Don't even get me started on spyware and adware. My last computer was so badly infested with spyware that I could not use it. I had a fresh pop-up add appearing on top of my work every 8 to 10 seconds. So many programs and processes loaded it took the computer more than 5 minutes to boot. Nothing could really clean it up. The really nasty thing about these programs is that they are large enough o try and protect themselves. They bury themselves in the registry to load first at every boot-up and often hide second and third copies under random names in other folders on your hard drive. If you delete the original or your spyware program cleans up the registry another little applet just reloads the program from this hidden site and your screwed again. Only a complete reformat can truly get rid of these nasty little monsters. The best program available right now is a program called spybot search and destroy. It is free to download but send the guy 20 bucks, it is worth it. The first time I ran this program on that computer it found over six thousand!!! (representing maybe 50 adware and spyware programs) Files and processes and registry entries that needed to be destroyed. If you have kids ABSOLUTELY FORBID them from downloading anything especially the file sharing programs like Grokster, virtual jukebox and others for song swapping they are the worst. All of the instant messenger programs are also bad for this.
Mike M. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Steve Brettell Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 6:11 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [VFB] heads up There are some Trojan Horses and Spybots out there that are very undetectable, and very hard to remove. Download and run "Spybot Remover" and "Adaware," in addition to Norton and or McAfee. These files hide in the registry, and I don't know enough about that to tell you how to hunt it down. If you have help desk people at work, ask them, because if you take files from home to work or vice-versa, you might (including by email) infect the work computer as well. These folks know more about removing this trash than most. Steve, In Maryland http://stevebrettell.point2homes.biz -- _______________________________________________ Find what you are looking for with the Lycos Yellow Pages http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default .asp?SRC=lycos10
