Adware/Spyware problem

[rohbe]

I have a machine that is running Windows 98 and IE 6.0. It was infected with some nasty problems. I cleaned out caches, ran a Spybot program and now it comes back clean yet there is still some program there. Two problems - 1. Home page Hijacking and 2. Strange pop-up adds show up frequently.

Would unloading IE and reloading it again help. If so - where/how do I unload IE. I know there are programs that help with some of these issues but I don't trust them much either.

Thanks,
Jean

 

[PAndersen]

If you do wish to completely remove IE, it can be done :

http://www.litepc.com/ieradicator.html

But why not trust faq608-4650 .

 

[MasterRacker]

I wouldn't unload the browser. Follow PAndersen's adivce about the faq and check out this one too: faq760-4866


Jeff
The future is already here - it's just not widely distributed yet...

 

[carrr]

I know there are programs that help with some of these issues but I don't trust them much either.

Your suspicions are duly noted, but I'd strongly advise that you learn to trust some of them. Life on the web anymore without a well-rounded arsenal is increasingly fraught with peril. I'd acclimate myself with the tools enumerated in the FAQ cited above, augmenting it with the Kill2Me utility, found here:

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

(I'm seeing more and more instances of this particular fiend lately, so I think it's going to become as necessary as running CWShredder regularly.)

"'Tis an ill wind that blows no minds." - Malaclypse the Younger

 

[bcastner]

carr,

Thanks for the reminder. I added Kill2Me as well as PepiMK's utility to faq608-4650

Best,
Bill

 

[carrr]

Bill,

Excellent. You are the man.

"'Tis an ill wind that blows no minds." - Malaclypse the Younger

 

[rohbe]

Thanks for the advice - I plan to go ahead with it although I am always leary of loading any freeware/shareware utility without knowing its real origins. I would have been more comfortable looking for things in the registry which is where I assume some of these nasty things reside or are called from.

At one time the biggest manufacturer of Police Radar was also the biggest manufacturer of Police Radar Detectors. Does this mean that the biggest manufacturer of Virus's are Norton and McAfee. Boy would that be a great topic of discussion. :=)

Thanks Again
Jean