Hey, guess what I got today?

[hummingwolf]

GRRRRR.

Am in process of removing it, yes. And trying to figure out (A) how it happened (this never happened with my old machine) and (B) how to keep it from happening again.

Comments

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

Go here, download Spybot, run it, check for updates, and then scan your machine. The first time you run it, you might -- strike that, WILL -- be surprised at how much crap has accumulated on your PC without your knowledge.

You might also like to set it to do a one-time scan the next time you boot, so it's in memory before anything else gets loaded.

Then, go to the Immunisation page, and immunise yourself, and block other bad downloads. After that, run a scan whenever the mood strikes you.

This advice applies to EVERYONE with a Windows PC. Seriously guys, don't be a victim.

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

*Sigh*. Failed to read the "in the process of removing it" bit properly.

Still, Spybot is worth having as a general-purpose solution.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Fortunately, I'm in the habit of finding files or folders that have been created or modified recently, so I'm pretty good at seeing if there's something out of place. Then I did a net hunt to find out how to delete all the traces of it that I'd missed. This crap did not last long on my computer.

I've already downloaded AdAware and spybot was going to be my next dl.

[eipooz.livejournal.com]

I was about to make a joke in the lines of "Don't lie....we know College Fuck Fest was on top of your next things to download list", but be glad I voted against it.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

For the record, by the time I dled Spybot yesterday, I didn't really have crap left on my machine (unless you count tracking cookies, which don't bother me that much since they're easily deleted). AdAware had caught a few bits of Xupiter/OrbitExplorer that I hadn't deleted, as well as another bit of spyware that I'd been infected with at the same time (and that I had first assumed was part of the other crap since it was all dumped on me at once).

Aside from that, I had an Alexa registry entry (not surprising, since that's part of the "show related links" in IE6) and evidence of browser highjacking attempts (most likely from the X/OE). So really all I'm left wondering is what left me so vulnerable yesterday.

[eipooz.livejournal.com]

OH!

I use Mozilla and it weirdly didn't work with it, but I do have Spybot Search and Destroy and during my last scan, it showed up on my list. i was wondering what it was.

Try the Spybot.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Heh. I was going to download spybot, checked my e-mail first and saw that you & Darth both recommend Spybot. Hmmm... maybe I'll go get it now. :-)

[eipooz.livejournal.com]

Someone is listening to me recommendations! WHeeeeee!

Hey Cblove, did you find at least one track you could enjoy on those CDs or are they already in the garbage can?

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

I haven't thrown them away, Zoopiekins. :-) I actually do like more than one track, believe it or not. Can't really give a review yet though since I've been too busy doing other stuff. But really, I am grateful you sent me these CDs, even if you did feel the need to include DMB on them.

[eipooz.livejournal.com]

Oh let me know which tracks when you have a few minutes.

And I barely put any DMB!!! That Soulive track does not count. DM was just a guest. HAH! I'm one sneaky bitch.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Anything with DM croaking on it counts. :-P

[eipooz.livejournal.com]

THAT'S NOT THE SPIRIT!

One of my life's dreams is to kidnap you for a DMB show one day and make you actually enjoy it (chemicals might be needed)

[fiachra.livejournal.com]

I recommend switching over to Mozilla Firefox in the future... I've used IE since '97, but it's just become too damn vulnerable. It'll take some time to download, but it's well worth it.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

I do plan to download Mozilla at some point, but there are too many websites that refuse to work properly in non-IE browsers. Thanks for the link, though.

[bunney.livejournal.com]

I've had the Xupiter one and another one called eXact. It took just about forever to get rid of it and the eXact one I had to go into the registry to track it down.

Yeah, I would happily torture their programmers with dull scissors if I had the chance.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

I actually had a different variety than the one mentioned in the article, but made by the same people. Or something like that. And I discovered that some of the files I'd thought were part of the same program were really a different variety of spyware that got dumped on me at the same time as the first. Evilware comes bundled now! Who knew?