installing windows 3 timse over an older install fucked it up :p

The second best firewall would be you.
Just be careful in what you click on and NEVER click on links sent to you via MSN because they're oh so cool.
Except when my friend sends it while in a long conversation would I click on link jobbies. But even then I got this back-scraping feeling *shudder*

And for you curious guys out there, the BEST firewall ever is to rip out your internet connection.

...
I never noticed how much internet looks like sex up untill now ... I am baffled

[Doom-Dork]

Recently, a new type of Internet bound threat has become apparent, that neither spyware or anti-virus software, can do anything about. These threats are known as rootkits, and they're designed to load and hide themselves before Windows XP or your anti-spyware and anti-virus software even know they exist. Many of these programs create registry keys that they need in order to function properly, but then they hide the keys they created so that Windows XP, other software, and even registry-editing tools can't see them.

A rootkit is often used to hide utilities. These are often used to abuse a compromised system, including so-called 'backdoors' to help the attacker subsequently access the system more easily. All sorts of other tools useful for abuse can be hidden using rootkits. This includes tools for further attacks against computer systems which the compromised system communicates with, such as sniffers and keyloggers. A common abuse is to use a compromised computer as a staging ground for further abuse. This is done to make the abuse appear to originate from the compromised computer instead of the actual hacker. Tools for this can include denial-of-service attack tools, tools to relay chat sessions, and email spam attacks.

A major use for rootkits is allowing the programmer of the rootkit to see and access usernames and login information for sites that require them. The programmer of the rootkit can store unique sets of login information from many different computers. This makes the rootkits extremely hazardous, as it allows Trojans to access this personal information while the rootkit covers it up. Getting rid of rootkits is a seriously tricky task and may call for a complete re-installation of Windows XP, however this is worth it if you consider the security risks that rootkits represent.

[Aliotroph?]

I find I don't have a problem with links from MSN. It's usually easy to tell a virus link; they're the first post by said user and they link to executable files or domain names I've never heard of. I haven't got one of those in years anyway.