No...not that!!!! Not Spyware

Okay....for the moment comes to cuss out the computer...again!

Stupid thing!
Stupid thing!
Stupid thing!
Stupid thing!
Stupid computer!

Now to the point.....I think I have spyware....now and again, my home page changes to stupid things like:

defalthomepage.com/start
findthesitesyouneed.com
spyseage.com

And I don't know why! I don't let it load, I hit stop the moment I see that it isn't my homepage....well after I do that I fix my homepage back the way it was. It stays that way for like a month 1/2 to two months. then another stupid thing comes up and I do the same thing, stop, change, and close and it works.

Now my thought that the home page stays at what it sets it at. not letting you change it. but it lets me change it back and it stays that way....so what is going on? I don't want to mess with the regestry....so I hope this can be fixed.

Could this also be steming from me accidently clicking OK on those Microsoft messnger pop ups and not knowing it? be cause I have a major problem with that....or hitting ENTER when one is on the screen?

Please tell me that it isn't spyware!

i use lavasoft's ad-aware. it's pretty good, and seems to get the job done fairly well.
Lavasoft's Ad-Aware

anotehr good one i've heard about is:
Spybot S & D

download one, or both, of those and run them. it should help clear anything up.

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
i use lavasoft's ad-aware. it's pretty good, and seems to get the job done fairly well.
Lavasoft's Ad-Aware

anotehr good one i've heard about is:
Spybot S & D

download one, or both, of those and run them. it should help clear anything up.

I have heard that Ad-Aware itself is spyware, but when I used it I had programs that refused to work after.

[Edited on 3-6-2004 by groingrinder]

Originally posted by groingrinder
I have heard that Ad-Aware itself is spyware, but when I used it I had programs that refused to work after.

[Edited on 3-6-2004 by groingrinder]

really? i've never heard that. hmmm...

which programs? it works fine for me, no issues at all... maybe those programs had spyware in them and by removing that you also removed something critical. i dunno.

I use Ad-Ware 6.0 and have had no problems. Thing rocks.


regards
seekerof

Originally posted by groingrinder

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
i use lavasoft's ad-aware. it's pretty good, and seems to get the job done fairly well.
Lavasoft's Ad-Aware

anotehr good one i've heard about is:
Spybot S & D

download one, or both, of those and run them. it should help clear anything up.

I have heard that Ad-Aware itself is spyware, but when I used it I had programs that refused to work after.

[Edited on 3-6-2004 by groingrinder]

I ran it once and it stopped my version of kazaa from working. The kazaa I had was ad-supported and when adaware removed the ads, kazaa refused to work. So I removed kazaa when I realised how many pieces of spyware it has in it.

I'm alittle iffy on useing any removal tools. because I have Winzip and I don't want to loose that or any important things, because some one on another board says it like deleted their srvhost file. So I'm saving them as a last resort.

But you didn't anwser my question. Would my home page changing is being caused by those annoying Microsoft Messanger pop ups? Like if I accidently clicked OK or I hit ENTER when one popped up and I didn't see it?

Originally posted by Curiosity
I'm alittle iffy on useing any removal tools. because I have Winzip and I don't want to loose that or any important things, because some one on another board says it like deleted their srvhost file. So I'm saving them as a last resort.

But you didn't anwser my question. Would my home page changing is being caused by those annoying Microsoft Messanger pop ups? Like if I accidently clicked OK or I hit ENTER when one popped up and I didn't see it?

Yes, it's very likely it was caused by either accidentally clicking "ok" or by some sort of software you intentionally installed.
It's a form of spyware called a browser hijack. Here is an article about it with some links to programs that will help remove the nasty buggers.

Spybot & AdAware won't mess with Winzip and won't delete anything but malicious *ware tidbits. Promise. I've been using them both for years without any problems.

-B.

Originally posted by Pisky
I ran it once and it stopped my version of kazaa from working. The kazaa I had was ad-supported and when adaware removed the ads, kazaa refused to work. So I removed kazaa when I realised how many pieces of spyware it has in it.

get kazaa lite... adware free!

It did it to me again! here is the address:

default-homepage-network.com/start.cgi?hkcu

What is it and how do I get rid of it....Like I said I don't want to download a removal tool....and how do I get my home page back to the one I have it set at? because that only lasted for a day!

The whole point of a browser hijacker is to replace your webpage with another one........ and it will keep happening as long as the hijacker is on your system.

If you dont want to download a removal tool there isnt much you can do because it will keep hijacking every time you re-set it to your home page.

sorry but unless you DO download a spyware removal tool of some kind I cant think of much else to help you here.

Curiosity ... if you want to remove this hijacker properly and without risk of really messing things up, you're going to need to get some software to do it for you.
Once again, I recommend Spybot for this one.
When is the last time you ran a virus scan on the computer? This is very important, as the particular hijack you describe often comes from a Trojan virus. It's VERY important that you have anti-virus software on your computer and that it is always kept updated.
See
Symantec for more info.

-B.

okay so some one over at the spyware info forums told me do use HijackThis. Well when that happened, I found the problem....there was like (from what I saw on the log) 3 Hijackers....I have no idea how many are in there but that was what I could understand....I'll edit this or post a follow up once they get back to me....

EDIT: Last virus scan I did was yesterday (Friday) accualy every friday I do one....and yes I do have norton.....

EDIT2: Okay so I deleted what the guy told me to by using that Hijackthis thing. And now my mouse works and my computer is running alot faster now....

So I guess that spyware was the root of all problems? I just have to wait and see....but I hope it was!

Hijackthis!

[Edited on 6-3-2004 by Curiosity]