Incredifind.com is ADware that reeks havoc

[ssamx39]

I had a user that somehow got this product loaded on their machine. By the time I was handed the issue, another tech had loaded Adaware and removed Incredifind through Adaware instead of through Add/Remove Programs. This product is similar to NewDotNet in that if you remove it through any other means than Add/Remove Programs it has reorganized the TCP/IP protocol stack and screws up the machine.

How I fixed it? bcastner's WinsockFix.exe utility!!!!

Just and FYI for everyone.

 

[bcastner]

ssamx39,

Thank you for the lightbulb for the WinsockFix utility discussed in faq779-4625

Don't leave home without it.

You did scare me though, as there are some newer bad guys that check to see if their registry entries have been cleaned (a typical first step for most antivirus or malware cleaners) and if so, then proceed to do serious damage to your system.

Which is why personally I have updated nearly every day faq608-4650 as a FAQ for cleaning bad guys.

But I worry every day that the bad guys will figure a way to make the clean-up create a bigger mess than the original malware problem.

I have increasingly recommended, and use, commercial products for this chore. As much as I admire the freeware tools, and quite frankly I admire the hell out of them as shown by my FAQ above, you should in an office setting consider commercial tools where they are updated as often as needed, sometimes hourly. The Internet right now is a war zone, and it saddens me deeply.

PC Magazine gave top awards to "Spy Sweeper", by http:\\

http://www.webroot.com

I believe we have passed the point where Internet trojans, adware, spyware and other garbage as annoying browser hijacks have become now serious problems to letting people user their computers.

I am a huge fan of Open Source, freeware, and Shareware software. But this problem of internet malware is pushing me more and more towards commercial software to prevent the issue, with 24/7 coverage of every possible malware variant.

Done rant.