Spyware.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Everyonce in a while when I run Ad-aware for my regular computer maintenance thingy I keep getting this one spyware doo-dad under "registry keys" called

SaveNow .wusn1

I have no idea where it came from, or what it keeps doing showing up on my computer. I haven't downloaded any iffy software onto my computer, so I don't know why it won't go away. It keeps irritating me with all these pop-ups and now there's some wierd searchbar thing on my computer that I can't make go away. Please help. This is getting annoying.

[Starr]

Try going into control panel and the Add/Remove programs list...browse through and look for programs that look strange, you can remove them this way.

Hope this helps...

[Marcus Telcontar]

http://groups.google.com.au/groups?q=SaveNow+.&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=bjvve0%24ncrjg%241%40ID-171207.news.uni-berlin.de&rnum=2

Smeagol : Google is my friend!

Gollum! : You dont have any friends! No Search site likes you!

[Morgan Evanar]

I prefer Spybot: Search and Destroy (http://security.kolla.de/news.php?lang=en) to Ad-aware

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by Marcus Elessar
http://groups.google.com.au/groups?q=SaveNow+.&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=bjvve0%24ncrjg%241%40ID-171207.news.uni-berlin.de&rnum=2

Smeagol : Google is my friend!

Gollum! : You dont have any friends! No Search site likes you!



Google... the official search engine of Ring-Bearers everywhere.

;)



Morg's suggestion is a good one. I actually run both Ad-Aware and Spybot on a regular basis. Spybot might catch a few things that Ad-Aware doesn't, or vice-versa.

[Dasquian Belargic]

It's been a while since I ran a check. So much rubbish hiding on my computer! :x

[Morgan Evanar]

Originally posted by Dasquian Belargic
It's been a while since I ran a check. So much rubbish hiding on my computer! :x Its funny. I scan my PC and nothing comes up. Scan the family room PC x_X junk. Not much, but junk.

[Wei Wu Wei]

I'm getting Spybot Search and Destroy.

And I'm going to check my programs thingy. I wonder if my little brother downloading that "Bonzi Buddy" crap had any thing to do with this. the Bonzi Buddy is off my computer, but I still kept getting that crap.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Bonzi Buddy = bad. Remove. Now.

BTw, if you dont want spyware mysteriously appearing, remember to run Mozilla / Firebird. Even with security settigns boosted to high, IE still will allow crap to be installed via security issues it has.


Originally posted by Morgan Evanar
I prefer Spybot: Search and Destroy (http://security.kolla.de/news.php?lang=en) to Ad-aware

Use both as Fig suggests. But run at least one. You cant avoid it anymore.

[Figrin D'an]

Make sure to run the auto-update feature on each (Ad-Aware and Spybot) regularly. Reference files are updated all the time, and if you don't have the most recent lists, stuff can slip though.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Ok. If anyone could hand me a link to Mozilla or Firebird, I'll make sure to get those put on my computer too.
But what do I do about IE?

[Figrin D'an]

http://seb.mozdev.org/firebird

This place will give you a download of Firebird that has a normal Windows installer. That way, it'll establish registry entries, in case you want to install things like Flash, Shockwave, Java, or whatever, without problems. Just get the 0.7 version.


Just don't use IE anymore, except maybe for Windows Update. Maybe run a software firewall, like ZoneAlarm, and prevent it from even accessing your net connection.

[Marcus Telcontar]

I beleive there is a hack somewhere that will remove IE completely from XP and Windows 98. I can not attest how well it works however.

But, yes, under no circumstances use IE. And there is no need to use IE for Windows update, you can do a set and forget setup for Windows Update. Best used on broadband conenctions. AFAIK, Firebird can work with the Windows Update site, you do however need to turn some of defualt security options.

Also, I know that Microsoft will be putting out monthly downloadable rollup packages - the first one is out now.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Thanks for the URL, Figrin. I've been meaning to do this to my computer for quite sometime now, but have not gotten around to doing it.

EDIT-Which one is the one with the normal Windows installer? I suppose it's plainly obvious, but I can't tell. ^_^;

[Figrin D'an]

This one:

MozillaFirebird-0.7-setup.exe (http://downloads.us-east3.mozdev.org/seb/MozillaFirebird-0.7-setup.exe)

is the one you want.

[Morgan Evanar]

Originally posted by Marcus Elessar
I beleive there is a hack somewhere that will remove IE completely from XP and Windows 98. I can not attest how well it works however. This is a very bad idea for XP. IE does a lot of fuctions for file browsing, and the help system. Unless you feel like flattening and reinstalling, don't do it.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Ok, that's cool. I got Firebird now. It's a good browser. It'll take some getting used to, but that's not really an issue. But it has asked me to get a plug in so I can see homestarrunner.com though. I'll get to that later on. Thanks for your help, guys.