Having a nightmare with Spyware infection and have done a lot of surfing research to try to get rid of it. It has wiped my PC out twice in the last month, but with a lot of worry and hard work, I am gradually getting on top of it.
If you havn't installed an Anti-Virus protecter, a Fire wall and a Ad-aware download, you could be next! Be very careful!
Lautrec
Hi Lautrec
I think you've most likely been hit by a virus rather than Spyware.
Spyware collects information about you and can also present you with pop-up advertisements. Adaware (free), which you seem to know about, is very good at detecting and removing spyware.
To prevent having your pc wiped-out you need a good antivirus package and keep it up to date by regularly downloading the appropriate virus database. Make sure the your email is scanned and never open any email that you're at all unsure about.
I'd also add that you should be careful about which websites you visit; many of them install cookies on your pc. They're not necessarily malicious, but you're not to know. The more dubious the website the greater the chance of problems.
Hi Sid,
Yes!, you are right. It masquerades as Spyware, but it is an insidious virus. I have been on Torrents and have lately downloaded quite a few albums of music and I think that is where the 'nasties' have come from! I am at the moment seeking out further protection and staying off dubious web sites. Hoping to beat this menace in the end!
Lautrec.
Further to my last posting. I have solved some, maybe all of my problems with a web site called Hijack this! It scans your hard drive and then you skip through all the files until you can pick out the harmful ones. One click and they have gone. (or I hope they have gone for good!) It seems to be a solution.
I can highly recommend hijack this if anyone is already having problems with their computer.
As protection against viruses Avast Home Edition by Awil software is very good, free, and can automatically download updates every day. It has recently won an award for its performance, and can be downloaded from www.avast.com
Spybot Search and Destroy is also a tried and trusted tool for detecting/fixing spyware, cookies, trojans, diallers and keyloggers. Each time it detects an attempted registry change, it will ask if you wish to allow the change or not, and will remember the change so that you may reverse it later if you wish. It's also free from http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html
With these 3 tools, and a slight tweak to the standard windows firewall settings, my computer gets the highest possible safety rating when scanned using using ShieldsUp https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
Cathy
Thank you all for the info, I am now getting on top of the problem and I have put up many mre defences and hope that I might have solved the problem.
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