Here's my problem: My computer has been taken over by pop-ups, (and I'm Suspicious that there is spy ware involved too) which is causing the whole computer to run slower. I've tried Getting rid of them with Spybot search and destroy, norton AntiVirus, and Yahoo Anti-spy, but only to have the following things happen:

Norton AntiVirus: Won't let me delete anything.

Yahoo Anti-spy: All of the problems come back the next day.

Spybot Search and destroy: Scans completly, but freezes up right before it finishes deleting everything.

So, any suggestions for something I could use to Block or Delete Spyware? (Or maybe just some help fixing the Programs I already have, so that I don't have to download stuff under my dad's nose)

Try Ad-Aware

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910...page&tag=button

It sounds like you need a decent firewall too. I'll let someone else suggest what to use.

It is likely that the spyware fairies have taken root. What you need to do is:



- Bare in mind my comp isnt in English, so all instructions are translations. Find nearest equivalents.
- Print these instructions
- If you have the right operating system (lets just assume you do, for now) right click on "My Computer" and look for "System Restore". You must make the little tick box say "Disable System Restore".

* this will stop windows from sticking back a beautuful copy of your muoldy computer everytime you fix something. This may well explain the yahoo behaviour you mentioned.

- Turn your computer off
- Turn it on again, whilst tapping the F8 key about twice per second until the screen stops and asks you to choose an option to start up the comp

* (if this does not work, do it again until it does or say so here)

- Choose the option closest to "JUST Safe Mode" using the arrows on your keyboard to move the white 'bar' up and down

* This starts your comp up with the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM stuff going on, so in theeory most or all of the evil spirits are out of action and cant defend themselves so flaming well.

- Once in windows (that now looks really ugly, but thats fine) you run Spybot again, and complete the process. Then also run Norton. If you got Adaware, run adaware too.
* You may find'em all to be quite a bit slower. No worries. Go for a walk or something. You should still get much further than last time.

- It is possible that spybot says something like "Cant nuke'm all, Can I try again when you reboot?" in which case say yes, but finish Norton scan first before rebooting normally.

*You end up rebooting normally (no F8 key) and hopefully you will have a nicer comp than before. You can repeat the whole excercise if you like.

It is possible that your comp is further gone than that and still can't get back. If this happens you must either identify which spyware has grabbed you, and nuke it specifically with a specific tool for removing that spyware, or give up and format the whole lot and reinstall everything. Yuk.

It's possible, but unlikely with all the stuff you're running, that you're getting pop-ups in windows alert boxes (the ones where you have to click an OK button to get rid of them). If you're getting those, it's an easy fix (but I'm lazy so I won't type it out unless someone wants it )

I live in Texas too, and I had the same problem. Go to Best buy and buy a pop up blocker.

Norton gives me the address of the spyware. I delete it manually.

If your version of Norton doesn't give you the address, use what Mata said.

It'll take me about a week to convince my dad to let me install that... Or I could just wait until he goes on another business trip.

Any suggestions for a firewall, though?

Yes, you could go and spend money, or you could download something else completely legally that does exactly the same job for free.

As well as Ad-Aware you should also get Spybot Search & Destroy

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Dest...4-10122137.html

Between that and Ad-Aware you should be able to nuke anything bad on your system. Both bits of software basically do similar things overall, but Spybot has an 'immunisation' facility that can prevent nasty things from getting onto your machine again in future. Clever stuff. Again, free and legal to download. Brilliant stuff.

Firewall: I can't believe you're on the web without one. No wonder you've got nasty things on your machine! I hate to think what's skulking around on your system. It's amazing that it works at all considering the amount of rubbish trying to get onto computers at the moment... Anyway,

http://soho.sygate.com/default.htm

Sygate Personal Firewall Standard is free and rock solid. I use it, and I know several other people who use it, and I've never heard any complaints. When you first use it it will ask you loads of times about whether you want to allow systems to access the internet. You'd be amazed at how much of Windows wants to talk online to other things all the time. Generally it's best to let anything from the System32 folder to talk if it wants to. Do a really good scan of your system for spyware and viruses before installing it and then you should be able to comfortably agree to let pretty much everything access the system when you first run it. After the first few days you will probably almost never get asked questions by it unless you're installing new software, and then it's just a case of saying 'yes' and ticking the 'don't ask me again' box.

