Has anyone besides me been the victim of a browser hijacking? I kept getting ads for spyware removal software. Yea, right! What a frickin' scam! The ads were coming from the same scumbags who infected my computer in the first place. Like I'm going to buy any software from those con artists. I just managed to manually remove a variant of the CoolWebSearch virus from my computer. What a lot of fun! They said it couldn't be done. What's funny is that I've been downloading software for years and I've never gotten a virus. The one virus I've gotten was the result of just visiting a webpage. Now that's what I call a security hole! Microsoft strikes again. Has anyone else experienced a browser hijacking? Just wondering.
I had one a couple of years ago (combined with a trojan), which deleted my anti-spyware programs and would freeze up the computer whenever I'd click to download *anything* (including the software). I had to get my comp reformatted. Otherwise, try the simple but effective Hijack This!: http://www.download.com/HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html
I've never been hijacked, and I take measures to avoid that. Practice "safe" browsing (don't install plugins, etc etc), run a more secure browser (Firefox) with security plugins (Adblock Plus, etc), run blocking software.
In addition to safe browsing via Firefox (or Opera, I always give them a plug) consider the following as well: Safer email, use Thunderbird or Opera. Never click on attachments unless you know it was sent to you. Consider using disposable mail addresses (like spamgourmet.com) to reduce exposure of your main mail addresses. A lot of crap is delivered in "free" software, ads and such. When you download screen savers, game add-ons or cheats, and some ad-supported software always read the end-user license agreement and check for user reviews of that software. Usually if spyware/adware extra junk is included someone will have complained about it.
In addition, GoogleSearch anything you want to download. If it has spyware issues, chances are something will come up in the first 10 search listings for said search parameter. I also use WinPatrol, which helps in controlling hijackers.
Glad you got it cleared up, John. In addition to using some of the other programs mentioned, I also run Spybot Search & Destroy on a regular basis. Daniel may have been able to avoid re-imaging his system by booting to safe mode and running Hijack This! and / or Spybot.
Great point. My wife and son think I'm a paranoid SOB, constantly checking stuff, but they never see my spending hours cleansing my computer and the only reason I rescue their's is 'cause I worry they'll infect me.
If you have a little bit of cash to spend, www.spamarrest.com works wonders. They'll give you a free trial, and you need to do some re-configuring of your email program, but it's fairly straightforward. Gmail is also a wonderful program. I use my gmail address for all my registrations, and in the past 30 days, I only have 3 spam messages. (Spam is automatically routed to another folder, and is deleted after 30 days.) It's also free, with only a few text ads (no ads included in outgoing messages.)
That's a good point about checking reviews of software before downloading it. I've downloaded hundreds of programs over the years and I've never gotten a virus that way. I've gotten a couple of really excellent programs that way, too. But I'm pretty selective about the software I download. I stay away from programs that don't look legit and don't have good reviews. I run Spybot S and D about once a week. Sbybot couldn't remove the variant of CoolWebSearch that I had but it did help me identify some of the files that were causing the problem. I had to delete about 6 dlls and do some registry editing. Internet Explorer does seem to be a security disaster. I use Opera sometimes but I keep coming back to IE because I'm used to it. The most annoying thing about the infection I had was that it loaded a program at startup that kept trying to start IE. Using a different browser (or not using a browser at all) wouldn't prevent that. Every few minutes the computer would freeze while the virus tried to start IE and display an ad. Arrgh! CoolWebSearch apparently installed itself via Active-X. I disable Active-X, Java and persistent cookies in the internet zone. Then I list sites that I visit regularly and trust in another zone where I've enabled Active-X and cookies. I get a lot of messages that a page will not display as intended because Active-X is disabled. That's usually fine with me. Sometimes I enable Active-X and Java just to see what a page looks like. I'm prety sure that's how my computer got infected. For the most part Active-X, Java and Flash aren't worth the security risks they pose (actually, most pages that use flash look better without it). I have a fascination with old browsers. I have several old versions of Netscape, including NN2.x, which I use just for fun - to see if webpages degrade gracefully (which most webpages don't) and to see if all the enhancements are really improvements (which most of them aren't). I deal with e-mail spam by not giving anyone my e-mail address (or giving them a dummy address and then not reading any of the e-mail that goes there).
Another good way to protect yourself - using Firefox with NoScript. NoScript allows JavaScript, Java (and other plugins) only for trusted domains of your choice HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
just curious if the alerts you recived were tagged as Messenger service. if they were,do the following as they always come back. 1:control panel 2:administrative tools 3:services 4:click on Messenger,select stop,then change the start up type in the drop down menu to disabled.click on apply. problem solved forever
Just switch to linux. Very very few viruses exist for linux. It's a rock solid operating system with a fast growing community. Check out some live distros: http://www.knoppix.com/ http://kanotix.com/ http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ and install any of the following when you're finally had enough of windows: http://www.ubuntulinux.org/ http://www.opensuse.org/ http://fedora.redhat.com/ http://www.pclinuxonline.com/pclos/index.html http://www.mandriva.com/ You can keep your windows partitions around for gaming or any other app you "must" have. Just say no to anti-virus software, anti-spyware, defraging your hardrive, endless reboots and reinstalls!
It's not Microsoft's fault that you were tricked by pop up ad. Never click on pop up ads. That's all they result in: spyware and spam email.
My advice is besides all the obvious stuff mentioned already, be VERY CAREFUL when your anti-virus software pops up and asks if you will allow installation of some product. Unless you are installing new hardware/drivers, etc, double check. When you click "yes" that allows whatever it is access to your registry. OPnce it gets in there it is next to impossible to get out, and you basically have to reformat your hard drive. Happened to me once. Also, Bearshare and the other file sharers claim no spyware, but it is s lie (mainly for the free versions.)
My antivirus subscription just ran out and I'm looking for a replacement. Anygood suggestions? I have MCAfee on 1 computer and Norton on another. I'm not super computer literate (tech head) but can get around it. I checked reviews on cnet and they were pretty unhelpful fot the most part.
AVG anti-virus from Grisoft. http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 Updates are free as well. If you need a good firewall as well, (which you do - obviously), try Zonealarm at:- http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp or http://www.download.com/3000-2092-10039884.html