Spyware removal for ME

[BadFrog]

In my recent battles with spyware I have found the MS beta tool to be quite effective in eliminating spyware from a PC. Yesterday I was working on a friends PC who has Windows ME and lots of spyware. I noticed the MS tool is for 2000/XP and not ME. Is there any particular tools that anyone has had good success with on Windows ME? I was short on time so could only run Spybot S&D. It found several buggers and removed them but it also left a lot of stuff on the system still.

TIA

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[crow053]

adaware from lavasoft.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

 

[netabusechat]

1. Reboot your system in “Safe Mode”.

2. Make sure that you are able to see all hidden files and extensions.
Steps: Open the Windows Explorer > Go to Tools > Folder Options > View Tab. Select the “Show all hidden files and folders” button within the “Hidden files and folders” icon.

3. Delete all your Temporary Internet Files.
Steps: Go to Control Panel > Internet Options > General tab. Press the “Delete Cookies” and “Delete Files” button.

4. Delete all other temporary files.
Steps: Go to Start>Run. Execute “cleanmgr” command.

5. Scan your system with current version of antivirus. Make sure the virus definitions are up-to-date.

6. Download and install the latest “Spybot Search and Destroy” and “Ad-aware” programs. These programs are freeware, so use them both since they complement each other.

7. Remove spyware with “Spybot” and “Ad-aware”.

8. Check your system for the malware. If the malware remains even after used Spybot and Ad-aware, then scan your system with HijackThis. HijackThis is an excellent tool to discover and disable hijackers. This tool requires expert skill set. Having said that you can post your HJT logs on our site (

http://www.netabusechat.com)

and get help.

9. If you running XP or ME, you must disable/enable the “System Restore” after the system is clean. This because the malware will be in the Restoring point.

10. Last but least, make sure that you installed all the Windows security patches.

Regards,
netabusechat.com

 

[TomCologne]

Also useful is HijackThis (

http://www.merijn.org/),

small in size, no installation required.

HijackThis log file analysis(

http://www.hijackthis.de/index.php)

is a great tool to explain the majority of the results.

Lots of information about spyware is here:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/

Maybe your friend should take this spyware issue as a hint to get rid of the @#$!&* ME (More Errors), anyway;-)


TomCologne

 

[BadBigBen]

My Suggestion:

FORMAT C:/ then install either w2k or XP (depending on the hardware)...

install then a good Firewall, AntiVirus progie, AntiSpyware progies, TrojanHunters, etc... and believe me he and you will be much happier... (I agree with TomCologne's last sentence part @#$!&* ME)



Ben

If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[BadFrog]

Lol yeah I hear you guys, I'm not a big ME fan either. This is an older compaq that has like a whopping 128Mb of RAM. I could probably install XP but the performance wouldn't be very good. Guess I'll dig thru my box-o-spare-parts and see if I can come up with some more memory for him and start from scratch.

Thanks to everyone for helping!

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[BadBigBen]

@BadFrog - while you are at it, check those Capacitors... A good friend of mine also had an older Compaq (with ME on it, which I replaced with 98SE at first due to lack of MEM, then later with W2k) that for no apparrent reason decided to hickup and sputter once in a while, had me installing the OS three or four times before I decided to look at the Caps...


Ben

If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[BadFrog]

Thanks Ben I'll be sure to check those before I rebuild it. I appreciate you pointing that out and potentially saving me a headache.

Jeff

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein