Important question-PLEASE HELP

[Chasing answers]

Hi
I have a computer runing win XP and in the favourites 'toolbar' there are favorites that have been put in there (they were not put there by myself) they are only in that toolbar, know where els on my computer. They are not displayed in the c:\documents and setting\(my user)\Favorites folder.

These favorites can not be deleted(with my knowledge, you may know how) or moved. It is as though they are hidden.

Please if you have any information that could help me get rid of these favorites, i would greatly appreciate if you would help me.

 

[randruff]

Chasing, i have a strong feeling what you have is spyware. Hopefully Byteman will post in here as he has a terrific explanation of how to rid your computer of it. In the meantime, i will explain....i am going to do so in two sections: 1. fixing the problem at hand 2. preventing future occurances.

First, you are gonna need a small arsenal of programs, free of course, to take care of this. Listed below are the programs and where to find them:
1. Adaware SE - www.download.com
2. Spybot: Search & Destroy - www.download.com
3. Microsoft Anti-spyware Beta - www.microsoft.com
4. Spyware Blaster - www.download.com

Adaware, Spybot, and Microsoft are scanning programs that will scan the contents of your computer and look for spyware. Once you download these 3 programs you MUST update the reference definitions. Once you have updated all 3 of the programs definitions, do not scan yet. Spyware Blaster is a passive program that changes and tweaks settings on your system, disables access to know malicious websites, etc. Again, once you have installed Spyware Blaster, make sure you update the definitions and enable all protection.

At this point in time, once all definitions are updated, restart your computer and enter Windows safe mode. You can do this by, once the computer restarts, keep tapping F8 and a menu will prompt you to choose which "version" of Windows you wish to use. Choose safe mode. Once in Safe mode, proceed to scan with Adaware, Spybot, and Microsoft. Once finished, restart and load windows normally.

Next, go online and google free virus scan and use AVG or Trend Micro and scan your computer.


PREVENTION

First of all, ditch Internet Explorer. I highly recommend Mozilla Firefox. Use IE only when its absolutly needed. Secondly, if you are not already, get behind a firewall. There is plently of free firewalls out there. If you are on broadband (DSL, cable, etc) I recommend buying a router, even if you only have one computer. It acts as a firewall. Lastly, use common sense. Programs such as Kazaa are infested with spyware. Unfortunatly, in this day and age you have to know a little background on a program you are downloading, especially if its free, simply because it costs money to create a program and that money is often retained from advertising sponsors. Hope this helps and best of luck

 

[Byteman]

Well done! randruff it's nice to have a brother in fighting this crap!

Chasing, please reboot to safemode after the scans are done, and run the scans a second time and let us know if they missed something (on the first scan) that shows up again on the second, (i have found also that running a second scan is sometimes needed to finish the job). Also if you still have problems afterwards, post back so we can dig deeper.

 

[randruff]

Byteman, my theory on this is two-fold.....1)we all were new to this at one point and needed guidance and 2)the more people in this world that are aware of this stuff and are protected, the safer the net gets.