I have Windows XP and a firewall and updates regularly.
But lately there's a lot of popups and spyware on my
computer....or at least that's what the scans show from
these spyware removal companies. However, one company
shows nothing in spyware (which is hard to believe) and
another shows something like 70 spyware cookies on my
computer. I'd like to hear from anyone about this. pw63

pw63 wrote:
> I have Windows XP and a firewall and updates regularly.
> But lately there's a lot of popups and spyware on my
> computer....or at least that's what the scans show from
> these spyware removal companies. However, one company
> shows nothing in spyware (which is hard to believe) and
> another shows something like 70 spyware cookies on my
> computer. I'd like to hear from anyone about this. pw63

These companies, if they are trying to force you to buy their product, will
tell you whatever they need to..

Get rid of the spy/ad/mal-ware..
(Yes - using MORE than one of these.. I recommend at least the first
three.)

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/

Lavasoft AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de

Hijack This!
(For browser Hijacks - also look into CWS Shredder)
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/

SpywareBlaster (to help prevent getting reinfected)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

And Assortment of Others:
http://www.merijn.org/downloads.html


After you cleanup your PC somewhat of spy/ad/mal-ware, verify your antivirus
software is updated and run a full scan of your computer. If you have no
antivirus software - get one NOW!
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php


Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to about
80-120MB..
- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the
following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 80MB and 120MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes
or more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet
Explorer.


Uninstall any software you do not use often/ever. (If you have something
installed but never use it, uninstall it. If you go through Control
Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and see things you seldom if ever use, it is to
your advantage to remove it.)

Greetings --

To deal with issues caused by any sort of "adware" and/or
"spyware,"such as Gator, Comet Cursors, Xupiter, Bonzai Buddy, or
KaZaA, and their remnants, that you've deliberately (but without
understanding the consequences) installed, two products that are
quite effective (at finding and removing this type of scumware) are
Ad-Aware from www.lavasoft.de and SpyBot Search & Destroy from
http://security.kolla.de/. Both have free versions. It's even
possible to use SpyBot Search & Destroy to "immunize" your system
against most future intrusions. I use both and generally perform
manual scans every week or so to clean out cookies, etc.

Additionally, manual removal instructions for the most common
varieties of scumware are available here:

PC Hell Spyware and Adware Removal Help
http://www.pchell.com/support/spyware.shtml


Bruce Chambers