Computer problems fixed
 

Thanks for all the suggestions and recommendations. Looks like I got it
cleaned up and working ok again.

Harry ... thanks for the Spy Doctor recommendation. It did the trick.

Eisboch

Computer problems fixed
 

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
Thanks for all the suggestions and recommendations. Looks like I got it
cleaned up and working ok again.

Harry ... thanks for the Spy Doctor recommendation. It did the trick.

Eisboch




I was thinking about the recent spyware problems I had. As previously
posted, I was bragging about how I had used various computers for years
without virus or spyware protection and never had any problems.
I've had this particular laptop for over a year hooked to Adelphia for an
ISP and never had any problems.
Then suddenly, it got trashed with spyware stuff in a matter of a couple of
days.

It just dawned on me that the problems started almost to the day that we got
a notice that we may experience some network difficulties and/or brief
outages because the Adelphia network was being taken over by Comcast who
bought Adelphia a while back. They were doing something with existing
Adelphia customers to integrate it into Comcast.

I wonder if that had anything to do with the sudden onset of spyware stuff.
Maybe Adelphia's service was better protected?

Eisboch

Computer problems fixed
 

I was thinking about the recent spyware problems I had. As previously
posted, I was bragging about how I had used various computers for years
without virus or spyware protection and never had any problems.
I've had this particular laptop for over a year hooked to Adelphia for an
ISP and never had any problems.
Then suddenly, it got trashed with spyware stuff in a matter of a couple
of days.

It just dawned on me that the problems started almost to the day that we
got a notice that we may experience some network difficulties and/or brief
outages because the Adelphia network was being taken over by Comcast who
bought Adelphia a while back. They were doing something with existing
Adelphia customers to integrate it into Comcast.

I wonder if that had anything to do with the sudden onset of spyware
stuff. Maybe Adelphia's service was better protected?


Possible, but more likely that you visited a website that just dumped a load
of crap on you. It can happen in nearly an instant when visiting a
malicious website. Been there.

Computer problems fixed
 

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006 01:40:18 GMT, "RG" wrote:

Possible, but more likely that you visited a website that just dumped a load
of crap on you. It can happen in nearly an instant when visiting a
malicious website. Been there.

On a poorly protected network you don't even need to visit a web site.
There are worms on some networks running around probing for vulnerable
computers to infect. After years with no problems I caught one a
while back just dialing into a podunk ISP for a 5 minute EMAIL check
with one of my laptops. It locked up completely and required a total
rebuild.

Computer problems fixed
 

"RG" wrote in message news:6OVZg.8763

Possible, but more likely that you visited a website that just dumped a
load
of crap on you. It can happen in nearly an instant when visiting a
malicious website. Been there.

Forgive me.. but I was unnaware that a website (alone) could give you
anything (but cookies)without you agreeing to download or enable "something
or other". As far as I know there's no such thing as an HTML virus or worm.

-W

Computer problems fixed
 

"Clams Canino" wrote in message
nk.net...

"RG" wrote in message news:6OVZg.8763

Possible, but more likely that you visited a website that just dumped a
load
of crap on you. It can happen in nearly an instant when visiting a
malicious website. Been there.

Forgive me.. but I was unnaware that a website (alone) could give you
anything (but cookies)without you agreeing to download or enable
"something
or other". As far as I know there's no such thing as an HTML virus or
worm.

-W



I think you are in error. The Spy Doctor program checks for about 4000
"known malicious websites" and is updated weekly.

Eisboch

Computer problems fixed
 

Clams Canino wrote:

:"RG" wrote in message news:6OVZg.8763

: Possible, but more likely that you visited a website that just dumped a
:load
: of crap on you. It can happen in nearly an instant when visiting a
: malicious website. Been there.

:Forgive me.. but I was unnaware that a website (alone) could give you
:anything (but cookies)without you agreeing to download or enable "something
:or other". As far as I know there's no such thing as an HTML virus or worm.


There are a large number of exploits that take advantage of bugs in
web browsers to do nasty things. They're mostly, but not entirely,
confined to Internet Explorer. Most of them turn up as "zero-day"
exploits, meaning that malicious use of them is being made when
security researchers announce their existence. The Windows operating
system itself has any number of remote exploits in it; some of these
could be used by a website.

David

Computer problems fixed
 

"David Scheidt" wrote in message
...


