Adshooter Pop up ads
BUCKEYE
up a lot of stuff. Now I can't seem to get rid of this www.adshooter.com ad
that keeps popping up even when I'm not in Internet Explorer. If any of you
know what to do I would appreciate the help. I've run Adaware SE many times
and Norton Antivirus and neither one can get rid of it.
Malke
Ad-aware is great, but you need more than one removal tool to get rid of
spyware. NAV does not remove non-viral malware. Here are steps for you
to take. Do everything with updated tools in Safe Mode.
1) Scan in Safe Mode with current version (not earlier than 2003)
antivirus using updated definitions.
2) Remove spyware with Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware. These
programs are free, so use them both since they complement each other.
There is a new version of CWShredder from Intermute. I would not
install the other Intermute programs, however. Alternately, there are
CoolWebSearch malware removal steps at SilentRunners.
Be sure to update these programs before running, and it is a good idea
to do virus/spyware scans in Safe Mode. Make sure you are able to see
all hidden files and extensions (View tab in Folder Options).
HijackThis is an excellent tool to discover and disable hijackers, but
it requires expert skill. See below for HijackThis links. A combination
of HijackThis and About:Buster works well in removing the About:Blank
homepage hijacker. Again, this is an expert tool and novices should get
help with it.
3) If you are running Windows ME or XP, you should disable/enable System
Restore because malware will be in the Restore Points. With ME, you
must disable System Restore completely. With XP, you can delete all but
the most recent (presumably clean) System Restore point from the More
Options section of Disk Cleanup (Run>cleanmgr).
4) Make sure you've visited Windows Update and applied all security
patches. Do not install driver updates from Windows Update.
5) Run a firewall.
Links to help with malware:
Software/Methods:
http://www.safer-networking.org - Spybot Search & Destroy
http://www.lavasoftusa.com - Ad-aware
http://www.majorgeeks.com - good download site
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_cwsremoval.html. - SilentRunners
HijackThis:
http://www.aumha.org/a/hjttutor.htm - HijackThis tutorial by Jim
Eshelman
http://spywarewarrior.com/viewforum.php?f=5 - Spyware Warrior HijackThis
forum
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
General:
http://forum.aumha.org/ - look under "Security" for various forums
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm - The Parasite Fight
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm
Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
Alun Jones [MSFT]
news:ueA9GNk%23EHA...@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> BUCKEYE wrote:
>
>> My brother in law was playing around on my computer the other day and
>> screwed up a lot of stuff. Now I can't seem to get rid of this
>> www.adshooter.com ad that keeps popping up even when I'm not in
>> Internet Explorer. If any of you know what to do I would appreciate
>> the help. I've run Adaware SE many times and Norton Antivirus and
>> neither one can get rid of it.
>
In addition to Malke's excellent suggestions, I have a couple of others:
6) Next time you have friends or relatives use your computer, give them
their own account. Make sure it's a restricted account, not an
administrator.
7) Be very careful when trying to apply multiple spyware products - "the
more, the better" is not necessarily true, since there are some programs
that claim to be spyware-removal tools but are not. Such bogus
spyware-removal tools are designed to remove "the other guy's spyware", to
clear the way for the bogus tool's spyware, which then gets installed.
Check on the reputation of spyware tools before you use them - only download
tools that you have good reason to trust. Look for recommendations in this
newsgroup - and make sure that you check for other postings that might
refute such recommendations.
8) On the subject of recommending spyware removal tools, we have our own
page on spyware at
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/default.mspx (easier to
remember is that http://www.microsoft.com/spyware will take you there),
including the downloadable beta test of Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware.
Alun.
~~~~
--
Software Design Engineer, Internet Information Server (FTP)
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.