Virus or what?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alfred Kaufmann
  • Start date Start date
A

Alfred Kaufmann

I installed Vista Home Premium on a laptop and with the exception of a
couple of things, wireless mouse and screen saver not working (now
fixed) and the touchpad not working (driver needed but we got a
wireless mouse anyways so we can wait) the installation went well.
Also it works like molasses with 512MB ram but more memory is on the
way. :-)

A new problem has started and I don't know what this is; Whenever we
start the Internet Explorer and go to some of the favourite websites,
another website www.conduit.com tries to open in the tabs or a whole
new IE browser. This takes up so many computer resources the IE
windows turns very bright and seems to lock up the computer. I can
get things back to normal by shutting down the IE.

I don't know what is causing this, the AVG anti-virus program is
installed and running. I also installed Mozilla Firefox and it does
not have this problem.

Anyone have any suggestions?
Al
 
Try downloading a adware or spybot remover and see what happens. Since this
is a fresh install of vista from the DVD, I guess we can rule out the
computer mfg putting in something like that, and possibly you hit on a site
already that installed a toolbar to your IE that does this.

Windows defender might find it too if theres anything there like that.

Otherwise, Im clueless since it's not happening to me. But by going to
conduit.com it seems to be some sort of toolbar that companys can use and
logo brand it to themselves (adware in my opinion).
 
I would not call it a fresh install, it was an upgrade but this
problem did not occur before the Vista upgrade.

I am running Window Defender and AVG anti- virus. You may be right
about an installed toolbar. I will disable them and see what happens.

Al
 
I am running Windows Defender and I can install and run Adaware and I
will have a look at Windows One Care beta.

Thanks,
Al
 
Stay away from the One Care..

http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1195310&SiteID=2

M$ has not ever made antivirus software and really have no clue what they
are doing. Windows Defender was purchased from another company that made
the best defense software but as a newbie in this field they do not know how
to make proper software for Windows Protection. All the others companies
have been doing it for years and know their stuff.. They learned to crawl,
than walk, than run to protect against trojans and viruses that constantly
change. So common sense tells anyone that M$ will not be any contender that
will succeed in this market for a while they have alot to learn to compete
with the 3rd party companies dedicated to nothing but protection!

http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Acknowledges_AntiVirus_Failed_VB100_Test/1170809025

Marvin
 
WOC failed miserably in recent testing....

Here is one link among dozens:

Microsoft's own antivirus fails to secure Vista

Honu
 
Alfred said:
I am running Windows Defender and I can install and run Adaware and I
will have a look at Windows One Care beta.

Thanks,
Al
Click to expand...

Run Spybot, Search and Destroy as well.

Alias
 
Hello Alfred,

Thank you for including the installed third party programs.

You asked for resolution, remove or, at least disable the items that you
shared as:
I don't know what is causing this, the AVG anti-virus program is installed
and running. I also installed Mozilla Firefox and it does not have this
problem.

There is a 99% chance the above applications are creating enormous driver
conflicts. Removing that stuff alone will increase the OS performance as well
as speed. Simply, you have five or six people inside your OS engaged in a
major fight for dominance !

You might consider visiting the below URL
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/community/default.mspx
 
In fact, WOC is from a company MSFT bought that has been dedicated to
"nothing but protection" for 12 years, and most 12 year olds I know aren't
crawling and can run.

In the first place, MSFT bought a couple of companies in connection with
WOC--an AV company Sybari Software and Giant for Defender and the native
anti-spyware app included in WOC 1.5 which works on Vista and MSFT's new
solution, Forefront. Antivirus companies to make One Care and that is
often the MO they use when they add new features, but of course not always.

http://www.sybari.com/

Sybari was providing security solutions for over 10,000 businesses for years
when MSFT acquired it. since 1995. That's not exactly crawling or walking.
If a 12 year old is crawling, it is probably secondary to injury,
congenital, or acquired disease. A number of features you use in MSFT
Office/Vista were acquired in just the same way.

Defender is no better or worse than many other anti-spyware apps, including
those you use. About the same number of false positives and false negatives
are exhibited.

WOC in contrast to a number of AVs like Norton and McAfee, takes up less
space, is less buggy on install and uninstall and in the middle of your
period of use for no reason.