There are a large number of exploits that take advantage of bugs in
web browsers to do nasty things. They're mostly, but not entirely,
confined to Internet Explorer. Most of them turn up as "zero-day"
exploits, meaning that malicious use of them is being made when
security researchers announce their existence. The Windows operating
system itself has any number of remote exploits in it; some of these
could be used by a website.

David


I am still getting an occasional pop up coming through, but nothing like
what was happening before I installed Spy Doctor. I think I'll start using
Firefox as the browser again but would like to keep using OE for email and
newsgroups. Probably a mistake, huh? I could never get used to Agent or
Thunderbird.

Eisboch

Computer problems fixed
 

Eisboch wrote:
"David Scheidt" wrote in message
...

There are a large number of exploits that take advantage of bugs in
web browsers to do nasty things. They're mostly, but not entirely,
confined to Internet Explorer. Most of them turn up as "zero-day"
exploits, meaning that malicious use of them is being made when
security researchers announce their existence. The Windows operating
system itself has any number of remote exploits in it; some of these
could be used by a website.

David


I am still getting an occasional pop up coming through, but nothing like
what was happening before I installed Spy Doctor. I think I'll start using
Firefox as the browser again but would like to keep using OE for email and
newsgroups. Probably a mistake, huh? I could never get used to Agent or
Thunderbird.

Eisboch



Eisboch,

I had a very similar virus, Spyware Doctor would removed 99% of the
Spyware, but that one percent will grow if you don't remove it, even if
you stop using IE. After awhile it will be as bad as it ever was.

Use HijackThis (free):

http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/#startuplist

and post the log on

http://forums.tomcoyote.org/index.ph...f5c2d80a7d9c4&

They will tell you which lines to remove from your start up directory to
completely.

If you post the log in rec.boats, I will take a look and see if I
recognize the spyware lines.

Computer problems fixed
 

"Reginald P. Smithers III" wrote in message
. ..



I am still getting an occasional pop up coming through, but nothing like
what was happening before I installed Spy Doctor. I think I'll start
using Firefox as the browser again but would like to keep using OE for
email and newsgroups. Probably a mistake, huh? I could never get used
to Agent or Thunderbird.

Eisboch



Eisboch,

I had a very similar virus, Spyware Doctor would removed 99% of the
Spyware, but that one percent will grow if you don't remove it, even if
you stop using IE. After awhile it will be as bad as it ever was.

Use HijackThis (free):

http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/#startuplist

and post the log on

http://forums.tomcoyote.org/index.ph...f5c2d80a7d9c4&

They will tell you which lines to remove from your start up directory to
completely.

If you post the log in rec.boats, I will take a look and see if I
recognize the spyware lines.


It turns out I had done a "quick scan". I just finished a "full scan" and
it found a bunch of additional items to fix. I'll try it now for a while
and see what happens. So far, no popups. I'll save your post and
suggestion though, just in case.

Starting to feel like a "geek".

Eisboch

Computer problems fixed
 

Eisboch wrote:
"Reginald P. Smithers III" wrote in message
. ..

I am still getting an occasional pop up coming through, but nothing like
what was happening before I installed Spy Doctor. I think I'll start
using Firefox as the browser again but would like to keep using OE for
email and newsgroups. Probably a mistake, huh? I could never get used
to Agent or Thunderbird.

Eisboch


Eisboch,

I had a very similar virus, Spyware Doctor would removed 99% of the
Spyware, but that one percent will grow if you don't remove it, even if
you stop using IE. After awhile it will be as bad as it ever was.

Use HijackThis (free):

http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/#startuplist

and post the log on

http://forums.tomcoyote.org/index.ph...f5c2d80a7d9c4&

They will tell you which lines to remove from your start up directory to
completely.

If you post the log in rec.boats, I will take a look and see if I
recognize the spyware lines.


It turns out I had done a "quick scan". I just finished a "full scan" and
it found a bunch of additional items to fix. I'll try it now for a while
and see what happens. So far, no popups. I'll save your post and
suggestion though, just in case.

Starting to feel like a "geek".

Eisboch


Eisboch,

Now that you have removed the spyware, what antivirus/spyware software
have you installed to make sure you don't get it again?

I use McAffee Security Center, since I get it free from Comcast, but a
nice free antivirus is:

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

and a great free Anti-Spyware is MS Defender :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

The final IE7 is now available online and it includes improved phishing
and trojan protection.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/...s/default.mspx

Computer problems fixed
 

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006 05:10:25 GMT, "Clams Canino"
wrote:

As far as I know there's no such thing as an HTML virus or worm.

