Spyware and redirected websites

[Being_the_Don]

I've got Windows Defender, Adware and McAfee 8.0 installed on my computer. Windows Defender runs daily checks which always say my computer is running normally. At the same time, I check the McAfee reports, I know that unwanted programs are constantly being removed from my computer. I know that spyware can redirect webusers to false websites. How would I know whether or not I'm affected? I upgraded to IE 7.0 but it wasn't good for my computer. I have IE 6.0 on my computer again. I prefer IE despite its vulnerability. Anyway, who has experience with this? How do you know whether or not you're being redirected to false websites?

 

[KontrollerX]

Some other good programs you can get are Hijack This, CWShredder, Spybot Search and Destroy and Spyware Blaster.

Moving to Mozilla Firefox as your browser of choice would probably be far more productive though.

 

[Bible_Belt]

avast has worked well for me. It catches the auto-install spyware all the time. My last pc died because I clicked on a link that said it was a review of an on-line broker; it was a top Google search result. It auto-installed some "anti-spyware" software that crashed windows on every start-up. It gave me a 'fatal error' and a one minute countdown on every restart in an endless loop, even in safe mode. That was before I got avast, which I think is free for one year.

 

[Being_the_Don]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I downloaded Spybot from safer-networking.org. What do you think of their immunization? It said I had 57000 + unprotected which was a shock to me. But Windows Defender didn't catch any of it. But since I ran the immunization my computer is moving slightly slower than before.

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Surprisingly I've been impressed with AVG ANti-Spyware. It seems to catch things that Spybot, Ad-Aware or many of the other popular freeware apps. Plus Google supplies a lite version of Spyware Doctor in their toolpack which works well. I've yet to wee Windows Defender do anything really impressive.

 

[Desdinova]

Some other good programs you can get are Hijack This

Had a really nasty spyware infection last weekend on my Windows partiton, and it wouldn't let me run HJT. It ran after I removed the spyware

I can't wait to make my complete migration to Linux. No more spyware headaches.

 

[bigjohnson]

If you've got McAfee use it - their research team is one of the best in the business, the consumer software less stellar but OK. Good news is that the group responsible for the abortion that is the McAfee consumer offering has been replaced by transplants from the wildly successful Entrprise Product team.

Expect huge improvements from now on, as this change has been in place for almost one full dev cycle.

As for AVG, it's free and worth it. If you have an aversion to McAfee I'd strongly recommend Trend Micro products.

 

[Being_the_Don]

If you've got McAfee use it - their research team is one of the best in the business, the consumer software less stellar but OK. Good news is that the group responsible for the abortion that is the McAfee consumer offering has been replaced by transplants from the wildly successful Entrprise Product team.

Expect huge improvements from now on, as this change has been in place for almost one full dev cycle.

As for AVG, it's free and worth it. If you have an aversion to McAfee I'd strongly recommend Trend Micro products.

I've got AVG anti-virus, Spybot, Windows Defender, McAfee, and Lavasoft. I just want the spyware off my computer once and for all. Spybot says all is clear now but other programs say spyware has been picked up and removed. *SIGH* I read that some malware programs are designed to work in pairs, if one is removed its partner can restore it. Oh, and that some malware can find you based on your IP. So it will keep coming back. Why is this junk legal anyway?

 

[bigjohnson]

Usually it's because when you install ***** v67.3 the EULA will explicitly ask you to agree to installing such crap. This is why commercial AV vendors have to refer to the spyware as "Potentially Unwanted Programs" since technically the user explicitly asked for the crap to be installed.

Having many anti-spyware apps running isn't really useful and can slow your PC down. If McAfee is paid up (you are getting updates) use it, the core technology is solid even if the app is chatty and cartoonish looking.

Best way to go IMO is to go to CDW and get a McAfee security for Enterprise 3 license pack and install it on all your machines. Much better software and again the core is solid and well supported.

And stop installing all that porn-sharing ware. LOL.


