Adware

Adware/Spyware

With the ever expanding internet, this has become an increasing problem over the past few years. Websites become hacked, and programs are being distributed with spyware packaged (Kazaa in particular...).

First step in protecting yourself against Adware/Spyware, ditch IE. Find another browser to use, preferably one with a pop-up blocker built in.

Another reason to go for another browser is that they can provide you with many more services than IE can such as: tabbed browsing, download control, ActiveX blockers, URL alias, and much more. Common IE replacements include:




Avant Browser

Firefox

Mozilla

Maxthon (formerly MyIE2)



Avant and Maxthon use the underlying core of IE, but add on many useful features. This means that anything that you can load in IE, you can load in these. Firefox and Mozilla run on a independent Gecko engine, meaning that certain websites might not load properly. Don't let that stop you from using these two. They are very good browsers and have had a lot of work put into them by the Mozilla team.

If you've noticed a recent slowdown in your computer's performance (i.e. a very drastic change in performance, or everything is unbearably slow), chances are you're infected with spyware of some sort. Don't panic. There are many programs out there (all of them free!) that will help you solve this problem.

Ad-Aware SE
Spybot S&D
Spyware Blaster
Bazooka Scanner
CWShredder

Spyware Blaster and Spybot S&D both have tools to "immunize" your system. They basically help your computer from itself when you try to load a webpage that will throw up a million pop-up pages or try to silently install something on your system. Ad-Aware and Bazooka are both good scanning programs. CWShredder is a program that is specifically designed to remove all instances of the CoolWebSearch trojan. My suggestion: Download all the programs, update the definitions, immunize (if the program provides it), and run a complete system scan with each program. Delete any entries that they find.

Some good information there kvarnerexpress.... and the virus info... good posts = good rep .

i have adware and spybot, and together they are really good! i got both of those after my norton-anti virus decided to die, and a friend recommended them.

another browser that i like is opera. i found that it renders faster than firefox, but some of the sites don't show up at all, they are just in pure HTML, which sometimes sucks, but you get used to it

right


lol

Just some adt'l info,

Kvarnerexpress's post below is very good. Just a few add ons. Due to the spyware definitions that each program uses, there seems to be a "prefered" (best use order) for cleaning your system of adware & spyware. This will maximize the effectiveness of the cleaning of the system.
1) run anti-virus
2) run ADAware
3) run Spybot Search& Destroy
4) re-run anti-virus (no this is not a typo-do it AGAIN)

If you hav'nt installed a good firewall & trashed IE, DO IT NOW or your just wasting your time.

5) Install Spyware Blaster OR similar program- (prevents most malware from ever installing on your system in the first place, if it gets past your firewall etc.).

Hope this helps

PS- don't click on popups unless from trusted source website. If the sponsoring website has a "no spam"/"no adware" policy and the popup tries to install adware on your computer(ie. your firewall/antivir/botblocker catches it) >>>> let the system ADmin. know about it IMMEDIATELY.
It's the ONLY way we'll ever clean up the NET.