I did like Trend and Avast that I used in many of the Beta builds of Vista
out of necessity because WOC didn't work. WOC gave me the opportunity to
kick bloated Norton to the curb.

I really think a lot of people who have used WOC since it's beta start and
watched it to its current build, would disagree with you that it's doing any
crawling or walking or missing significantly more viruses or Trojans than
most other apps. BTW a number of Trojans and blended threats aren't going
to be stopped by any current AV software.

With whatever common sense I have, I have yet to have trouble in several
years from any significant malicious script, virus, blended threat or
Trojan. I think WOC does a decent job--and again, I'm not seeing any of the
above named in using it since it began its Beta in 2004 to present.

CH
 
It hasn't failed me since 2004--the first day of its beta-- in my own
testing--although builds have had bugs. I havne't had a significant Virus,
blended threat, or Trojan since using pcs extensively for years. I use it in
Vista and have been since it became available for Vista a while back.

CH
 
I agree with you Chad. I have used One Care with no issues as well in both beta and final forms. No issues with viruses or my system.

--
Jason
Windows Vista RTM
MS Office 2007 RTM
"Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote in message It hasn't failed me since 2004--the first day of its beta-- in my own
testing--although builds have had bugs. I havne't had a significant Virus,
blended threat, or Trojan since using pcs extensively for years. I use it in
Vista and have been since it became available for Vista a while back.

CH
 
I agree with you Chad. I have used One Care with no issues as well in both beta and final forms. No issues with viruses or my system.
Click to expand...

I have just spent a couple of hours installing, running and
uninstalling spy ware programs. Adaware found the most problems and
then Spywarebot found 1 problem. After everything was done we still
had the IE hijacked to www.conduit.com. :-(

I think my next step is to re-install IE7 and if that does not work
try WOC 1.5.

Al
 
Adaware sold their souls out to Claria a few years back - not for money but
just based on the threat of a lawsuit from Claria. They removed Claria
products, including Gator - including its password collector - from their
malware definitions. They did so quietly with no announcement even though
most other additions/deletions from their definition list were publicly
posted on their website.

Whether they have corrected this horrible mistake or not, I cannot say.
They've already revealed their character and there is no need for me to ever
consider them or their products again.


Dale
 
Microsoft did some foreplay with Claria and although they deny it, seemed
to remove Gator from the list of targets in the early beta days of Windows
Defender aka MSFT Antispyware back in that day, and I've asked the Defender
team about it on live chats--they are never happy with the question. They
say now Gator is removed.

Customers weren't too happy about MSFT owning gator, but they have developed
other versions of it--and called them WGA and SPP.

Mike Nash who helped usher in Windows 2K, (who is still one of the heads of
security and a coporate VP), refused to talk about this when I asked Mike
directly on two live chats twice to discusss it, but MSFT was considering
buying Claria along with GATOR. Then it would have been MSFT as a double
agent--not the first or the last time--for their customers and you could
have called it Microgator and tatooed a Vista Start button on its back.

CH
 
Try downloading a adware or spybot remover and see what happens. Since this
is a fresh install of vista from the DVD, I guess we can rule out the
computer mfg putting in something like that, and possibly you hit on a site
already that installed a toolbar to your IE that does this.

Windows defender might find it too if theres anything there like that.

Otherwise, Im clueless since it's not happening to me. But by going to
conduit.com it seems to be some sort of toolbar that companys can use and
logo brand it to themselves (adware in my opinion).
Click to expand...
My final attempt to stop this IE hijacking was to install a trial of
Windows One Care. It scanned, found nothing and did nothing. I guess
I will have to wait until this problem is discovered by more people
and it gets fixed. In the mean time she can close the tabs or IE
browsers that pop up or use Firefox.

Al
 
I thought I would provide an update to this problem: I reset the
Internet Explorer settings as someone suggested and IE7 worked fine.
When I tried to install a toolbar called Deutschland Radio the
operating system asked for permission to allow Conduit access to the
Internet. As soon as I saw Conduit, I clicked cancel.

IE7 works fine now without this toolbar under Vista but it did work
fine with this toolbar and Windows XP. I will contact Deutschland
Radio and maybe they can fix their toolbar for Vista.

Al
 
Back
Top