Help!

[SparkySteve]

Greetings all,

 

The office computer is left on 24/7, but the about of absolute crap that gets dowloaded onto it is startin to bug me... It doesn't even ask if you want to download and install the files it just happily roles over and lets them tickle its stomach (in a dog or cat sense!) now we have got a firewall and pop up blocker but these files seem to manage to get around them no problem. I run adaware once or twice a week and it churns up about 150-200 file everytime, it beginnin to get me down *sniff!* can anyone reccomend a solution to these problems?

 

Any help is much appreciated!

 

I've searched elswhere on the forum but I can't really find an answer to my problem except the pop up part, which I'm got just about sorted.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Steve

[Drew]

It would be worthwhile forcing AdAware to update its definitions. If its not completely up to date, some software will sneak past it.

 

Drew

[Brian]

Hi Steve

 

I can sympathise. It's taken me over a week to clean my new laptop after I stupidly connected it to the 'net without a firewall or virus checker running. I'd just unpacked it and thought 'what can happen?'.

 

Most likely you have something still lurking which adaware isn't spotting.

 

I'm suprised it's getting past a firewall though. What are you running? I use Zone Alarm which I have set to alert everytime a new program tries to access the 'net.

[SparkySteve]

I'm using the norton utilities package with antivirus and firewall, the thing thats buggin me the most is that everytime I open Iexplorer I get barraged with pop ups from everywhere, most of them get caught by the pop up blocker but there's still 2 or three which remain open. random search bars keep appearing under the address bar and I can't edit my homepage. my favourites keep increasing in number too! I've looked into the possibilty of a trojan of some sort but can't seem to work it out, might go back to pens and paper at this rate

[TomLyall]

Steve, that sounds like a thing, that I think is called a hijacker, im suffering with the same at the moment, its being a right buggar...

[SparkySteve]

anyone got any quick fixes or permanent soloutions? its slowing me down 25-50%

[Jivemaster]

Try HouseCall -- is it Trend or symantec, as an online problem scan. Or, do you have a friend at the beeb, if you send an email to the beeb it is returned if infected, with a list of infections.

 

Look at www.pchell.c Loads of good advice about things that make your pc hell, including fixes.

If you really must leave the pc on 24/7 then hourly pattern updates are essential as is a hardware firewall. and a back-up of the entire HD on a caddied HD,

[Brian]

anyone got any quick fixes or permanent soloutions? its slowing me down 25-50%

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

One of the problems is that some nasties can hide themselves when Windows is running. Several sites recommend using a DOS based checker to get in there at the start.

 

I found several on my machine using 'Panda Quick Remove' which I stuck on CD using my main (clean) machine. Boot into Command Mode instead of windows and run it.

 

I was talking to a friend who works in IT who tells me that when building a new machine it is now accepted that if you are installing a new OS and software you are likely to find the machine infected with something within 10 minutes if you have it connected to the internet. Basically, there are so many exploits of the OS that by the time you come to patch it to the latest revision, it's too late.

 

My experience with my new laptop would seem to indicate that this is indeed true. Scary.

[P. Funk]

yep - I found that when building my PC. I was infected with the blaster worm within a few minutes of being connected! I now try and install as many updates as I can from a CD burnt from another computer - it just makes things so much easier.

[JohnMac]

I've just had a nasty telephone bill with Premium rate numbers suddenly appearing.

Fortunately not £100's but even so spurred one into some action.

Ran AdAware, and Freezone as mentioned in this and previous threads. Found over sixty undesirable programs and tracking cookies.

 

Went to Microsoft to update security and O.S. patches and was suprised at the number of attempts to access my machine by others whilst downloading. (over a dozen)Many many hours of waiting.... Egg shell blue is a good colour to watch dry.

 

Before down-loading anything off the net, get your virus and firewall protection in place first.

 

Regards

 

John Mac.

[Tomo]

If you have broadband of any kind, fit a NAT router - it will protect you from nearly 100% of inbound attacks, and the majority of the holes in Windows itself.

I'm not sure if you can get them for dialup, but ADSL and cable ones exist and are worth it

 

Absolutely no protection against email virii and anything that comes through software you already have installed though, so good AV software is still required.

 

As to a permanent fix for virii and auto-install trojans - don't use Outlook Express or Internet Explorer as both are full of security holes.

A couple of well-known holes in IE have not been patched, and probably won't be in the near future.

 

Mozilla/Firefox has had a grand total of one security hole in its entire 1.x history - and it was fixed within hours.

Opera is pretty secure as well.

IE has had...?

[kalmatthew]

If you have broadband of any kind, fit a NAT router - it will protect you from nearly 100% of inbound attacks, and the majority of the holes in Windows itself.

I'm not sure if you can get them for dialup, but ADSL and cable ones exist and are worth it

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They do, my firewall has a built in modem and will dial up to the interntet as a firewaled system.

IE has had...?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

well how long is a piece of string :).

[DSA]

well how long is a piece of string

umm, twice the length from one end to the centre

 

(sorry couldn't resist - I know its :) )

 

But yes IE is so poor these days!

 

David

[johnandsyl]

Use a browser called Avant, it's free I've not had a pop-up in three years!!

[Wilf dLampy]

A lot of spyware/adware installs to the same places. Here's some things to try to remove many of them(note: do not hold me responsible for any lost data)

 

1. Look in your add/remove programs under control panel. Some of the more "legitimate" thinking adware actually leaves an entry here so it can be removed.

2. In Internet Explorer Settings (right click on IE on the desktop) go to Settings under Temporary Internet Files. Click "View Objects". This should list the applets that are installed- things like "Shockwave Flash Player" that you recognise should stay, delete anything else- if it was important it can always be downloaded again next time you view the page that used it.

3. Whilst in the IE Settings, it's worth clicking on Delete Files, which will remove any cached web pages.

4. If you are feeling adventurous (and this is the bit that warranted the disclaimer above) open Regedit, and look in areas like HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ for anything that looks particularly odd. If you find something suspect, you can always type it into Google and see whether it's meant to be there.

 

While you're at it, make sure your system is updated, particularly any browser related items. The latest version of IE (I have v6 SP2) has a built in pop-up blocker for example. You can also edit the Security level for Internet Sites in the IE Options which can prevent websites from doing some nasty things.

 

As has been mentioned, you can use another browser (Mozilla Firebird is one I use). Other browsers are not necessarily more secure- but aren't as commonly found as IE (I think something like 95% of the worlds computers have IE) so are less targeted by malicious individuals and companies. At the moment.