how worse my pc got ruined by spyware

[Corey]

Well, some people say writing about your problems will help you feel much better. So I though: lets write about all the trouble I have with spyware on my pc. I thought this would be the right forum to do it since everyone here is nice and understanding and I shouldn't forget smart. Ok enough bla bla bla , here's a list of whats wrong with my pc at the moment.


- When I'm surfing on the web, about every 30 sec the url changes to some preverded incest porn site (yuk).

- My desktop background is turned in to a spyware error message and I can't change it.

- Every 5 sec windows pops up a message saying my computer is infected with spyware.

- My spyware remover deleted windows files so every time I start up the pc I get errors.

- The same program also deleted program files so it's always the question if a program will work.

- Because of the same reason I lost most of my saved games and stuff.

- Because spyware is loading constantly my pc goes all slow and some times just crashes.


hmmm the people who say this helps are right I geus, I feel a bit better now.


thanks for reading my moaning 

[Mugs]

It looks like your PC is badly infected. I had my problems, but nothing like this.Ã,  We normaly do a spyware/adware check every week.Ã,  Spyware is always a problem since it keeps your PC from running properly and you start to lose patience.Ã,  I had a hole bunch of pop-ups a few days ago, and the worst part was, is that all those pop-ups were ads for Pop-up blockers, like if they're helping the situation. Anyways, hope you get through your problem.

[Gregjazz]

I'd say to backup the most important files you have on the computer and then just flatten it. It doesn't seem like you have that much hope in cleaning out all the spyware unless you want to invest a whole lot of time, and even then the results are not guaranteed.

[Barbarian]

What version of Windows are you running? How recent did this spyware problem occur? What kind of anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall protection are you using on your system (or are you using at all)?

If you're using a more recent version of Windows (Such as XP, ME, 2000, NT, ) that has the System Restore feature, and if the spyware infection is fairly recent (perhaps within a week or two), you may be able to do a System Restore to roll-back to the system-state to before when you got your computer infected, though this is still not garuntee it would work or help, but it's worth a try at least.
System Restore can usually be found from clicking on "Start" then select "All Programs", "Accessories", "System Tools", then "System Restore". Ã, From there select a Restore point to before all the trouble started occuring. The computer will load in the old settings, do a restart, and if successful when Windows starts up again (it may take a bit longer to start up after a system restore, so don't panic it it seems to pause for a minute), you hopfully should get a message telling you that the System Restore was successful.

Now, other things to do is to scan for and remove what spyware junk you're able to but using a couple of great (and free) utilities such as Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy.

Also, I reccomend getting and running CWShredder. If CWShredder is not opening and running properly, the Spyware is trying to protect itself, so you may need to first run PepiMK which should then allow CWShredder to run and do it's thing.

I also suggest getting and running HijackThis, then copy and paste the results over at: http://www.hijackthis.de/ and click the "Analyze" button on that page and get results of what is most likely "Nasty" junk lurking on your system. You can then use the HijackThis program to remove those bad entries.

For even more protection from future infection of spyware (once you manage to remove it), you may also consider getting and running "SpywareBlaster" and "SpywareGuard" from the following page: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/downloads.html

Also, if you haven't done so already, and if you're using Windows XP, you should Disable the Windows Messanger Service (not to confused for MSN Messenger). It's a little tricky to do it manually if you're not familiar with how to change that setting, or, you could download and run the following Registry Setting to easily disable the messenger service for you:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/messengerservice.reg

If you don't already have an up-to-date AntiVirus Program and FireWall running, I might suggest the following for you (which I use myself and find works great):

Anti-Vir (Personal Edition which is free): http://www.free-av.com/antivirus/allinonen.html

and Sygate Personal Firewall (which is also free):
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/sygatefw.html

Ã,  Ã, There are more things you can also do to clean up and protect your system, but the above mentioned suggestions and utilties should be a big help.

If you're still stuck, let us know and we may be able to help more... If you're desperately stuck and still can't get rid of the nasty spyware / virus crap, you may need to salavage what important files you're able to and perhaps it might come down to doing a reformat of your Hard-Drive and a Reinstall of Windows... then once you have a fresh install of Windows, I would highly recommend putting the above (or similar) mentioned utilities on your system for protection.

Best wishes and good luck.

[mozza]

Do whatever Barbarian said becuase he knows what he is talking about obviously. I had a problem similar to yours, actually pretty much exactly the same. (except I wasn't game to go on the internet) I just salvaged what was most important to me (My Documents, AGS stuff) and burnt it onto a CD. Then I formatted my hard drive and started from scratch.
If you can get rid of the spyware that's great but use what I said as a last resort.

I personally used Spybot: Search and Destroy, HijackThis, AdAware, AVG Antivirus, and some other spyware tools, but it still couldn't get rid of it all. So get rid of what you can and go from there.

