My system crashed and now I'm flooded with spyware. Anybody have any suggestions? I was using "EZarmor" but it now seems ineffective.

To make things worse, Comcast is my new cable company, and they just shut off my service! Anybody have any dealings with them?

Dont open porn sites? hahahahah

In all seriousness go to
www.pcpitstop.com and let the website run a full system check.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

The thing with spyware is, you have to get your security settings right, if not you will get bombarded.

I beleive you should be running microsoft windows xp home. You need to make sure automatic updates is on and running. If not do a manual update to your operating system.

You can also try spy bot search and destroy <-- You will have to google that one. It is an ol-skool program that will wipe your system of spyware.

Pete:

I use all of these, they are free and work good. After the 30 days if you don't buy the software, just do maunal updates. I think Comcast merged with Time Warner, but so far Raod Runner is still the same.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 Get both of these

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Pers...dl&tag=top5

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html

Doug

As per the post above use the Adaware and Spybot software..
They are very good and a free service. Be sure after loading the software to use its update functions.
Beware there are pleanty of scan softwares that offer to fix your system beacause they found hundreds of errors and for a small fee they will clean your system. 95% of these are a waste of money and time.
If you don't have a firewall I would invest in one as this will help you prevent further problems. I suggest Zonealarm it will set you back 20 bucks for a years runtime with updates..
Good luck..

Download the programs Doug linked to, they are the 'standard' package, and run them. Take note however to not have more than one anti-virus program installed. Update everything, windows, antivirus, anti-spyware etc.
If your system is badly infected, you are facing a reinstall.. If you dont update your system after it is reinstalled, I give it 15 minutes online before it is infected with something again.

A third party firewall installed on your computer is not something I would have used. The buildt-in firewall in Windows XP is "good enough". If you want something more, buy a dedicated appliance unit from e.g. Linksys and get wireless at the same time.
Consider what browser you are using tough, it is a fact that certain browsers are more vulnerable than others when browsing. I am using Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/), and are pretty happy with it.

Your ISP have probably shut down your service in 'self-defense'. Your computer is probably used to send spam e-mails and as a platform for attacking other computers. You need to convince them that your system is OK again before they will open it. A re-installed system should be good enough. If you are going to get a firewall, install it before going on-line again.

I have two different firewalls in front of my home-network, and run antivirus/spyware/malware/adaware scans on all computers every day. Still the family manage to drag nasty stuff on to our computers from time to time, without really trying.. The internet have become very darwinistic.

More like 15 seconds! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

The anti garbage software I was using "expired" without notice; hence the problems. I've done what you guys are suggesting, but a "dll" problem persists. Persists inspite of downloading software expressly intended for ridding dll based spyware problems. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

The one thing that works without fail, is the offer to buy new $oftware!

On the cable front, Comcast is "aware" of the problem.

"The internet have become very darwinistic." Indeed! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for all your help.

Second the notion for adaware...there is a free trial version of their software that works very well.

Occasionally it will not be able to grab a piece of vermin software...I recently had one that was being difficult to remove but found that if I located it in your "processes" (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) and end that process, Adaware could then remove it.

get vista
with vista + defender, I've been spyware free ever since (going on a year now)

And get DRM hell with the system? Much better to go for Kubuntu then, but neither is probably what Pete want.

LOL, I wonder how many folks know what Kubuntu is. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Just get and run the software mentioned above Pete. You will be fine. Except vista - you will have to spend a good chunk of change on hardware upgrades. Zonealarm - is more of a hassle than it does good.
<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

format. reinstall.

Kinda reminds me of the Mac & PC commercials. Are Macs really that good?

Clayton

Use the adaware and spybot!!! Do the install, Download the updates for both scanners, reboot. During the boot up , when you see the black screen with the white progress bar across the bottom (of your screen), hit <f8> start up in safe mode and run the scans. The reason to run in safe mode, is if you scan in normal running mode, most of the spy/mal ware will not be unloaded from memory and just reload it's self upon reboot.

Not a problem if you're a legally abiding citizen and BUY your media and software like you're supposed to.



My 2 year old dell runs it just fine.

The Macs are that good. Reading through this thread hurts my brain.

Happy Mac user since OS v. 1.

This is what really really really really pisses me the hell off about mac users. They sit there from the top of their ivory tower, in the club house that can only be accessed via some special mac-owners password. They look down upon the PC world with some sort of elitist **** attitude as if they are somehow more enlightened than the rest of the planet because they bought a shiney white box. Its truely annoying.

