Grrr... caught in a 'Spyware Loop'!

So I just hopped back on my 'puter this morning, and across the top of the screen was one of these stupid "Warning. Your computer may be infected with dangerous spyware blah blah blah...

I couldn't get rid of it without closing my browser. Frustrating. The url was

www.myspywarecleaner.com...

How do we keep these annoyances out of our system?

There is another couple of spyware threads in this forum for you to peruse.

the usual progys to use are ones such as "spybot search and destroy" and adaware.

Another tip is to download a trial of counterspy. I find that pogy cleans up the crap left behind by the others..

Good online spyware checker and virus checker is trend housecall

housecall.trendmicro.com...
or pandascan from pandasoftware.com

I'm sorry, I shoulda made it clearer. It only happened after I got into ATS. I'd been on, doing other stuff for nearly an hour beforehand. Coincidence?

I religiously use Semantec, Spybot, and Adaware on a weekly basis.

I will try housecall, tho. Thanks.

Those little "We have scanned your system and found it to be infected with yada yada yada" are absolute crap. They haven't scanned a damned thing and are simply preying upon the fear factor. Of course if/when you do click they will download scan and of course find things, however when you click to fix ... it's right back to their website and for the low, low price of $??.95

Try these two jso...

Microsoft Anti-Spyware

Spybot Search and Destroy

Both are free and I find they do an excellent job of rooting out the 1000s of insidious crapware looming on the net.

As for any popup ... don't click Yes, No or Cancel ... Click the "X" to close or better yet use the key combo of "CTRL + W".

Hope this helps.



[edit on 11/17/2005 by 12m8keall2c]

Here are some current threads running on this type of topic.......

www.belowtopsecret.com...

www.belowtopsecret.com...

www.belowtopsecret.com...

www.belowtopsecret.com...

There's enough information in those threads to cure just about anything.

Thanks, 12m8keall2c. Been there, met the $$$ witch already.
I have Spybot and Adaware which I use every week after Norton does its' auto-run. I'm pretty fickle about my system.

I guess I just felt that this was an ATS issue, since it has shown up at the same time (as soon as I get into ATS Board) many times before. I felt someone was targetting ATS with that garbage.


But not OCD, eh? Just kidding - I think your whole theme is great.

Thanks to all for your help.


[edit on 17-11-2005 by jsobecky]

jso,

I've seen the one you're speaking of and, personally, I feel it is one of the ads that should be brought to SO's attention. He did mention that he had the ability to block a particular ad if it was deemed to be of questionable nature. This particular ad, if I'm not mistaken, prompts you to install an ActiveX module. If you simply try to close it you are alerted that you haven't run the scan yet and are required to select either yes or no.

I'll keep an eye out for it also, but if/when you see it again try right-clicking on it and choosing "properties", then copy/paste the source URL into a "gripe/complaint". I've found that often times theses so-called spy cleaners, etc are worse than what you are actually trying to get rid of.

Safe surfing all

I think it's possible that the offending pop-up is not adware, but an ad on this site. I've gotten those, too, sometimes, but as soon as I leave the site, they're gone for good. My Norton Ad Blocking feature does a very good job of dealing with ads here and everywhere.

Try Tenebril's Spycatcher Express. It requires some experience to configure properly, but with some patience it provides very effective real-time protection and it's free. I have had it for a couple of months now and the only complaint I have about it is that it will identify necessary programs as suspicious and will require your permission to run. This is a bit of a pain, but in the long haul, it is a worthwhile exercise.

www.tenebril.com...


[edit on 2005/11/17 by GradyPhilpott]

I use Microsoft Anti-Spyware, works wonderfully.