Good luck.

[Elliott Hird]

Boot to dos
fdisk
delete all
create a hd
restart
format c:
insert windows disk
d:\install
done.

[InCreator]

You have hell of a war to fight.

First, formatting is for the weak. I always argment over this with my friend Valter. He usually formats, I seek ways to repair.

There's a complete cleanup guide I used recently, I was about as fucked (left my cable connection on when installing XP, stupid!!!)

I suggest getting needed stuff and disconnecting from internet during the fight.

1. Get a program called CleanUp!
http://www.justtext.com/files/cleanup.exe

2. Get a small virus scanner named Dr. Web
http://www.drweb.com/

3. Get Ewido security suite Trial version (or buy full, whatever)
http://www.ewido.net/en/

4. Get some sort of firewall, best ones are ZoneAlarm and TrendMicro. I suggest Trendmicro, because it also works as anti-virus and anti-ad/mal/spyware.
http://www.trendmicro.com

5. Get newest anti-browser-hijacker, CWShredder
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html

6. Install whole crap and update everything to get newest virus definitions and stuff

7. Restart computer in safe mode (during computer startup, tap F8)

8. In safe mode, first use CleanUp! to get rid of EVERYTHING your browser has saved on machine. Takes some time and gives heavy surprises. i.e. 2 days of computer usage produced over 1GB of junk on my HD!!!

* Next steps, some of stuff won't work in safe mode. use normal logon when needed.

9. Run CWShredder to clean your browser.

10. Time for Dr. Web. Scan everything and destroy everything.

11. Ewido. Full-Scan and destroy everything. It takes a LOT of time! And finds alot of crap too.

12. You may also try Trendmicro, both spyware and virus scans.

13. Empty virus vaults in named programs too, deleting every trace of baddies.

14. Run CWShredder again, just to be sure.

15. You should be much happier now. Just stay off from serial/crack and porn sites.

I hope it helps.

[BOYD1981]

my dad got a pc from my aunt that was running Spybot Search & Destroy, on further inspection i discovered that it was actually protecting the viruses that were on the pc, most of them trojans.
the best thing to do is keep a firewall running and don't install anything that comes with spyware.

[AlbinoPanther]

Just buy Zone alarm like InCreator said cause from our experiance(we installed win XP 6 months ago and it still work just like the first day) it is a best thing.


LD!!!![/b]

[Barbarian]

my dad got a pc from my aunt that was running Spybot Search & Destroy, on further inspection i discovered that it was actually protecting the viruses that were on the pc, most of them trojans.
the best thing to do is keep a firewall running and don't install anything that comes with spyware.

SpyBot Search & Destroy has what it calls the "TeaTimer" feature, in which it will block and/or notify the user of any programs attempts of making important registry changes. If Spybot S&D was installed AFTER a computer already had spyware / viruses on it, then, yes, it might seem that it was acting to "protect" those spyware / viruses with the "TeaTimer" feature... So, in order for Spybot S&D to be fully effective, it's best to have the spyware junk removed first. Also, some spyware & viruses will protect and/or hide themselves from being found and removed by anti-virus and anti-spyware programs.Ã, 
Really, it's a vicious internet out there, and a user needs to learn to take precautions early on.
Best regards.

[Elliott Hird]

Install linux.

if (ags != has_linux_editor()) {
get_software("WINE");
}

[LGM]

http://www.lilgryphmaster.com/misc-things/tweaky-clean/

[Corey]

thnx for all your help people. But you can all stop worring... The problem is almost fixed. I only have some url changes ones in a while now. But the spyware program I have left can fix that.

Thnx again for all the help but this topic wasn't really ment to beg for help but just to write down the problems.
Ok that sounds alittle weird, I admit but it helped me anyway. 

[ManicMatt]

Install linux.

if (ags != has_linux_editor()) {
get_software("WINE");
}

Or buy an Amiga! (It was able to open that "I luv you" virus email all those years ago without infection...)

[rharpe]

Well, some people say writing about your problems will help you feel much better. So I though: lets write about all the trouble I have with spyware on my pc. I thought this would be the right forum to do it since everyone here is nice and understanding and I shouldn't forget smart. Ok enough bla bla bla , here's a list of whats wrong with my pc at the moment.

What OS are you using? If you are using XP home/pro, when you get things back to the way they use to be I suggest making a profile just for web and e-mailing... this profile should be limited on what it can do. By doing this, spyware cannot take over your system, viruses cannot touch your windows files, and the registry stays OFF LIMITS. But you must remember that this profile will limit you from installing programs, and doing other basic functions as well.

You decide how safe you would like to be.

[CaptainPancake]

I keep my machine spyware free by regularly updating windows, running Firefox, and running AdAware periodically.  Since I've been doing this, my spyware checks have come up completely negative every time.