[Techtalk] Getting rid of spyware

Tracey Clark tlclark at elenari.net
Thu Mar 11 10:41:54 EST 2004


And it was said by Dan Richter->
> My wife installed some free product she got off the Internet, and now
> she's got something stuck in her browser that opens pop-up windows with
> ads at random occasions. (This is true even when she's on the corporate
> internal website, which of course doesn't have ads.) Needless to say,
> she's using Windoze and Internet Exploiter.

What happened to your wife is called "Browser Hijacking". I second the
recommendation for AdAware on Windows, it's what I use on my Windows box
at the office. Since this is spyware, AdAware may not remove it. Check out
the FAQ and the forums at www.spywareinfo.com. They describe how to remove
a browser hijack and prevent further occurances.

The bottom line - by default IE allows any and all ActiveX scripts to run.
It is usually an ActiveX script that installs a hijack or spyware if you
get it from your browser. To prevent slimeware from infecting your PC via
the browser, either run another browser which is safe (such as Mozilla or
Firefox *plug*) or disable loading unsigned ActiveX components in IE.

-- 
Tracey
Linux Counter #264789




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