WOTP F@##@$ing spyware!!!

[trekgeezer]

Quit using IE it is the spawn of the devil Bill .  Go to mozilla.org and download  Mozilla or  Firefox.  They both have pop up blocker built in (with an exception list where you can save site names that require  pop ups to work correctly)  You also get  a less confusing  options setup.  

The neatest thing is the tabbed browsing, you can have several sites open in one window, each site gets it's own tab.  Check it out, it's open source, meaning it;'s free.

[ulthar]

JohnL wrote:

>
> Each time a new cookie is detected, Cookie Wall pops up and
> asks if it should always delete the cookie, always allow it or
> allow it for that session only.

I think this is how Mozilla Firebird works, as well.  Cookie Wall does sound like a good program, tho.

 
> No problem. I've got a ton of things about Explorer and
> Microsoft in general that really bug me. Why do I use it?
> Compatibility. Yeah, I know...  :-/

I'm sorry...compatibility with what?  I've been using Mozilla Firebird for a while now and I have only seen ONE web site that had some java script buttons that did not render properly.  Moz is faster and TONS more secure.  If there is some specific thing you need IE for, that's cool, but I must say, my break with IE was A Happy Day.

[ulthar]

trek_geezer wrote:

Sorry trek_geezer, I posted my reply before reading yours!   For the record, again, I LOVE Firebird since switching.
 
>
> The neatest thing is the tabbed browsing, you can have several
> sites open in one window, each site gets it's own tab.  Check
> it out, it's open source, meaning it;'s free.
>

I have found tabbed browsing not only neat and easy, but also EXTREMELY useful.  There have been several times that this has saved my butt in regard to losing data.  In IE (or Moz), I did not like having multiple sites open in separate windows as that really fills the task bar up...if you get 20 sites open at once, the desktop gets to be a mess.  With tabs, it's all in one window, and MUCH MUCH faster to find what you need and switch between open sites.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Ulthar,

Fantastic to actually see someone else using Firebird!

[AndyC]

ulthar wrote:
> There was a recent (last month??) article I read about a pretty
> big list of anti-spyware programs that actually install spyware
> or other trojans on your computer.

Reminds me of an anti-spam program I tested out, called Qurb. It's apparently recommended by a number of magazines, etc., but I found it to be a completely worthless program. It doesn't do anything except keep a list of familiar addresses, and put messages from unfamiliar senders into a folder. Problem is that you still have to sort through it for any legitimate messages from first-time senders, and mark them to be added to the list. It's no more convenient than going through the inbox, and actually sticks a folder full of spam in front of you every time it runs. Pain in the ass.

Worse still, I noticed the volume of spam increased markedly after it was installed. I can't prove it, but I think this thing probably didn't just compile a list of email addresses for my benefit. I wouldn't be surprised if every address I had on file is getting more spam.

I uninstalled Qurb after about a week, and was glad to see a comment window pop up asking why. I told them what a useless piece of crap it was, and accused them of selling spyware.

I've since upgraded to the new PC-cillin, which has a built-in spam filter. Works beautifully. It adds the word 'spam' to the subject line, and Outlook Express throws out anything with 'spam' in the subject line. Perfect.

[Grimsnipe]

Well, believe it or not, I have both Adaware and Spybot going on my computer (plus I even bought McAfee virus protection) and go through the Hijack This program on occasion.  There are two scripts in particular (Look2Me and Newton Knows) that sypbot keeps detecting and (supposedly) eliminating, but they just come right back.  Plus there's that every popular WinHost32.exe (Winhost, actually sounds like a f**king legitimate file, doesn't it?) that just won't go away now matter how many times I hit the delete key.

To top it off, I think I might have accidently deleted something important (that or one of the programs might have damaged it) as I occasionally get error messages from explorer.exe or my computer just freezes (well, the mouse still moves, but I can't do anything else) and I have to shut the damn thing off (which I told is not good on the harddrive.)

I'm about to the point where I'm thinking of buying a CD burner, burning my personal stuff and just del *.* the whole f**king hard drive and starting from stratch. (If I had the money I'd just get a completely new system, but, I'm not very wealthy at the moment.)

