Largo Posted July 2, 2004 Author Share Posted July 2, 2004 Damn it all to Hades! Spybot didn't work! And now I'm getting messages from from 180 search assistant, whatever the hell that is...Rah, this is really starting to make me mad... Now I'm also getting those damned pop ups! Google pop-up blocker my buttocks! And internet script errors? What the hell are those? Ah! I'm in Hell. I Feel like the whole world is against me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 One word: reformat. The solution to all your problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesaynothin Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Your savior. Works for me. Used to take five mins for my comp to fully boot, now my comp runs better than ever, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormscape Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 let's make a petition....making you-know-what the new unmentionables! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojlnir Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Yeah, ditto with the others on Ad-aware. Spybot sucks nuts. Norton or Mcafee will solve your pop-up problems...DO NOT TRUST YOUR ISP OR ANY ONLINE SITE!!!!! They will only bring you more misery in the form of...pop ups. I run McAfee Internet Security Suite 5.0 and Ad-aware and I have a crystal clean machine. With McAfee running all you have to do the first time a program tries to access the internet is either allow it or not, after that it won't bug you at all. I have played numerous games (SWG, Planetside, Far Cry, Battlefield Vietnam, Sims, EVE, etc.) online and McAfee (properly configured) has never slowed me down. So, get spybot off your computer, get a fire wall, install an internet security package, run ad-aware and get your ass back in the game!! It will cost you a little upfront but the long term benefits far outweigh the cost and aggrevation caused by pop ups, trojans, spyware, key stroke loggers, and all the other little f*****s running loose on the net. -M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandorssen Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 A site that I visit with my W2K system at least once a month is PC Pitstop.com. They have an online spyware/virus check (in memory) that works pretty well, and even occasionally picks up some spyware (such as Viewpoint Media Player and Wild Tangent) that Ad Aware misses. Between Ad Aware and Spybot, I prefer Ad Aware... I like telling a program when to run instead of having just another service taking up RAM and resources when it is not needed. Peregrine mentions reformatting. While that is useful, I would save it for only when all other options fail. If you are running Windows XP, turn off system restore and go in to msconfig and you can select which programs are run at startup there. If you are running Windows 2000 use regedit and got to h_key/local_machine/software/microsoft/current_version/run and delete the startup keys for the spyware. Be very careful doing this however as you can trash your system doing that and not knowing what to look for. Under W2k, some startup programs run as services and do not appear in the registry. For those, right-click on [My Computer], select [Manage], and in the left-hand column, towards the bottom select [services]. Disable the services at startup by double-clicking it and in the middle selecting [Disabled] instead of [Manual] or [Automatic]. You can also turn off some "features" of Windows in this fashion as well, such as the remote registry editor (unnecessary unless you are on a large, centrally managed corporate LAN). If you're running XP and you have repeated problems removing spyware (you uninstall it and it keeps coming back), turn off the system restore. This highly useless "feature" of XP actually will create backups of viruses and spyware, ready to re-infect your computer at the next boot-up. I've found this to be the cause of many persistent virus and spyware infections. Actually, if you are running Windows XP, just turn off the system restore... period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Personally I use Spybot Search & Destroy (which I might add doesn't run in the background and take up RAM... don't know what Vandorrsen is talking about there :P) combined with Norton 2003 Anti-virus and Firewall (which has it's own in-built pop up blocker that seems to work well). That seems to keep my PC crystal clear, and Spybot S&D picks up WildTangent bots as well. Like Peregrine said though, nothing beats a re-format provided you know how :D my PC took about 3 minutes to boot up before, since the format it's taken about 20 seconds flat. And that's including loading all the programs. ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandorssen Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Personally I use Spybot Search & Destroy (which I might add doesn't run in the background and take up RAM... don't know what Vandorrsen is talking about there ) combined with Norton 2003 Anti-virus and Firewall (which has it's own in-built pop up blocker that seems to work well). That seems to keep my PC crystal clear, and Spybot S&D picks up WildTangent bots as well. I should clarify that I tried Spybot with "pop-up blocker" which used no less than 2 services to run in the background. It was after this that I tried Ad Aware. I'll probably try a newer version of Spybot at the next reload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaiv Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Ad-Aware + Norton Internet Security 2004 = Ultimate protection. Norton includes a pop-up blocker; I have yet to see a popup on my computer yet. Even so, if one should happen to pop up, there is an ad trashcan to which you can just drag to desired ad to and press aply. Then no more will that ad bother you. This works really well with "bar" popups on site, the kind that are at the very top or to the right. Just for the heck of it, get the Google Toolbar if you don't have it. It works. Really. Just not 100%. Maybe 90%. Still, it's nice to be able to search from anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marxist ßastard Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 No, Slaiv... You forgot to carry the 1... Sygate Personal Firewall + Avast Antivirus + Privoxy + Ad-Aware + Opera or other non-IE browser = Much less of a chance of getting pwned. ...Oh, and the cost of all this? Nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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