Not true unfortunately. There are a *lot* of HTML exploits, and many
more involving various scripts invoked by HTML.

Computer problems fixed
 

Eisboch wrote in article
. ..

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
Thanks for all the suggestions and recommendations. Looks like I got
it
cleaned up and working ok again.

Harry ... thanks for the Spy Doctor recommendation. It did the trick.

Eisboch




I was thinking about the recent spyware problems I had. As previously
posted, I was bragging about how I had used various computers for years
without virus or spyware protection and never had any problems.
I've had this particular laptop for over a year hooked to Adelphia for an

ISP and never had any problems.
Then suddenly, it got trashed with spyware stuff in a matter of a couple
of
days.

It just dawned on me that the problems started almost to the day that we
got
a notice that we may experience some network difficulties and/or brief
outages because the Adelphia network was being taken over by Comcast who
bought Adelphia a while back. They were doing something with existing
Adelphia customers to integrate it into Comcast.

I wonder if that had anything to do with the sudden onset of spyware
stuff.
Maybe Adelphia's service was better protected?

Eisboch



FWIW
My ISP (SusCom) was taken over by Comcast as well, and when my email
address was changed I too started getting a lot of junk email. So, I'm
guessing that Comcast email filters are not as strict plus the Comcast
customer base is a much bigger target for malicious/unsolicited email
senders.
TomC

P.S. They're web site (Comcast) sucks. It won't load in my brower if
cookies are disabled and then it takes forever if I enable them. So, I've
moved onto Yahoo for my home site.

Computer problems fixed
 

"Reginald P. Smithers III" wrote in message
. ..


Now that you have removed the spyware, what antivirus/spyware software
have you installed to make sure you don't get it again?

I use McAffee Security Center, since I get it free from Comcast, but a
nice free antivirus is:

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

and a great free Anti-Spyware is MS Defender :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

The final IE7 is now available online and it includes improved phishing
and trojan protection.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/...s/default.mspx


I enabled the full Spy Doctor real time monitoring. It seems to be doing
the job. I've been browsing around, trying to see if I still get popups and
so far there have not been any. The Spy Doctor window pops up for a second
every once in a while to announce that it just blocked a cookie.

I will probably let Microsoft update to the IE ver 7 automatically when it
wants to, but I think I am going to continue to use Firefox as a browser. I
didn't use it for a while because it was missing some plugins and for some
reason it could not load them automatically (Java Runtime Environment).
This caused some items not to work, including the Pagebuilder program I use
for the website. But somehow I was able to download it directly from the
Java site and it now works fine in Firefox as well as IE. Firefox seems
much more stable than IE. But ..... what do I know ...

Eisboch

Computer problems fixed
 

Eisboch wrote:
"Reginald P. Smithers III" wrote in message
. ..

I am still getting an occasional pop up coming through, but nothing like
what was happening before I installed Spy Doctor. I think I'll start
using Firefox as the browser again but would like to keep using OE for
email and newsgroups. Probably a mistake, huh? I could never get used
to Agent or Thunderbird.

Eisboch


Eisboch,

I had a very similar virus, Spyware Doctor would removed 99% of the
Spyware, but that one percent will grow if you don't remove it, even if
you stop using IE. After awhile it will be as bad as it ever was.

Use HijackThis (free):

http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/#startuplist

and post the log on

http://forums.tomcoyote.org/index.ph...f5c2d80a7d9c4&

They will tell you which lines to remove from your start up directory to
completely.

If you post the log in rec.boats, I will take a look and see if I
recognize the spyware lines.


It turns out I had done a "quick scan". I just finished a "full scan" and
it found a bunch of additional items to fix. I'll try it now for a while
and see what happens. So far, no popups. I'll save your post and
suggestion though, just in case.

Starting to feel like a "geek".

Eisboch



PS - You really need to do the "full scan" in "SAFE MODE". Since the
random generated file is running in the background under normal start
up, no antivirus or antispyware is able to delete the file when in
"normal startup" since the file is being used by the system.

Computer problems fixed
 

Eisboch wrote:
"Reginald P. Smithers III" wrote in message
. ..

Now that you have removed the spyware, what antivirus/spyware software
have you installed to make sure you don't get it again?

