Irritating PC snag NB

[castaway]

My little bar which carries all my previously visited web sites, and I paste etc onto at the top of the screen, appears to have been obliterated by some crap seach bar called isearch.

I cant find a way to switch this thing off so I cant type in any addresses.

I can only get to a site via using this search engine now... wuth the exception of YBW that IE opens straight onto... My usual PC Guru is away on a course, so can someone help pls?

Thanks Nick

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[snowleopard]

yes, there are evil b****s out there who take over your browser and set themselves up as your home page or default search engine. it happened to me and i spent hours delving through files trying to get rid of it. it was a useless search engine anyway - all american sites and every search brought up porn sites.

i think bill gates should be made to go out personally and clear up the mess. internet explorer shouldn't allow settings like that to be changed without the user knowing.

the best way to get rid of it is to install the google toolbar (use www.google.co.uk). as well as getting rid of the other search engine it gives you popup blocking.

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[Benbow]

Isearch is spyware that messes around with your browser and passes information about your use of it.

Kill it by going here:
http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html
and downloading and running spybot - search and destroy

I would also suggest using firefox rather than IE as your browser.

You can download it here:
http://www.mozilla.org/

Its simpler, better, faster and less vulnerable than IE.

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I don't know if replacing it with Google will really kill it, but even if does you probably have loads of other crap as well. So I suggest to do a proper disinfect with spybot or similar<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Benbow on 07/09/2004 13:36 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[jhr]

Some information about it <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.scumware.com/apps/scumware.php/action::view_article/article_id::1087824625/topic::Scumware,-Spyware,-Adware-&-Malware-Applications>here</A> together with removal instructions (keep scrolling down for them).

When I am President of the World, people who write scumware will be the second Socio-Economic Group to be deported to the Gulag - after I have finished with Y*cht Br*k*rs /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif.

<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[BustinAround]

I find that adaware is the best out there for geting rid of these things....
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

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[boatless]

Just installed Firefox, and like what I see so far. Can't find a refresh or reload button Benbow, any clues?

Have you tried the gestures extension yet?

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[Benbow]

Reload is that symol like two blue arrows chasing their tails, 3rd in from the left on the default layout. Or Ctrl-R

What's the gestures extension? Sounds dodgy to me !!

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[boatless]

Just found it and rushed back to delete the post...

The gestures thing seems to be a tool that pops up when you click the middle mouse button, offering a number of choices, forwards backwards etc.. Have those on my 5 button mouse anyway, but what caught my eye was the ability to (apparently) set it up so that a circular movement of the mouse will refresh, and presumably others, sounds clever, will be trying it.

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[oldsaltoz]

G'day Nick,

I have been running Spybot S&D and Adaware for years and found them very good at removing all sorts of rubbish, however about 4 months ago I installed SpyrareGuard, rather than removing the nasty bits, it stops them getting in in the first place and prevents home page hijacking, I have had no alerts in Spybot or Adaware since I installed it and applied full protection.

I have no association with the program and for what it's worth it's free to download.

PS, also running Zone alarm and AVG antivirus, both free.

Avagoodweekend...........



<hr width=100% size=1> Old Salt Oz /forums/images/icons/cool.gif Growing old is unavoidable. However, growing up is still optional.

 

[FullCircle]

Call me paranoid, but.....

Spybot 1.3 - Spyware search and remove
Adaware 6.0 - Ads and Popups
Google Toolbar Popup Blocker (passes all tests)
BHO Demon - for Browser Handler Objects such as Yahoo or Google
Start Page Guard - Stops your start page being changed
Spyware Blaster - resident Spyware blocker
Avast Antivirus - Anti Virus amazingly. Upgrades automatically daily
Zone Alarm (Not Pro)
Mailwasher for the spam
Flashget for Fast /multiple resumable downloads
SpoofStick tells you what domain you are actually in . Use if you think you are in Natwest.com but are actually in RussianMafiaCentral.ru
Karens Power Tools web site also has a load of free tools to deal with the menacing hordes trying to interupt our daily business.

