Spyware

homer

Well-known member
Aug 18, 2001
16,326
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Tech guys:

Recently my computer had some spyware, which I removed with Spybot. The spyware is gone, but now I get the occasional pop up, and a note comes up saying something like "ad served by navigation program"

The spyware was Malar, after running spybot, I ran norton antispyware and antivirus, and all came up clean. Any suggestions?
Thanks

Homer
 
Sorry, can't help you but you might want to put this in the Technology forum for better response, not the lounge. Those techies frequent that forum way more than the lounge.
 
Unfortunately, one spyware program won't do it. Back when I was doing maicious software escalation, I would use a combination of spybot, ad-aware, cwscleaner, and Ewido for good measure.

When Microsoft bought Giant anti-spyware and started offering it for free, it was a godsend, but now it's been absorbed into Windows and runs in the background, but I'm not very sure of its effectiveness anymore. I don't trust what I can't actively fiddle with.

Don't bother with Norton or Macaffee. They are honestly horrible and rely on marketing and name recognition.

Ewido is still good, although now it's called AVG anti-spyware. you can run it free for for a time before having to pay for it.

Also, go to start-->run--> type "msconfig" and go to the startup tab. Disable any .exe file that's suspicious (you'll need to google the file names, but it's a great way to learn a bit about what should be there and what shouldn't). After doing this, reboot and run your anti-spyware again.

Hope this helps.
 
I'm a SuperAntiSpyware fan myself.

Another thing to look at is your Browser Addons... if running IE, select Tools->Manage Addons->Enable or Disable Addons

Review the items and disable those you're not sure about. Once these things are installed, they are legitimate apps.. so spyware never finds them.

Also, review your installed apps in Add/Remove programs.. you might see some nuisance apps there.

Hope that helps ya.
 
Thank You!

Thanks for all your help my tech savvy friends! All issues have been cleared up. This is one of the things I love about TERB, honest help.
Thanks again!

Homer
 
dreamblade said:
Also, go to start-->run--> type "msconfig" and go to the startup tab. Disable any .exe file that's suspicious (you'll need to google the file names, but it's a great way to learn a bit about what should be there and what shouldn't).
Agreed.
Doing this should be second nature to you.
Learn it and see what belongs there and what is running when you boot up.

On XP, I have nothing checked there.
On Vista, there are 11 things running, till I figure which can be safely disabled.
 
I run Uniblue's SpyEraser