Also let me suggest Spy Sweeper. This is what we used at my last job. You can download the free version at www.spysweeper.com, chose free trial.

Can I blame my dad again? Last time I put a firewall up, all he did was complain about... Well, I honestly don't know what he was complaining about . Maybe this one will last longer.

I'm going to see if I can get away with Adaware first, and then I'll try to get away with other things. Thanks for the help, guys! Maybe some day, not today, and not tommorow, but some day - my dad will relise that he really doesn't know what he's talking about.

I've put a pinned topic in this thread about this stuff because it seems to be a fairly common problem.

And yes, you definitely need a firewall running! You've got two options:

1) let anyone on the web with some basic skills see everything stored on your computer

2) get a firewall.

Simple really! Good luck with your dad!

Argh. I use Sygate but it is really annoying me at the moment because it ignores me when I click the 'don't ask me again' box so I get it asking me about stuff about once every 30 seconds. ARGH!
[/rant]

But yeah, don't let that stop you getting it, you really do need a firewall.

The pop-up things really do need careful calibration when you first set it up otherwise they will be telling you all the time that it's blocked some completely harmless thing that Wincdows always runs in the background. this is why I suggest getting your Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware scans done thoroughly before installing Sygate, so when it asks you if anything is okay you can say 'yes - don't ask me again' with good confidence.

Grr... I'm getting those now too, and they just refuse to stop. So, Could you please type that out for me?

Aaargh! I strongly suspect that you are bad people! Who do things that are not right!

Usually the only time you get spam through the Windows Messaging Service is if you: A)Have no firewall or B)Have your firewall set up incorrectly so it isn't doing its job.

I should point out that while the boxes and manuals for off the shelf routers may say that they will act as a firewall they really do not in the sense that you may be expecting. It can't be stressed enough that is absolutely essential to run one. A decent virus scanner too. A machine with no security whatsoever will very quickly be totally raped and, while some people may be able to live with a machine that runs like a steaming turd, it'll very likely be pumping out spam and virii left right and centre, and that is a problem for everybody else.

I also sugest killing the Windows Messaging Service. It has no real use, except spam.

I'd really rather not do anything that my dad can easily find out about, or I'll get a hour lecture about how it's his computer and he knows what he's doing, (Har Har) And then He'll just un-install anything that I may have put on here. This is usally followed by him being in a bad mood all week, until he has to leave for another trip.
*sigh*

Okay... Any Ideas on how exactly I messed up the firewall?

Sorry if these questions are starting to get on your nerves, but The only knowledge of computers that puts me ahead of my dad is
1) Don't put magnets on the computer.
2) He hasn't the slightest Idea of what he's saying.

Edit: Um... Now Adaware is freezing up too... It'll complete the scan and everything, and It'll get half way done with deleting all of that evil stuff... but then it'll freeze.

Can you possibly get your dad to a decent computer shop at any point? If you can you can ask one of their techs to run him through basic computer security, and quite possibly do it while looking at him aghast.

Unless my phonebook and computer are lying to me, the Only Store around us that even sells things for computers is Wal*mart. I don't think that's what you meant by "decent" is it?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/09/key_log_scan/

Now that is precisely why you absolutely need to have a firewall running. Maybe leave this article open on the machine for your dad to see?

My dad finnally gave in after I showed him that, and after it got to the point that we were having to close out about 10 pop-ups every time we went to a different page.

He still keeps insisting it's all my fault though

Anyway, the firewall is up, most Adware has been deleted and I think that anyone who took their time to stop and post to help me deserves a big
Thank you!

Yay! Success at last! I'm really pleased that your father has finally seen sense. One down, countless millions to go...

I've updated the computer help thread to point to Avast! for their anti-virus software. It's really amazingly good for a free application. I'm very impressed with it.

http://www.avast.com/