ALL FREE!!!! All available from TUCOWS.com or ZDNET.co.uk or by Google Search
You can pay for extra features and auto updates/settings on most of these.

Jim




<hr width=100% size=1>Our engine will never wear out - it only runs for 5 mins before packing it in again.

 

[Benbow]

You are paranoid.

I run spybot, zonealarm (which stimulates paranoia - I don't believe it has detected a single malicious attempt, but 10000s of imagined ones, but I keep it running just in case) and Sophos antivirus.

I believe those coupled with a healthy scepticism and avoidance of evils like Microsoft outlook and IE are sufficient.

(Oh yes, and I am behind a hardware firewall - I would say that is the single most important thing new broadband users should do)


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[l'escargot]

You can get an uninstaller from their own site <A target="_blank" HREF=http://toolbar.isearch.com/uninstall/>here</A>

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[Benbow]

Running a programme from a known purveyor of scumware, a bold move indeed.

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[l'escargot]

who better to know how to take it out than those who designed it?

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[Benbow]

But it is a malicious piece of software, I am sure they *could* remove it, but can you trust that the uninstaller just does that ? I would be very cautious about downloading and running software whose pedigree I was unsure of.

I am quite sure that the author of the mydoom virus would be delighted to send you an 'uninstaller' !!

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[castaway]

Thanks for all the advice.. I presently run the MS Firewall ( Im Broadband) and I have AVG anti virus, but yesterday I just got hit by everything... I cant get to my address bar so have to either use my favourites or use their f===in search engine to do anything...

Even my opening page which is set to YBW disappeared behind MSN ( which I hate) and there is no way to switch it off.

I tried searching for the programs that run these things and also looked in the instal/uninstal but found nothing... v pissed off !!

Thanks anyway Im off to the boat for a days R n R and a visit to AW Marine at Haslar hoping they can sort my VHF before the Scuttlebut X channel on the 25th! Nick

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather>http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather</A>

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[Birdseye]

Firefox or the mozilla combined e mail / browser programme seem to avoid lots of these problems including many pop ups. For example, I dont get the PBO subscription pop up window any longer

However, the mozilla products are very processor intensive, so you do a lot more hanging around waiting for the screen to catch up unless you have a reasonably fast PC.

Plus I'm never sure whether the standard anti virus programs bother to write protection for virusses affecting mozilla. They all protect against IE/OE problems but others?

And lastly, mozilla thunderbird - their equivalent of OE - is not really as good in use IMHO.

<hr width=100% size=1>this post is a personal opinion, and you should not base your actions on it.

 

[castaway]

Yup.. Ive sorted the problem now using the various help/uninstal features hidden away within these sites, and loaded the firefox browser.

Basically these b#st#ards have stolen several hours of my time from me, and I just cannot understand why these companies which appear to be quite legit are allowed to operate.

I can only assume that they are regulated by the same incompetant fools that regulate our pensions.

All I can say is that one always ends up learning somthing.. just wish the process was a bit quicker!


Regds Nick


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[snowleopard]

must be prophetic- i was attacked by a browser hijacker yesterday. after downloading several bits of protection software (spybot,, spywareguard etc), the best they could do was stop the hidden program from changing my browser settings every time i started internet explorer but none of them could find & kill the trojan itself.

in the end i have changed to firefox and the problem has gone away. does anyone know what scumware firefox is vulnerable to?

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[BrendanS]

begs the question, how were you hijacked? It's almost impossible to get hijacked if running decent protection. Run a firewall, and antivirus, and update daily. If you are using Microsoft OS, then download security patches regularly. If you do that, gettting hijacked is almost impossible. If you want recommendations, then spybot and the rest are an aftermarket thing, and are largely useless, all they do is tell you that you have cookies or other meaningless so called spyware on your computer. Unless you didn't have decent firewall, antivirus, and security patches.

Firewall and antivirus are first line of defence

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni