G
Guest
I was seriously hijacked and thoroughly infected with countless viruses,
spyware, malware, adware etc... It was a mess, but it was my own fault. I
clicked on something I shouldn't have. Fortunately I have a large arsenal of
anti-spyware and virus scans at my disposal. It took the better part of an
evening to run all these processes (which I will describe in detail) and
really got things under control. I'm probably back up to 90% now, but still
have a nagging popup problem, which I normally NEVER, EVER have due to good
maintenance and two good popup blockers.
I'm running Windows XP Home, 384 RAM, SP1, Pentium 4.
I updated the following software updates online first, then proceeded to run
them in Safe Mode because the takeover wouldn't allow me to run them online.
First, I ran Ad-Aware SE. Found total (spyware, cookies, etc..) 128 entries
deleted.
Second, I ran my service provider's SBC Yahoo Online Protection (a very
decent scan) which found maybe 20 entries and deleted.
Then ran Spybot. Approx 16 entries and removed.
Next I ran what is probably the greatest scan I've ever encontered: David
Lipman's SmitFraud.exe. This thing is POWERFUL. It found about 30 viruses and
over 50 possible spyware, all removed. (Lots of surfside spyware.)
Turned off System Restore temporarily and rebooted to permanently remove
everything from Backup Files. Turned Restore back on.
Ran Ad-Aware SE again (14 entries), SBC Yahoo scan (about 15 entries) again,
and SmitFraud.exe again (one more spyware entry). All found more nagging
spyware.
Also ran Trend Micro scan (approx 15-20 entries), and the new great scan I
have on Trial called ewido. Excellent. (Another 20 or so entries.)
Also, during the takeover, various evil software was downloaded to my system.
There are two icons on my desktop yet, but they are not located in Add or
Remove Programs. They are:
A colorful interlocking logo icon named MS DOS and the software is named
freeprodtb.
The second is called TagASaurus.exe with red logo that says TAG.
There is a third program located in Add or Remove Programs called Uninstall
Aze Bar. When I click on Remove, nothing happens.
How do I get rid of this software? regedit perhaps?
I still have some relentless popups that are plaguing me. The title bar
usually has ad.firstadsolutions or something along those lines and
ad.admarketplace if that's helpful. What do you suggest I use to ultimately
get rid of the last of this spyware?
I tried to be as thorough as possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Tom
spyware, malware, adware etc... It was a mess, but it was my own fault. I
clicked on something I shouldn't have. Fortunately I have a large arsenal of
anti-spyware and virus scans at my disposal. It took the better part of an
evening to run all these processes (which I will describe in detail) and
really got things under control. I'm probably back up to 90% now, but still
have a nagging popup problem, which I normally NEVER, EVER have due to good
maintenance and two good popup blockers.
I'm running Windows XP Home, 384 RAM, SP1, Pentium 4.
I updated the following software updates online first, then proceeded to run
them in Safe Mode because the takeover wouldn't allow me to run them online.
First, I ran Ad-Aware SE. Found total (spyware, cookies, etc..) 128 entries
deleted.
Second, I ran my service provider's SBC Yahoo Online Protection (a very
decent scan) which found maybe 20 entries and deleted.
Then ran Spybot. Approx 16 entries and removed.
Next I ran what is probably the greatest scan I've ever encontered: David
Lipman's SmitFraud.exe. This thing is POWERFUL. It found about 30 viruses and
over 50 possible spyware, all removed. (Lots of surfside spyware.)
Turned off System Restore temporarily and rebooted to permanently remove
everything from Backup Files. Turned Restore back on.
Ran Ad-Aware SE again (14 entries), SBC Yahoo scan (about 15 entries) again,
and SmitFraud.exe again (one more spyware entry). All found more nagging
spyware.
Also ran Trend Micro scan (approx 15-20 entries), and the new great scan I
have on Trial called ewido. Excellent. (Another 20 or so entries.)
Also, during the takeover, various evil software was downloaded to my system.
There are two icons on my desktop yet, but they are not located in Add or
Remove Programs. They are:
A colorful interlocking logo icon named MS DOS and the software is named
freeprodtb.
The second is called TagASaurus.exe with red logo that says TAG.
There is a third program located in Add or Remove Programs called Uninstall
Aze Bar. When I click on Remove, nothing happens.
How do I get rid of this software? regedit perhaps?
I still have some relentless popups that are plaguing me. The title bar
usually has ad.firstadsolutions or something along those lines and
ad.admarketplace if that's helpful. What do you suggest I use to ultimately
get rid of the last of this spyware?
I tried to be as thorough as possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Tom