Adware, Spyware, and Malware

Feedback, Help and Testing Forum Technical Assistance
1

Anyone who’s been using the Internet has no doubt been affected/infected by this garbage. These “programs” range from tracking your behavior, popping up unwanted ads, rewriting links on websites and more. The problem is they’re good at what they do and in many cases the user has no idea what’s going on.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about (don’t worry, many people don’t), then I recommend taking a moment to understand what this is about. Awareness is the key. As a service to the community, listed below are links to websites for more information about these programs and more importantly the tools you can use to remove these from your system.

ADWARE, SPYWARE, & MALWARE INFORMATION

The Spyware Guide
http://www.spywareguide.com/

Defining Malware: FAQ
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/topics/virus/malware.mspx

Are You Infected? Detecting Malware Infection
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1666

Adware, Spyware and other unwanted “malware” - and how to remove them
http://cexx.org/adware.htm

Messenger Service Spam
http://www.spywareguide.com/txt_messengerspam.html

About Gator
http://cexx.org/gator.htm
Gator is also dynamically inserting ads on top of ads already on the page. They look and feel like the site’s real banners, but place ads for things the actual Web site never intended–including ads for competitors’ products and possibly even adult materials. Among other things, this ‘steals’ advertising revenue from the legitimate owner of that Web site, as their banner is inaccessible and covered up by the Gator ad.

Web sites prey on rivals’ stores
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-271196.html?legacy=cnet
While Gator is free, the company that makes it sells keywords to marketers that lets them launch pop-ups at opportune moments–for example, when a Web surfer visits a competing site.
…
In one extreme example, San Francisco-based eZula has been working with file-sharing networks Kaazaa and iMesh to superimpose links to marketers’ sites over text on Web pages.

ADWARE, SPYWARE, & MALWARE REMOVAL/PREVENTION TOOLS

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/

Spybot Tutorial to set up and scan
http://forum.gladiator-antivirus.com/index.php?showtopic=8630

Ad-aware
http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

Ad-aware Tutorial Updates & Scanning
http://forum.gladiator-antivirus.com/index.php?showtopic=8050

Trend Micro - Free online virus Scan
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

2

David,

Outstanding post of information that is essential, in my opinion, for anyone using a computer. Computers have improved dramatically in the past 10 to 20 years, but unfortunately malicious code has progressed at a equal pace. We all need to be aware of the problem and educated on the best methods of prevention and avoidance.

Thanks again,
Robert Foster

3

[tup][tup]

Excellent summary of resources!

Thanks!

4

I’ve used Ad-aware for over a year now with great results.

Good info David … and welcome back.

5

Thanks for the links. I have a few programs that I use to look for this kind of stuff, but it always good to have extra information.

6

David,

Thanks, I wanted to know how to avoid some of these things.

Richard

7

thanks David for the info!

8

Thanks for the info David, I know there are quite a few members in the community who were asking about this a couple of weeks ago!!

9

Hi. I want to ask if any of you been infected by the Search 2020 spyware? I have been reading some of the forums regarding this & I can’t find a definite solution to this problem. Ad-aware could detect it & perhaps quarantine it temporarily but then this thing is so persistent that everytime I reboot my PC it becomes the homepage of my IE browser. Can’t even remove it from the add/remove program. Any help/suggestions would be highly appreciated.[V]

10

David,
This is a great post. Since you seem to be on top of these things, could you send me an e mail so I can ask you a question ? If not thats OK too.
Thx,
Mog

11

Dave, thanks for posting all the links. I’ve been using Spybot Search and Destroy, as well as Ad-Awar, for some time now. They are both very effective at removing unwanted spyware, but they are not an absolute for ridding your PC of electronic vermin. Make sure you set your PC’s security to screen out spam. The other links spell out everything else you need to know. Thanks to you all at Kalmbach for the public service. - Ed

12

Hmm…I haven’t seen it myself, but have overheard our IT guys talking about some people within the company getting it (or something like it). I’ll have to ask later about what they did.

In the meantime, here are some things I found:

I don’t know what that all affects. I have the Google Bar and I wonder if unchecking that box will disable it. It requires a restart which I’m too lazy to do at the moment (I have a lot of stuff open).

Spyware Tools
http://www.computercops.us/forum84.html

Spyware - Guests
http://www.computercops.us/forum74.html

How do you uninstall 2020 search bar
http://www.windowsxpuser.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5595

13

Thaks for the info Dave.
Are things like Norton Internet security effective at preventing/removing these types of programs?

14

Yes and no.

You really need a program which is built specifically for this type of stuff. They’re not really viruses (technically). In the case of programs like Kazaa, as a result of installing it, it’s the user who is also giving permission to install the adware programs (perhaps not realizing it and/or how bad it is).

I use Norton Internet Security at home. It’s a good product, but like I said, you sometimes need to use specialized products.

15

Another good link to add…

Manual Spy Bot Removal
http://www.spy-bot.net/manual.asp

16

Very interesting page…

Parasite (unsolicited commercial software) Detection Script
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/

In answer to the previous question about Norton Internet Security, here’s what they had to say:

Why doesn’t my anti-virus software detect this?
Technically, most unsolicited commercial software isn’t viral: it doesn’t spread from computer to computer, it just installs and runs on one system.

That doesn’t mean it’s not harmful, but anti-virus software does not attempt to detect all software that could be harmful. Whether it should is a tricky argument that ends up a question of where you draw the line.

Actually some anti-virus programs do detect some of the parasites outlined on these pages, but not nearly all, and not all versions of them. Parasites that install using IE security holes are more likely to be targeted by the anti-virus software vendors, but the selection of targets seems for the most part to be pretty arbitrary.

For this reason there are now a number of anti-parasite packages around that work as a complement to anti-virus software.

17

Thanks for the replys David. I use Norton along with Ad-aware but I wanted to make sure that this could work.

A reminder for all: Read the checkboxes when installing new software, most are now opt-out which means you need to uncheck the boxes. blindly clicking the “continue” button is not a good idea.

18

I used to use Norton’s also but ended up removing it as it is too intrusive into the OS. I use AVG anti-virus now along with a LinkSys router for a firewall.
I have never had any problems with these two.
I also am a long-time user of Spybot and I have Ad-Aware also but rarely use it.
I have another one called “Pest Patrol” that is also a powerful tool for removing spyware but you have to be careful with it as it can remove things you need. [:D]

Mike