My computer is full of webpage hijackers and all sorts of nasty bots that are being repeatedly detected and erased by spybot, only to reappear in every scan. It’s to the point that I can’t even open my hotmail account. I read there’s a way to get rid of hijackers by resetting the internet options, but the viruses are denying me access to even that. I am getting very frustrated by the whole thing.
What can I do short of chucking my laptop in the garbage and starting over with a new one?
I don’t run any ad stuff, but here are some things that might help.
Zonealarm Free edition: A firewall
AVG Free edition: For viruses
And last but not least: Get Firefox if you haven’t already.
As far as problems you have now, make sure you don’t have a lot of programs running in the background (look at your taskbar) and try using another one of those spy killer programs.
You could also bring your PC to game club one day (since it’s a laptop). I always have my flashdrive with me with a semi current copy of the programs listed above (and more 
).
Thanks, miltown. I’m browsing on mozilla now. Still getting a porn dialer (this from checking out a sims site 
) and popup windows despite closing IE, but I deleted the actual program for the dialer so it just gets errors.
Still, I can’t take it into school until it gets fixed. I may take you up on lugging it into games club for some spyware cleaners.
Reformat, reinstall.
Reformat, reinstall.
Start off by going to lavasoft.com/ at downloading Adaware Personal SE (its free). Install it. Update it. Make sure the custom settings are set for all drives plus the archives. Scan. Clean off all critical files.
Download and install Hijack This from www.download.com
Run it. Look for anything obvious - sex.dialer etc. Only fix things that you know should not be there. Also look to make sure the dll file for the dialer or pop-up program is not still there.
Uninstall Firefox.
Restart your computer.
Run adaware again - custom scan (all drives and archives). Make sure everything is clean.
Reinstall Firefox. Just to make sure . . . Tools/Options/Privacy and then clear everything (overkill I think). Restart Firefox.
That should, in theory, work.
I was going to do this to my mom’s laptop, but when you think about backing up the emails, 4 gigs of pictures, reinstalling programs, etc. you think twice about that. That’s what I’d do, but it might not always be the best way for all people.
I was going to do this to my mom’s laptop, but when you think about backing up the emails, 4 gigs of pictures, reinstalling programs, etc. you think twice about that. That’s what I’d do, but it might not always be the best way for all people.[/quote]
Yeah, this is precisely why a good backup plan should already be in place.
I use DVDs to back up email, images, and other important documents, as well as a compressed drive image of a clean install of WinXP complete with favourite programs and settings.
But now DVD is getting too clumsy, and I think I’m going to go with an external HDD.
I hear that. Mine is simple. An image of my “system drive” (a partition with programs and stuff) and regular backups of data (which is on a separate partition). I plan on picking up a small external drive soon.
I had a similar problem a few months back. I’ve since changed to a Mac, but I think Troganhunter (?) was the program that freed me of gremelins in the end. You can minimize and leave it running in the background.
L 
[quote=“ImaniOU”]My computer is full of webpage hijackers and all sorts of nasty bots that are being repeatedly detected and erased by spybot, only to reappear in every scan. It’s to the point that I can’t even open my hotmail account. I read there’s a way to get rid of hijackers by resetting the internet options, but the viruses are denying me access to even that. I am getting very frustrated by the whole thing.
What can I do short of chucking my laptop in the garbage and starting over with a new one?[/quote]
Three step process:
Then you should be fairly clean of all the problems. This will take a few hours depending on how fast your computer hard drive is.
Finally, make sure you have AVG and a firewall installed on your machine.
Good luck.
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Don’t forget to download the updates for AdAware and SpyBot. They don’t update auttomatically.
Good posts
A few more things:
0. Update Anti-virus and Anti-spyware/adware programs
1. Turn off System Restore
2. Disconnect from your network
3. Reboot in Safe Mode
4. Go to Control Panel/Add Remove Programs and remove anything that shouldn’t be there (particularly look for searchbars)
5. Run antivirus software/anti-adware (preferably both Adaware and Spybot S&D)
6. Reboot in regular mode (perhaps repeat scans of antivirus/anti-adware)
7. Run Hijack This!
If you need more help, there are forums where professionals spend time helping people for free. They’ll tell you to do all that and post your Hijack This! report.