EDIT: hahahaha - K a z a a is censored

 

[CGE333]

Also, a lot of the spyware/ malware/ popups can be avoided if you use a browser like Firefox as opposed to Internet Explorer.

 

[kickureface]

all of those are subpar. switch to firefox (add NoScript) if you're really paranoid but those two alone will save you from anything online that you didnt manually dl.
spywareblaster is the only other addon i'd add (and use). honestly, i beleive all the other oens are inferior

 

[Being_the_Don]

Usually it's because when you install ***** v67.3 the EULA will explicitly ask you to agree to installing such crap. This is why commercial AV vendors have to refer to the spyware as "Potentially Unwanted Programs" since technically the user explicitly asked for the crap to be installed.

Having many anti-spyware apps running isn't really useful and can slow your PC down. If McAfee is paid up (you are getting updates) use it, the core technology is solid even if the app is chatty and cartoonish looking.

Best way to go IMO is to go to CDW and get a McAfee security for Enterprise 3 license pack and install it on all your machines. Much better software and again the core is solid and well supported.

And stop installing all that porn-sharing ware. LOL.


EDIT: hahahaha - K a z a a is censored

Porn sharing? You're joking, right? By the way, last summer I got hit by winfixer. Are any of you guys familiar with that nasty little trojan? It was sitting on a website and I accidentally downloaded it to my computer. When I realized something what wrong I tried my best to get rid of it to no avail. My McAfee antivirus software did NOTHING to stop it. It would delete cookies but not winfixer. My computer would actually shut down when I gave McAfee the command to remove it. I then called for tech support, had to shell out money (now you guess how much their tech support costs. Okay, I'll tell ya. It was nearly $70 which I could not afford based on my budget ) but they couldn't get rid of it at all. Then a friend of mine helped me upload Lavasoft and it got rid of winfixer. Oh, and the McAfee techs were the ones who told me that winfixer lurks on websites.

Winfixer was so bad that I was getting spoof websites. I knew it when the date stamp did not roll over on MSN's homepage. Lavasoft did get rid of winfixer but a lot of the nasty spyware that had come in with winfixer still plagues my PC. Spybot runs a scan for winfixer and it's nasty little names winAntivirusPro200- but their immunization worries me. Over 57,000 unprotected? Is that much spyware/malware possible?

 

[Being_the_Don]

Mozilla is associated with Google and Google admits to reading client email. :crackup:

 

[Last Man Standing]

Mozilla is associated with Google and Google admits to reading client email. :crackup:

Who doesn't know this?? Google also stated that they listen to you and your household over your pc microphone -- Google it!!!

The Anti virus programs are creating the viruses!! Welcome to the matrix fellas!!

 

[bigjohnson]

all of those are subpar. switch to firefox (add NoScript) if you're really paranoid but those two alone will save you from anything online that you didnt manually dl.
spywareblaster is the only other addon i'd add (and use). honestly, i beleive all the other oens are inferior

Sorry but that's just not true. Not only does Firefox have it's own vulnerabilities but it inherits a lot of vulnerabilities from the platform it runs on, so if you're talking Firefox on Win32 it's not much different.

Did you know the latest breed of malware for profit actually uses Linux hosts as command and control bots? Brave new world.

EDIT:

Everyone here realizes that email isn't the slightest bit private without a layer of added security like GPG, right? The Internet mail protocol is like passing a postcard from person to person until it gets where it's going - anyone can read it or take a copy of it along the way and every relay has to examine the address part at least.

The Anti virus programs are creating the viruses!!

Yeah, sure. Sorry about that new "AvAddNewvirus(...)" function I just created last week. Come on, people who are in it for the MONEY create this stuff. Organized crime and warfare are in the info age now.

 

[rjones]

I use firefox, spyware blaster, avg anti virus, ad aware, spybot and hijack this. With these programs I never get any virus or spyware. I only get minor cookies that easily get deleted with adaware/spybot. Stay away from porn and other shady sites and you wont get anything.