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spinal
Created : 05 July 2008
 
System : Windows

Stupic F*cking Computer!!!



Today (ok yesterday), a spyware checker popped up on my computer (after secretly installing and running itself). Not only is this annoying, but after it does its can, tells me i have a bunch of spyware etc. it takes my to a website that tells me i much buy the full product to actually remove the infected files and whatnot. Standard procedure for a spyware remover demo you think, but this damn thing is undeletable, it doesn't show in the process manager so i can't stop it, the window itself has no close button, nor does right-clicking it or its taskbar icon do anything.

This wonderful software is called AntiSpyware Master, and is nothing more than malware itself, and as it seems, a very difficult one to get rid of. Anyone who writes software that drags you kicking and screaming to a website that tells you to give them money to remove similar software from your computer, while at the same time slowing your system down and subjecting you to a bunch of unwanted popup adverts, deserves to be dragged out into the street and have some sort of violent act performed on them.

So far, i have manually deleted its .exe, and any other files related to it, i have also removed its registry entries. On top of that, i have ran two anti-spyware programs (real ones), and i'm still getting slowdowns and popups.

So tomorrow, after backing up my current coding projects, i intend to do a full format and reinstall windows.

 

Comments


Sunday, 06 July 2008, 04:26
Jayenkai
Free.Grisoft.Com
Sunday, 06 July 2008, 07:20
steve_ancell
Jayenlai Free.Grisoft.Com


That's what I keep telling my Sister. But she still listens to the bullcrap from PC World, and then goes ahead and pays for Norton.
Sunday, 06 July 2008, 07:25
Scherererer
I think it itself is a virus -- i've heard of ones like that, which pretend to be spyware/adware checkers that turn up with viruses, and hten have you send them money for "finding" malware. I saw one pretending to be symantec before... so its not out of the question for it to be one of those dubious ones.

but yes,
AVG Free
Avast! Anti-Virus (free)
Spybot Search & Destroy - I use it for spyware because its lightweight and only runs when you ask it to, but still has one of the most up-to-date spyware databases out there
Sunday, 06 July 2008, 07:28
steve_ancell
I'm also using the free version of SUPERAntiSpyware

www.superantispyware.com/download.html
Sunday, 06 July 2008, 08:00
spinal
I'm installing norton as a type this, don't worry though, it was free with on of my computers, 2004.

This morning before i formated the damn thing, i though i'd caught it all, but it kept creating/copying itself all over the place with random filenames and eventually it came back in its 'antispyware' form, even though two differnt spyware killers said they removed everything. i had 20+ randome looking filenames starting up with windows, my cpu was running at ~90% my ram was full to the max and my swap file was going mental.

My advice to anyone who gets this thing, is format your dive straight away.
Sunday, 06 July 2008, 13:00
HoboBen
If you can find the name of this malware, there would probably be a guide on the web that details how to remove this specific thing completely. If you're lucky, there might just be a simple batch script that does it all in a few seconds.

Good luck, anyway
Sunday, 06 July 2008, 13:50
Orion Pax
I would agree with ben. There are a bunch of cheesey kiddie games that my wife and kids keep putting on their computers that use those loaders like ZANGO that are nuthing but malware. I keep kicking my wifes ass for allowing to install ZANGO as it keeps putting nasty shit on it. I use to use norton but gave up as its a process hog. I use Avast AVG for my antivirus. And of course good ol firefox to prevent websites from putting crap on my pc.
Monday, 07 July 2008, 21:34
mindstorm8191
Spinal: Yeah I've seen my fair share of viruses and malware. What you were (I hope) dealing with was probably a virus, rather than malware. Unfortunately, anti-spyware programs don't stop viruses, since they try to spread to everything, rather than being in one identifiable location.

My most recent bout with spyware was when we first got this new PC, from a family member. We could tell it ran better than our old one, but the malware was pretty bad. I finally got an antivirus installed (called BitDefender), which found a few viruses if I recall, but when I reset the computer, we could no longer get online. There were pictures on the computer we wanted to keep before doing a full system restore, but with all the troubles we were having, it wouldn't recognize my USB drive. Fortunately, we copied all the pictures to CD and did a full system restore.

Ya know, I really don't know why people write software like that. All it does is make it harder for people to use their own PCs. If you really want to sell a product, do it the right way, in the times and places people are actually looking to buy. Advertising to people who have important things to do will never get you a sale.