I've beem hijacked again..help!

[serryjw]

I give up.....I have run (twice)stinger,spysweeper,registrymechanic,Mcafee firewall & anti virus......My computer is crawling and they have hijacked my homepage. I cleared my temporary folder but still can't switch it back...any other idears?

[AIJ Alom]

1. switch to mozilla firefox. !

www.mozilla.org

[ChoralScholar]

2. A nice little freeware program that clears a lot of problems up:

Things that get attached to IE as plug-ins or add-ons will be able to be found with this.

HijackThis

http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

It catches some things that Ad-Aware and others miss.

[Ima]

10. tips

hit config button...be sure make backup is checked, in case you have to restore something.


Do not install in a temporary file because you will lost any backups you may make.


If you are not sure what you are doing....get help. There are several on line security forums you can post to.

[ranosgol]

3. I feel sorry for you.....

I used to be a primarily a Windows user but since switiching to Mac a few years back it has been a breath of fresh air. Little or no spyware fo anykind and little or no viruses.

I do not want to start the Mac/PC war again for the millionth time just saying their are other option than Windows.

Mac, Linux, FreeBSD


Yes I may pay more for my Mac and yes I may not be able to play the latest game but you knpow what I do not care.

Its small market share is a godsend in my opinion.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

6. Gotta laugh...

You say: "do not want to start the Mac/PC war again for the millionth time"

But the rest of your post is an attack on the Windows PC / promotion of the Mac :-)

If you did not want to start the war again, why bother posting this at all?

[rot0r_head]

4. Go outside

But if can't get by without the thing, try unplugging from the internet, going into safe mode, and trying anti-spyware and -virus measures again. I can vouch for the excellent performance of Spybot - Search and Destroy to nuke spyware. If you have you have XP and your problems had a definite starting point, you may want to give system restore a shot. If your computer has multiple crippling problems that can't be fixed otherwise, try to get critical documents off and format the drive. Computers suck.

Also: someone else is endorsing HijackThis--a great program for embedded Internet Explorer problems. I still think Mozilla Firefox (also mentioned) is a better choice, IMO.

[bloodyjack]

5. what OS are you using?

if youre using windows 98 or XP sometimes youll find lots of crap this way: start > control panel > add or remove programs. you might find stuff w/ names such as TOOLBAR etc.

or run msconfig > start up, uncheck EVERY item and restart. that's worked for me.

[Ima]

7. help for you

Go here and post your problems, these people are pros. It's free, they like to help people

http://forum.gladiator-antivirus.com/

[serryjw]

9. Thanks ...responces

I will try spychecker, I have spybot....ran it yesterday but the site must be having technical problems today and was not able to run again.

I looked at add/remove and there is nothing that is tehre that shouldn'tt be.

NOW! msconfig...I have 2 I don't reconnize

HIDSERV>EXE>RUN
PTSNOOP>EXE.......

anyone know what these are....do I need them?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. Spybot Search& Destroy, AdAware...

And then install SpywareBlaster. When you install Spybot, make sure you activate teaTimer(Very Important!). And Firefox. All you need.

Yes, I DO do this shit for a living.(LIVING!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!)

On Edit: After SpywareBlaster is activated, go back into Spybot and make sure all the Immunization is activated. All. As well in SpywareBlaster.

[KT2000]

11. Thanks to those with answers

Have gotten some really good info from DUers about all this spyware mess.

Thanks to all of you who are answering questions - it helps a lot of us.