I had a BAD spyware problem.
 

Oh my God.

This morning, I go on my computer and there's this ANTI-VIRUS warning that tells me it's running a scan and I have 20,000 viruses but until I subscribe to ANTIVIR XP 08, it won't take the spyware and viruses off my computer.

Well....I knew immediately that this was spyware, masking as an anti-virus program.

It would not let me do anything. And if I tried to go to add/remove programs (and sure enough, there it was), when I clicked on REMOVE PROGRAM, it would start to remove it, then the whole pop up thing started and there it was again.

I tried 14 times. I rebooted my computer, I tried x...everything out. I tried to go on the internet. Want to know what happened when I tried to go on the internet?

I got their website and it prompted me to pay either $49.99 or $99.00 and it would erase all spyware.

I called up Verizon Tech Support and because I could not do the sharing/remote thing, they apologized and said "you have to bring your computer in and have them manually remove the Spyware..that this was a MAJOR BAD SPYWARE that controlled everything on my computer.

So I took a walk to the only computer guy in my neighborhood, a Compustar computer store. I told him what happened. He said: "For $59.99 I'll try and get it out, but if I can't I have to erase your whole hard drive, then you will need the Windows Numbers, and you have to give me the disks and I'll re-install everything for you".

First of all, I don't know where the Windows thing is. I panicked big time.

I imagined going home and telling Alan, "we have to buy a new computer".

Well there was Alan, pressing the F10 key, and he put the computer into some kind of Config mode (or something like that).

He got rid of the Spyware. It put our computer like it was the first day we got it. BUT, all of the programs were still there, all the icons were on the desktop, but they looked completely different.

My desktop looked different.

My Outlook express icons were still there. Because I could go on the internet, I called the Verizon Tech guy and this time, he walked me through setting up the 2 Outlook Express Accounts. He re-installed my anti-virus software, and we checked for that horrible Spyware thing. It was gone.

I do not know how Alan did this, nor did I ever think I'd be on this computer at 6 p.m. tonight. Believe me, I dodged a bullet BIG TIME.

Have any of you ever encountered this SPYWARE?

It's a major bad one.

Melody

Wow you are very luckly, but im not so sure you actually have it all off. Watch for it to try to take over your computer making it almost impossible to actually get it off your puter without wiping everything out.

This one is one I have had to clean off a few peoples computers this last month, and it seems to be the mother of all viruses. It slowly starts to use more and more of your puters resources, and then blocks the msconfig, and the hardware manager. Soon you cant use the cd/dvd, and go anywhere you would go to try and take the thing off.

I cleaned the first couple of puters and they were back in a few days with their puters lookin like I didnt even do anything at all. That is when I kept trying to make it go away that I realized it was blocking every attempt.

I finally just wiped the drive and reinstalled their windows.

I hope you did get it off :)

If not go ahead and wipe the drive, it will get it off.

Hey Allen...

Is wiping the drive and re-installing windows the same as re-formatting???

I have a new computer and I want to be alert and know what to do... just in case....

:confused:
Abbie

Yes :)

It actually is a good idea to put a fresh install once a year or so it will make your computer like brand new.

These viruses can be a real bummer sometimes, to the point I cant :eek: even look at an emachine ever again LOL. :D

Just remember to use your dvd, or back up to keep your important files. I partitioned my hard drive and save all the files in another drive.

Im really enjoying my new computer. The thing flies through anything I do...games :winky:
I even connected up both network connections so online gaming is pretty fun LOL

OH my god, I can only hope I have it off for good.

When you re-format the computer, do you need to reinstall windows, (because I can't find my product key information). Or does it just re-format itself and I don't have to do anything. And how do you re-format a computer anyway?

Is it something you choose (with the mouse), as you boot up the computer?

I really have to go and find the booklets that came with this computer. I put them away and now they are lost. What do people do when they have to wipe the hard drive and they can't find the disks that came with the computer.

And is what Alan did, well, is this re-formatting. I mean, it just killed the spyware thingee and the screen looked completely different, and the fonts too, but all the icons were there.

Can you tell me if this is what he did. He pressed the F10 key and it said something about configuation.

Thanks much.

Melody

Hi melody!

When you decide to format the hard drive you do need the operating system disc. I am not sure what he did LOL. I got a good laugh about it though thinking about the blue screens on the TV :D

Here is a website with step by step instructions on what you need, and what to do to format the hard drive.

http://lifehacker.com/software/windo...tch-157578.php

I do this once a year even if my computer has no problems, a clean install just makes everything nice and new again. Then you can begin to clutter up the registries putting on and deleting programs all over again LOL.

Wow, I got the ANTI VIRUS 2009 on my laptop. It took over everything on my computer. I couldn't do any thing without it showing up. My son, who works on cumputers in his spare time, got rid of it for me. I don't know how he did it, but he didn't have to use my recovery disk.( Circuit City would have used my recovery disk to fix it, it was still under warrenty) It has been about 2 months now, and my computer is just like new. I haven't seen that nasty little critter again. I had Mcaffe security, and my son changed it to AVG. He says he gets a couple of calls a week about this problem. It is vivious!!

did your son reconfig the registry? I have used a few diff virus programs avg's is good and can be had for no cost, norton caused me headaches

One more question (please!!!)

Since Alan did his thing on the computer, Mozilla is no longer my default browser. When I cllick on a link in Outlook Express, it brings me to the web via Internet Explorer.

How do I go about making it do that via Mozilla?

There MUST be a way to do this right??

Thanks much.

Melody

To make Mozilla Firefox your default browser -
Go to start, then near the top of that first list there should be {it's always there on mine & my daughters - so I think it should be in the same place for most XP users}
Set Program Access and Defaults
click that
then click Custom and make your selections

you can always make changes there if you need to