Computer Spyware Problems

[Steve-O]

I have been fighting a losing battle with Incredifind spyware on a friends machine. The only removal product I have tried so far is Spy-bot Search & Destroy. It does not pick it up. I have followed all the advice found about removing it manually, but that doesn’t work either.

I am looking for a product that will positively remove this. I don’t want "it might" comments. Sorry for being blunt, but its been giving me trouble for a week now.

One product im trying to learn about is SpyHunter. I saw somewhere that it can remove Incredifind, but I have no way to contact the author without buying a copy.

Sorry for the rant, just frustrated and looking for help.

Thanks yall.

[FishDaddy]

Hi, Steve,

We're all susceptible to those malicious 'bots. I used SpyBot but still couldn't get rid of some. I downloaded Ad-AwareSE and it really cleaned house!

Here's the link:

http://www.lavasoft.de/

Hope this helps.

Dick

[Junkzoo]

just tailing along here,,,,got spybot too,,,thanks Dick , might try that too!

[the_colonel]

I'm with FishDaddy, I am a big fan of AdAware, and have installed it on 40-50 boxes in the last month alone. I have tried just about every other Spyware probram out there, and nothing seems to come close. Plus the price is right (Free), with free updates.

You might get a faster download from:
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-...ml?tag=lst-0-1

Tip: Run it, nuke everything it finds, reboot, run it again, and repeat until it comes out clean. Then run it at least every few days.

Good luck,

NOTE: The above is just my opinion, and a sugestion. In no way should I be responsible for any program downloaded, installed, and ran on any computer. -- Just covering my butt here.

[Alice]

A third thumbs-up for LavaSoft from me; it works great. I've only had one thing it couldn't ditch for me and Trend Microsoft got that nasty one. You might want to try Trend, too.

[Steve-O]

Sounds good to me. I'll give it a try.

Thanks for all help.

[JennM]

I've got spybot, adaware and I visit Housecall from Trend for periodic antivirus checks. I used to have Norton Antivirus, and even with regular updates, it didn't catch everything. Housecall is an online scan (free), it's not realtime protection but a regular visit and scan at Housecall has caught a couple of nasty Trojan Horses and saved my computer.

Jenn

[JennM]

OH and Yahoo has anti-spy on their toolbar now. I did use it on my laptop and inadvertenlty removed Smiley Central... I believe that Smiley Central uses some sort of spyware. A lot of us use Smiley Central, so you all might want to be aware of that...

Jenn

[kwjones]

I just go through the registry and delete any software entries that I know shouldn't be on my PC.

I have the yahoo companion toolbar with pop-up blocker and anti-spyware software...works pretty good if your machine is reletively clean to begin with.

[Steve-O]

Well, I downloaded the Ad-Aware and installed it on my pc to check it out and looks to do a complete job. I loaded it on my friends PC and with 8 passes it found over 1200 items and cleaned them.

I followed the advice to scan, reboot, repeat. I ran it 8 times in a row, and with every pass found more stuff. Im wondering if some spyware has a self healing feature, meaning when Ad-Aware removes something, it comes back.

The other problem with this PC is that any software that can be updated like Spy-bot and Ad-Aware wont update. It acts like there is no connection to the web. This machine in on a DSL connection, so its online all the time.

I have tried other browers like Netscape and Mozilla, and any other broswer will not connect to the web.

Arg!!

[Phishnoob]

I did Ad-aware as well as Pest Patrol. Some of these things are persistent and impossible to get rid of it appears. If you ever meet anyone that develops spyware do the right thing. I will cover your alibi as you were at my house at a BBQ when he got dumped in the river with cement booties.

[Steve-O]

I through in the towel and reloaded the PC from the scratch.

That was a sure fix. Lucky the owner does not keep much on his pc, we were able to burn a couple of CD's and that was it.

All is well.