Been gone so long // computer virus problem

[3-LockBox]

Sorry I've been away so long. (yeah, I was) I spent last Friday getting my hernia operated on (embilical) and the whole of this week recooping. I'm fine now though, but may be off work for a while.

I just managed to regain some control over my computer after my useless-loser-step-son infested it with viruses (spyware mostly, I still have some viruses on my computer still) I don't really have a firewall on my computer and haven't needed it until my step-son got a hold of my password...I managed to get rid of some of the viruses, enough to get a little use out of it today.

Anyone here know of a good website with some freebie spyware removal programs?

On a more musical note...I've been trying to cozy up to RPWL's <i>Trying To Kiss The Sun</i>. I don't find I'm near as impressed with it as I was their last release, <i>World Through My Eyes</i>, but its still OK. Its just a little too maudlin for me.

[MindGoneHaywire]

Ad-Aware! Spybot is highly rated also but I've always found it confusing & this one is definitely more idiot-proof. I know there are other ways to get it but I don't have the direct link to the site so here it is through Download.com:

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10399602.html?tag=lst-0-2

When I first downloaded this & ran it it took more than a hundred pieces of spyware off my system, including registry keys & values. Every time I've done it for someone else it gets at least that much, sometimes 200. I ran it every couple of days after that & it took 25 or so pieces out. Then I switched browsers, from IE to Firefox, and no more spyware. HIGHLY recommended. www.mozilla.org.

[BinFrog]

download spywareblaster and use it daily

download hijackthis, read up on how to use it (find user forums), and kill that crap from your computer

[HAVIC]

"
Ad-Aware! Spybot is highly rated also but I've always found it confusing & this one is definitely more idiot-proof. I know there are other ways to get it but I don't have the direct link to the site so here it is through Download.com:

MindGoneHaywire is right that Spybot is a bit confusing, but in the spyware battle you need more than 1 weapon.

While Ad-aware is great, so is spybot in different ways. Spybot allows prevention by using the immunization feature that prevents spyware from getting onto your machine. However even running both of these it may not remove all of your spyware. I've had to manually go into computers and clean it out.

If you are using windows xp then right click on my computer and select properties. go to the system restore tab and turn it off. viruses and spyware will use this feature to restore the computer to a date where the spyware and viruses existed.

Also in windows xp/2000 if you have multiple user accounts on the machine run the removal tools as each user.

Microsft bought a company called Giant antispyware and now has a beta version available for free called Microsoft antispyware. goto microsoft.com click on downloads and search for this product.

www.grisoft.com has free antivirus software (or used to) but if is still not free buy it as it is the best antivirus software you can get for many reasons.

Firefox is a good alternative but some websites may not work properly with out IE.

Any more help let me know

Greg

[MindGoneHaywire]

BTW 3-Lock, heal up soon. I had that operation nearly 10 years ago & it took me a month to get back to work. It was a big one, though, I walked around with it, unaware, for 8 years. It's a good thing I caught it, I was told it could've killed me or at least screwed me up real bad in time. Good luck.

A year ago when I first went with Firefox there were a few sites that I knew of that I would visit--AMG being the most prominent example--that weren't compatible, or at least didn't run well, with Firefox. I think that's been greatly reduced as designers & webmasters are among the biggest fans of Firefox & even if they aren't they realize that the Firefox community are really not people you want to not be able to see yr site. At this point, any site that wouldn't run with Firefox isn't one I would want to bother with, frankly. The best aspects of it are tabbed browsing & some of the extensions which make going online more efficient than with IE. Once you use a program like AdBlock...well, I'll let you choose to check it out for yrself.

[Dusty Chalk]

Go away! You're going to infect the rest of us!

J/K...

[Swish]

I downloaded Microsoft's beta version of their anti-virus software at the insistance of the IT pros from my company, and it cleaned out what Spybot and Ad-Aware could not, so I'm sold. I run it automatically every day and, so far, nothing bad has happened to my PC or company-issued laptop. If I'm on their network, no problemo, but when I travel, I'm often on hotel websites that are far from secure.

Swish

[JDaniel]

Well I finally caved in and downloaded Firefox last night, and so far, I'm really liking it. If it can prevent some spyware, then I'm sold on it.

I also turned off that system restore in XP, although something doesn't seem right about doing that.

JD

[Dusty Chalk]

I downloaded Microsoft's beta version of their anti-virus software at the insistance of the IT pros from my company, and it cleaned out what Spybot and Ad-Aware could not, so I'm sold. I run it automatically every day and, so far, nothing bad has happened to my PC or company-issued laptop. If I'm on their network, no problemo, but when I travel, I'm often on hotel websites that are far from secure.

SwishAnti-spyware, anti-popups, and anti-virus are three different things, albeit related. You should use all three. I block popups with Opera and Firefox; keep my anti-virus up-to-date, and block spyware with Spybot Search & Destroy, although I'm not as good with that last one as I probably should be, probably because I don't download software any more. I really need to get around to that.