well my work pc now has something called "spyware" on it. it keeps opening on a search engine page and wont reset the homepage right. so the pc tech guy here told me about a great webpage

http://www.pchell.com

it is a great resource for pc problems of all kinds. thought you guys might like or need the link.

welcome to using a pc. it sucks.

the worst part was trying to explain to my boss how this thing got into my computer "all I do is work stuff" i think the innocent eyes look kinda helped though.

Anymore it doesn't matter what you do. If you are on the internet you will get crap like spyware on your computer, its pretty much inevitable.

....you know....I heard that there was pornography on the internet.

you'd better be careful!

It just takes 1 misspelled website. I spent a few hours reformatting my father-in-laws PC a few weeks ago because his PC was riddled with spyware. It just wasn't worth the effort to remove it all. I used to not protect my PC's very well, but it has just gotten too crazy out there.

You should download Ad-aware and run it every couple of weeks or so.

dag

I'd like to arrange a meeting with you and your roommate, Amber, when you get some free time.

and if after running ad-aware there are somethings that it tells you it couldn't get rid of, then boot the computer in safe mode and run it again. that will get rid of all but the most heinous ones.

The whole spyware thing is getting pretty ridiculously out of control. Every two weeks I have to go into the Windows registry and do manual keyword cleaning, then go digging through the Windows command prompt (DOS, more or less) and do manual directory/subfolder cleaning as well.

The individuals who sponsor spyware authors and distributors all need to get stabbed through the forehead with a blunt object.

i recommend using both ad-aware and spybot-seek and destroy. one will catch spyware that the other won't and vice-versa.

I use Ontrack's Internet Cleanup and Spybot to keep things straight and still have a hijacker that changes my homepage every time I reboot.
I don't know why these people do hijacks and pop-ups - I try to never patronize anyone who utilizes that type of "advertising".

M...A....C

Originally posted by greene76
M...A....C sucks :D

Here's a nifty trick...

XP has this ability to reset your system to a previous state. In Home XP its under Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Restore. It won't get rid of the adware executables, but it does put the registry back to the way it was so the adware never gets executed. It also fixes your startup protocal. There were a couple of adware POS programs that I couldn't get rid of any other way. On my machine, the system backup seems to occur about once per day so I can put it back to whenever I want. The trick is to catch it right away so you don't have to go back too far in time.