WTF is this

[Dr Watchsom]

On some of the threads there is a yellow line under the words work or job, that lead to other web sites. Is this a new way for terb to raise money or is someone tampering

 

[luv4lust]

damn dr w you been in to the catnip again

 

[Fred Zed]

I would say the doc lost a few brain cells - due too much partying over the holidays maybe..

 

[Average Joe]

On some of the threads there is a yellow line under the words work or job, that lead to other web sites.

Sounds like you have a spyware program called TopText on your PC. The most likely way you got this was through a file sharing program like KaZaa.

You should download and run Ad-aware from a company called Lavasoft (http://www.lavasoftusa.com) that will help you remove it and any other spyware you have on your machine. If it is too entrenched for Ad-aware to remove then go to http://www.whirlywiryweb.com/removeezula.htm for manual instructions on how to remove it.

If you want to avoid getting it in the future then be careful which file sharing programs you use and don't use Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer has so many security holes that it is like removing the front door to your house. I recommend either Mozilla (free, open source) or Opera (free version has ad banner, $39US for non-ad version).

http://www.mozilla.org/
http://www.opera.com/

 

[Dr Watchsom]

thanks Joe

Ad aware worked joe
Question If I get another browser can I still use msn and instant messenger

 

[tboy]

and the reduced version is.....FREE!!!

 

[qwert]

I like it...

That ad-aware software rocks! Free and an easy download... my PC is no longer the ad-man's bitch!! Thanks, Average Joe!!

 

[Salisbury_Steak]

just to second what people are about ad aware, good program to have

fucking kazaa ... I ran adaware after I uninstalled kazaa, it found 35 to items delete (spyware,adware)

 

[Snook.fr]

Joe,

I get a Gaobot 32 thing pop up every so often.....how can I remove this little Bugger?

 

[Average Joe]

Re: thanks Joe

Ad aware worked joe
Question If I get another browser can I still use msn and instant messenger

You can still use MSN and IM. Although since they both use IE components under the covers you still have an exposure but a much smaller one.

 

[Average Joe]

Joe,

I get a Gaobot 32 thing pop up every so often.....how can I remove this little Bugger?

Gaobot is a worm which is different from spyware. Your going to need an anti-virus program to remove it. Although depending on the nature of the infection putting an anti-virus program on after the fact might not correct the problem.

You can check out Symantec's description of this particular worm - http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.hllw.gaobot.bm.html

 

[Average Joe]

Do you know how to get rid of a homepage hijacker. It takes me to a web counter page for a search engine, no matter how many times I reset my homepage.

This article (http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/hijacked/) at Spywareinfo should help you remove the hijacker. It also has a number of suggestions on how to protect youself from a hijacking including using a browser other than IE, disabling activeX controls and replacing the Micro$oft Java VM with Sun's JRE.

 

[TravellingGuy]

Lets not blame everything on IE. I use IE fairly exclusively now (I started on Netscape back in the beginning, used Mozilla and others), and I have no hijacking, no pop-ups, etc. I use ad-aware and other third party products, but I also lock down my IE settings, my active-X controls and zone levels.

If you know what to do, and keep your security patches up to date you can use IE without any problems at all.

However, I would say that I'm above par on the computer user level, and its sad that MS ships a product like IE without having it default to the highest of settings possible and then allow the user to open things up, shipping it completely open and then make people fix it after they get hit with virus's etc is lame.

 

[Average Joe]

Lets not blame everything on IE. I use IE fairly exclusively now (I started on Netscape back in the beginning, used Mozilla and others), and I have no hijacking, no pop-ups, etc. I use ad-aware and other third party products, but I also lock down my IE settings, my active-X controls and zone levels.

If you know what to do, and keep your security patches up to date you can use IE without any problems at all.

However, I would say that I'm above par on the computer user level, and its sad that MS ships a product like IE without having it default to the highest of settings possible and then allow the user to open things up, shipping it completely open and then make people fix it after they get hit with virus's etc is lame.

I agree that you can use IE safely but as you stated it requires anti-spyware software, 3rd party plugins, constant security updates and modifying Microsoft's default security properties.

What Microsoft has created is a browser that only experienced and informed users can protect properly.

I've been using Netscape/Mozilla exclusively since Netscape 4 and I have not had to do anything other than upgrade as new versions came out.

Why use a program that requires all that extra work when there is one out there that doesn't?

 

[Asterix]

I've run a couple different programs to detect spyware, including Spy-bot, and the most listed were Backweb files. Is Backweb really needed to use the internet, or is it just communicating your web activity back to, well, whomever it's connected to?

Thanks Joe, and everyone else for all the info.

 

[nutnbetter]

just to second what people are about ad aware, good program to have

fucking kazaa ... I ran adaware after I uninstalled kazaa, it found 35 to items delete (spyware,adware)

You need to download Kazaa lite k++ edition, no spyware, and no adware. Hard to find though as kazaa has been shutting down all the sites that have it...do a search on google.

 

[letsgoletsgo]

If you go to Google and search for Kazaa lite, scroll down to the bottom of the results, you get this:

In response to a complaint we received under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 3 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint for these removed results.

hmm.. I wonder which ones were removed.

Too bad the guys at Kazaa Lite K++ didn't have the foresight to name the damn thing something else for crikey's sake.

Hey, I wonder if you can download Kazaa Lite off of Kazaa... now that's irony. Someone should give it a shot.

 

[nutnbetter]

Hey, I wonder if you can download Kazaa Lite off of Kazaa... now that's irony. Someone should give it a shot.

Kazaa lite k++ is not part of Kazaa. That's the reason google delisted sites that carry it. Kazaa makes most of their money from adware. They don't want k++ around. Dig a little deeper, it is out there.

 

[taylortime]

Maybe I'm just lucky but.... I use the free kazaa, spend time in newsgroups and surf alot, including adult sites. So I spend alot of time in areas that cram my computer full of spyware and viruses. I run trendmicro online scan once a week and online spyware detector every week and never have any problems.....
Naughty Dreams
Taylor

 

[babebanger]

Spyware

I use Mcafee for virus and spyhunter-this program is$29 per year and I found better than adaware
just removed 256 spy programs form laptopn my son was using kazaa

Aslo remoives all cookies that even IE cookie deleter doesn't

Very comprehensive program worth every penny!