I guess it doesn't help I have Windows ME, the bastard stepchild of the Windows family...

Anyway, thanks for letting my rant guys... :)

-grim

[Grimsnipe]

AndyC wrote:

> What exactly is the spyware doing?

Usually it's random popup adds.. sometimes it even replaces my homepage with this damn zestyfind.  Once, I'd click on certain links and I'd get f**king zestyfind telling me the page was down!  And I then reentered the page and, violia, it worked just fine!  Then I get Winhost32 which occasionally brings up a window on my screen like some sort of ActiveX program or something.  It stays there (even if I hit the showdesktop button) until I hit control alt delete and hit "end program" on the list.  

Anyway, I do have adaware and spybot but some of them still persist, been looking into some more info and doing some regediting.  I dunno.. some of these files just don't seem to want to leave.> PC-cillin and Spybot. Haven't had a problem with viruses or
> spyware since.

Like I said, I have spyboy, but not Pc-Cillin.  May have to check that one out..

Thanks for the tip!

Mike

[Grimsnipe]

trek_geezer wrote:

This will sound silly, but the only prob with Mozilla is I can't seem to get the yahoo games to work on it.  Yeah, yeah, I know.. it's dumb, but I really like playing those games.  (Course, for all I know those damn things have spyware on them too...)

(sighs)

> Quit using IE it is the spawn of the devil Bill .  Go to
> mozilla.org and download  Mozilla or  Firefox.  They both have
> pop up blocker built in (with an exception list where you can
> save site names that require  pop ups to work correctly)  You
> also get  a less confusing  options setup.

[ulthar]

Grimsnipe wrote:

 There are two
> scripts in particular (Look2Me and Newton Knows) that sypbot
> keeps detecting and (supposedly) eliminating, but they just
> come right back.  Plus there's that every popular WinHost32.exe
> (Winhost, actually sounds like a f**king legitimate file,
> doesn't it?) that just won't go away now matter how many times
> I hit the delete key.

(1) You might want to check your Startup folder for either the bad files or an installer of one or both of these files.  You can delete the file, but when you reboot, the installer runs automatically and reinstalls it.  Make sure your Windows Explorer is config'd to let you see hidden files.

(2) Check the Run and RunOnce keys in your registry.  Entries in these keys will cause a program (such as an installer or the bad file itself) to run automatically upon system startup.  If you don't know how to check this, send me an email.

(3) If they are just restarting after you delete them (ie, no reboot in between), you do have a problem.  There's something hidden somewhere that is doing it.  May be an OS install is the only 'easy' recovery.

>
> To top it off, I think I might have accidently deleted
> something important (that or one of the programs might have
> damaged it) as I occasionally get error messages from
> explorer.exe or my computer just freezes

You MIGHT be able to repair WinME with repair media.  Personally, I've never had much success with this with ANY version of Windows, certainly NOT WinME!  Anyway, it's worth a thought.

As you say, the windows file(s) themselves may not be corrupt if you can reboot and things are okay until the trojan code runs again.  If you can find the malware that is causing it and get rid of it, windows may be okay.   It's worth hoping.

>
> I'm about to the point where I'm thinking of buying a CD
> burner, burning my personal stuff and just del *.* the whole
> f**king hard drive and starting from stratch. (If I had the
> money I'd just get a completely new system, but, I'm not very
> wealthy at the moment.)

If you are considering a complete OS reinstall, might I suggest Linux?  I happen to have here burned and ready to be mailed Mepis Linux, an EXCELLENT Debian based distro.  Mepis is rather easy to use, comes with a BUNCH of software, and you can have it for free (I'll pay for postage).  Rid yourself of the Windows nightmare, forever!!

If you want to learn more about Mepis:  www.mepis.org

I just put Mepis on my old ThinkPad, which is currently sharing with Win98...but '98 is coming off next chance I get to monkey with it.

You can run Mepis "Live" from the CD (if your computer can boot from CD) without installing anything, so you can try it out for a while before installing.  Installation of MEPIS is far easier than ANY Windows Install I have done (I have done numerous   Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 and XP installs while doing some tech service work for a friend that owns a computer company).