I use McAffee Security Center, since I get it free from Comcast, but a
nice free antivirus is:

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

and a great free Anti-Spyware is MS Defender :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

The final IE7 is now available online and it includes improved phishing
and trojan protection.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/...s/default.mspx


I enabled the full Spy Doctor real time monitoring. It seems to be doing
the job. I've been browsing around, trying to see if I still get popups and
so far there have not been any. The Spy Doctor window pops up for a second
every once in a while to announce that it just blocked a cookie.

I will probably let Microsoft update to the IE ver 7 automatically when it
wants to, but I think I am going to continue to use Firefox as a browser. I
didn't use it for a while because it was missing some plugins and for some
reason it could not load them automatically (Java Runtime Environment).
This caused some items not to work, including the Pagebuilder program I use
for the website. But somehow I was able to download it directly from the
Java site and it now works fine in Firefox as well as IE. Firefox seems
much more stable than IE. But ..... what do I know ...

Eisboch






Glad to see it has solved the problem.

Computer problems fixed
 

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 21:19:31 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Eisboch" wrote in message
m...
Thanks for all the suggestions and recommendations. Looks like I got it
cleaned up and working ok again.

Harry ... thanks for the Spy Doctor recommendation. It did the trick.

Eisboch




I was thinking about the recent spyware problems I had. As previously
posted, I was bragging about how I had used various computers for years
without virus or spyware protection and never had any problems.
I've had this particular laptop for over a year hooked to Adelphia for an
ISP and never had any problems.
Then suddenly, it got trashed with spyware stuff in a matter of a couple of
days.

It just dawned on me that the problems started almost to the day that we got
a notice that we may experience some network difficulties and/or brief
outages because the Adelphia network was being taken over by Comcast who
bought Adelphia a while back. They were doing something with existing
Adelphia customers to integrate it into Comcast.

I wonder if that had anything to do with the sudden onset of spyware stuff.
Maybe Adelphia's service was better protected?

Eisboch


I use the McAfee suite, including a firewall, and Mailwasher. For the
internet, I use Mozilla 99% of the time, going to IE only when a site isn't
supported by Mozilla. For a newsreader, I use Agent 1.9 which is very
simple to set up and use. I've never (knock on wood) had a virus on my
computer.

Maybe I've just been lucky.

Computer problems fixed
 

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"David Scheidt" wrote in message
...


There are a large number of exploits that take advantage of bugs in
web browsers to do nasty things. They're mostly, but not entirely,
confined to Internet Explorer. Most of them turn up as "zero-day"
exploits, meaning that malicious use of them is being made when
security researchers announce their existence. The Windows operating
system itself has any number of remote exploits in it; some of these
could be used by a website.

David


I am still getting an occasional pop up coming through, but nothing like
what was happening before I installed Spy Doctor. I think I'll start
using Firefox as the browser again but would like to keep using OE for
email and newsgroups. Probably a mistake, huh? I could never get used
to Agent or Thunderbird.

Eisboch


There are some pretty decent plugins for Firefox. These include AdBlock,
TinyURL and others. A nice site showing them is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpellBound_(spell_checker)

I have been using Firefox for some time now and am quite happy with it.

Like you I could never get used to Thunderbird so I stick with OE.

Like you

Computer problems fixed
 

" JimH" not telling you @ pffftt.com wrote in message
. ..

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"David Scheidt" wrote in message
...


There are a large number of exploits that take advantage of bugs in
web browsers to do nasty things. They're mostly, but not entirely,
confined to Internet Explorer. Most of them turn up as "zero-day"
exploits, meaning that malicious use of them is being made when
security researchers announce their existence. The Windows operating
system itself has any number of remote exploits in it; some of these
could be used by a website.

David


I am still getting an occasional pop up coming through, but nothing like
what was happening before I installed Spy Doctor. I think I'll start
using Firefox as the browser again but would like to keep using OE for
email and newsgroups. Probably a mistake, huh? I could never get used
to Agent or Thunderbird.

Eisboch


There are some pretty decent plugins for Firefox. These include AdBlock,
TinyURL and others. A nice site showing them is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpellBound_(spell_checker)

I have been using Firefox for some time now and am quite happy with it.

Like you I could never get used to Thunderbird so I stick with OE.



Oops, a bad case of the hiccups! Removed the extra line of "Like you..."

Computer problems fixed
 

" JimH" not telling you @ pffftt.com wrote in message
. ..




Oops, a bad case of the hiccups! Removed the extra line of "Like
you..."


Thought you were just trying to be extra friendly.

Eisboch