A few things to realize: The reason why spyware and virii exist for windows almost exclusively, is because they overwhelming majority of the computers out there run windows. If you're a pimply-faced angry white geek wanting to secure your hacker name in the annals of IT infamy, you'll be hitting the target-rich environments. If put in his shoes, wouldn't you want to try and cripple huge corporate networks as opposed to a relative spattering of artists' lofts?

Second: OSX+ runs on a *nix backbone. If you don't think there are vulnerabilities in that then you're kidding yourself. The reason you don't hear about them is because, again, the news doesn't report it when a spattering of servers get infected with a worm. I had to patch my linux machine on a WEEKLY basis (not an easy feat) back when I used it for an IPchains box or suffer the fate of all the roving worms that constantly tried to exploit it.

In short, Mac Elitist snobs hurt my brain.

We can go back and forth on this as much as any make or model of (boat|car|motorcycle|aircraft). Fact is Macs and PC share many of the same problems. The only Mac in our office had a system failure a little over a week ago and the user is still trying to get everything back to working order. I manage about 45 PCs and over the last 4 years, I have had only 2 Hard drives fail and rebuilt 1 other machine from scratch (knock wood)

How well you take care of your equiptment will determan how many problems you have with it.

Not much to maintain in a modern computer. Usually they last until the electrochemical fluids dry up in the mainboard components, power cycle the unit, and it never boots again. Even harddrives have become very reliable with almost no bad sectors.

But Maughan, you are not supposed to marry or have religious relationships with OS'es. Microsoft products work relatively well in some settings, but they are not the end-all answer, far from it. As I have said before, all computer systems suck!



This is wrong, and doubly so the way you put it. DRM will hurt you a lot if Microsoft gets it their way, no matter how law abiding you are. It is not only about movies, music etc. it has much longer claws. A good start is: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

[/quote]This is what really really really really pisses me the hell off about mac users. They sit there from the top of their ivory tower, in the club house that can only be accessed via some special mac-owners password. They look down upon the PC world with some sort of elitist **** attitude as if they are somehow more enlightened than the rest of the planet because they bought a shiney white box. Its truely annoying.

A few things to realize: The reason why spyware and virii exist for windows almost exclusively, is because they overwhelming majority of the computers out there run windows. If you're a pimply-faced angry white geek wanting to secure your hacker name in the annals of IT infamy, you'll be hitting the target-rich environments. If put in his shoes, wouldn't you want to try and cripple huge corporate networks as opposed to a relative spattering of artists' lofts?

Second: OSX+ runs on a *nix backbone. If you don't think there are vulnerabilities in that then you're kidding yourself. The reason you don't hear about them is because, again, the news doesn't report it when a spattering of servers get infected with a worm. I had to patch my linux machine on a WEEKLY basis (not an easy feat) back when I used it for an IPchains box or suffer the fate of all the roving worms that constantly tried to exploit it.

In short, Mac Elitist snobs hurt my brain. [/quote]
Gosh, if I’d known that anyone would be “really really really” pissed off I wouldn’t have posted an answer. Mac users don’t reside in a cloistered ivory tower. We heartily invite any and all to try a Mac and see if your user experience improves.

As to slime ball hackers, they do go after target rich environments. But, think about the first one who actually cracks a Mac. Big time deal to the pimply-faced angry white geeks.

Every OS has vulnerabilities. Fortunately, the Macs have avoided having theirs exploited.

I ran a corporate demo center that used Sun, Dell and Mac clients to demo data storage and caching systems. Even in an environment where we were behind virtual bulletproof firewalls, the PCs were the worst to maintain. The Suns were good as long as the application support engineers kept their hands off and the Macs just kept humming along.

My only complaint with Macs is because of their limited market penetration in the business vertical, they have limited applications availability.

your link is rubbish, or at the very least has significant falsehoods.

You know how I know this? Because:


Is blatantly false. I regularly play ALL my DRM/nonDRM/DVD content over "non-secure" outputs. In fact, I'm doing it right now. SO DRM is NOT hurting me.

I used to be a free media peacenik groupie. I used to download hordes of music thinking that I'm sticking it to the man. I used to think all corporations were EVIL EVIL faceless oragnizations, until I got into the real world. DRM is a GOOD thing. It protects the rights of those who rely on intellectual property to turn a profit. I happen to be in a field where intellectual property is what I get paid for.