[ulthar]

Depending on your ISP, too, you might be able to get them to set up Spamassassin or similar tool on the SERVER, so you would never even see the spam.

For example, my ISP has spamassassin (sa) set up so individual users can activate it and configure it.  sa scores email by a bunch of spam tests, and you can set the score you want to use as your threshold.  You can also specify if you want them delivered to you with "SPAM" the subject line or just deleted.

http://www.spamassassin.org

We also have sa on our mail server.  Our email clients cannot set sa up themselves, but we will do it for them if they ask.  We can do a variety of things with the mail (put it into a 'spam' folder for them, simply mark it, or delete it completely), but most just want it junked.

Since activating sa on my email account, I have gone from 100-200 spam messages a day to 5 or fewer.  I have no way of knowing if any real messages are getting dropped due to my config, but I doubt it; I have a very conservative score setting, and it is still catching 95% of the just.

The only difference with this it is all being done on the server...the mail never touches YOUR computer to be handled by third party software or OE,  which is a big plus if it has spyware or worm or whatever attached.  I cannot imagine any reputable ISP NOT willing to set this kind of thing up for you if you ask.

Couple the server side spam tool with what you are currently doing, and your spam problem will be history.

[Mr. Hockstatter]

I use SpamPal.  It works pretty well.  Once in a while you get an error when you check for new messages, but since the last SpamPal upgrade I haven't had very many problems.  If I just let Outlook Express get the mail on its own, it works perfectly.

[Ash]

Just yesterday (3-27-04) I started to get this random download box that pops up on my screen.

It says it's an HTM.HTM document from www.achtungachtung.net (or .com I forget)
It looks like a legitimate Windows download box.

It just randomly appears every now and then no matter what site I happen to be on...and yes, it has popped up here to me on this message board once or twice.

Fearing that it's some kind of virus or spyware I always click the small x at the top right corner.

It's popped up on my screen at least 10 times in the last day or so.

Have any of you had this happen and do you know anything about it?



Post Edited (03-28-04 02:02)

[Ash]

Skaboi wrote:
 As Trek_Geezer said, run both Adaware
> (http://www.lavasoftusa.com) and Spybot which you should be
> able to find at http://www.download.com.  I'm pretty partial to
> SpyBot myself as it is extremely in depth.  But Adaware will
> find things that Spybot misses.


I am partial to Spybot S&D myself....I have Ad-Aware on my p.c. but it is tame in comparison to Spybot.

Spybot S&D has an "advanced mode" that I use regularly.

Ad-aware, in my personal opinion, stinks.
It takes almost 15-20 minutes to run a deep scan!

Spybot can do the same and find more stuff in less than half the time.
Plus Spybot S&D offers WAY more features.....
Go with Spybot S&D.

[Ash]

Well I did a bit of searching and reading on this achtungachtung download box.
Very little information is available on it but from what I can tell, it appears to be a Trojan virus in disguise as a legitimate download so BEWARE!

If any of you come up with anything more on this please post it here.

It makes me worry if I actually DO have that trojan on my p.c. because that box still keeps popping up.

I ran both Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware and both came up with nothing.
I also ran Hijackhis and found nothing unusual on the list it produced.

I shot off an e-mail to the admins at Spybot S&D to inform them of this but I believe that I'm not the only person to have done this.
Hopefully they're producing a countermeasure to this freakin' annoying pop-up box!

HELP!

[ulthar]

ASHTHECAT wrote:


> Spybot can do the same and find more stuff in less than half
> the time.
> Plus Spybot S&D offers WAY more features.....
> Go with Spybot S&D.


Ash, it is well documented by people that do Win based sysadmin for a living that Spybot WILL miss things that Adaware catches.  The two together are, in fact, the most powerful tool.  I don't know anyone that recommends Adaware OVER spybot, but the two together.

It's funny, too, because I cleaned a computer recently of HUNDREDS of spyware programs that Spybot took WAY, WAY longer to scan than Adaware did.   But, I did use both.