Stupid me, downloading spyware...

[Blake]

So yeah I got some spyware. It was bad earlier (eating up about 80% of my 2 gigs of memory). With Adaware 2007 and Spybot - Search and Destroy I took care of most of the problem (or so it seems).

But I'm still getting pop-ups trying to make me download spyware that 'removes' spyware and my freaking screen saver was turned into a 'download spyware remover' crap just now.

Out of curiosity, are there programs that can alter the task manager to make it look like my ram isn't being eaten up? When idle, it ranges from 0-2% which is what it's usually around. However, I'm still getting the occasional pop-up, and some stuff is still going on.

Second question obviously is: Any good programs to remove this spyware and what are the reliable sites that correspond to them? (I already accidentally downloaded the spyware 'search and destroy' when looking for spybot earlier)

Edit: Ugh.. can the mod change the topic title and fix the typo? That makes me even look more stupid.

[Internet Tough Guy]

I use SpybotS&D and Adaware as well as AVG Antivirus and any extra little programs I can get my hands on.

If you don't have one yet, I'd recommend a firewall. If you have a downloader trojan on your comp, it will help you to stop it from communicating with the server that handles all the info it sends out about your comp.

Now, as to getting rid of the program, you could have any number of programs and that's where it gets tough. I rely on my own abilities to get rid of spyware, mostly. That involves checking in msconfig for unrecognized launch programs. If you haven't done that before, it can be a little confusing.

This isn't really the site to be asking about this stuff, though. I'm not a spyware expert and I rarely if ever get spyware, so I don't exactly have any particular techniques to getting rid of it.

Can you tell us how you think you got it? That might help figure out what it is. So will the popups, for that matter. If they are consistently for some fake spyware program or something, you can search the name of that fake program on google and look for ways of getting rid of it and related spyware.

[Ace Mercury]

hijackthis is also a good tool. It's a bit reliant of you knowing about the inner workings of Windows (e.g. the registry paths), but it's the most robust I can think of.

As for the RAM part: spyware apps don't have to take up huge amounts of memory. Only the amateurish ones really wreck the system and hog resources; the smarter ones only take up a few kilobytes of RAM and are named something important-sounding like "syspip32.exe"

If I were you, I'd back up all my data and reformat the drive. Nuke the site from orbit; that's the only way to make sure.

Myself, I use AVG for anti-virus, and I keep Adaware and Spybot for backup if something funny starts happening. Task Manager/ProcessExplorer to check for errant processes, msconfig.exe to check which apps start up automatically, and regedit if things get dicey. I use Window's built-in firewall; I'm also behind a router which does most of the firewalling for me.

[Blake]

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

I use SpybotS&D and Adaware as well as AVG Antivirus and any extra little programs I can get my hands on.

If you don't have one yet, I'd recommend a firewall. If you have a downloader trojan on your comp, it will help you to stop it from communicating with the server that handles all the info it sends out about your comp.

Eh, Norton firewall shut down on me a while back. I put back windows firewall but I'm guessing that doesn't help any, huh?

And yeah I found one spyware program and disabled it in MsConfig, but I still think the file is probably on the computer if the spyware removers didn't pick it up earlier.

Can you tell us how you think you got it? That might help figure out what it is. So will the popups, for that matter. If they are consistently for some fake spyware program or something, you can search the name of that fake program on google and look for ways of getting rid of it and related spyware.

Hmm, interesting. I never thought of googling any of the pop-ups.

As far as the source... X.X it was definitely from emulation. Lol I didn't bother posting the reason cause I know there's a lot of anti-emulation people out there (but I figure if you own the game it's legal right?). Anyway, emulation sites no doubt.



Otherwise I never have spyware problems myself. What's the most damage spyware can do to your computer? Can it wreck other components besides your hard drive?



Edit: As for reformatting.. I used System Restore in the past which is pretty decent, but I don't have any previous points to go back to aside from after I dled the spyware(again, my fault).

I never literally reformatted a drive, but I may have to consider it as a last resort. I really need to download AVG, everyone says it's good. Sides, there's not much risk factor involved seeing as I'm already infected, heh. Maybe that'll help things a bit.

[Ace Mercury]

No, spyware can only do what software can do; the OS really doesn't let anything happen besides messing with files.

[Internet Tough Guy]

You still didn't tell me any names, so I can't really help short of telling you to figure it out or reformat. Sorry bud.

[wariovswario]

I had the same problem three months ago and I was very annoyed. Nothing seemed to work so I backed everything up and did a system restore to before the problem started. The best thing to do to avoid spyware is to always have norton protection running and to be careful what sites you visit and what you download. If a system restore doesn't solve it then take the more dangerous approach and do a system recovery.


Seeing as how you have had the spyware on the computer for a while, it might not be a bad idea to do a full system recovery. I'm sorry to have to say that but it looks like your computer is ****ed. I tried adware and spybot but it never solved the problem (it looked like it was able to bypass the antispyware stuff)

[Metal Man]

Norton Firewall? No wonder. Norton can't protect you to save its own puny life.

ZoneAlarm is a good firewall, or at least was. Furthermore if you go to a professional forum you can get expert help which will tell you, step by step, how to kill the spyware without reformatting.

Reformatting is usually used when you don't understand how the trojan works; but if you know Windows on a low enough level, you can surgically delete the pieces and overwrite them with the old, functional windows stuff.

But it's a lot of work, so if you're afraid of the insides of Windows and don't have much time, a reformat may be necessary anyway.

[Internet Tough Guy]

I've never had any problems with Norton. Much more efficient and capable than Zone Alarm has been.

[Lurch1982]

I found Norton better than ZoneAlarm (I just did not like it at all), but I've been on Kaspersky AV for a while on my computers and haven't had any issues. Lighter on the system load than Norton from what I see and the multiple updates a day is great.

For spyware, I'm running a mix of Adaware and AVG Anti-Spyware, except on the desktop where I can only run AVG (x64 Vista; Adaware isn't x64 compatible yet).

As far as addressing any deep rooted problems already existing, you may have to reformat especially if you aren't comfortable with registry editing. Just remember to do things like unregister iTunes purchased songs and check to see if progs like your AVS will transfer over in a reboot.

[wariovswario]

Reformat. I did because I was afraid of going into the registry when I had this problem months ago. I found norton protection to be very efficient actually as long as you run the liveupdates once a week.