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Ad-/Spyware? | A reliable computing forum?

Katja Vuorisalo — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 06:49:00 +0000

Forum: Safe computing
Topic: Ad-/Spyware?
Poster: Katja Vuorisalo
Post title: A reliable computing forum?

[Oddie wrote:

For the rest, wait for more advices or post about it on a specialized computing forum.
But you can safely start with those two and see if it improves anything.]

Thank you Florence and all the rest for your help! Do you know any reliable computing forum where I could post my question about which other entries to delete? I never used those forums before...thanks!

Ad-/Spyware? | Registry entries

Florence Bremond — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 10:09:00 +0000

Forum: Safe computing
Topic: Ad-/Spyware?
Poster: Florence Bremond
Post title: Registry entries

HijackThis can correct the registry entries from the HT client itself - but now be careful with this it could do more harm than good if you do something wrong.
In any way - backup the registry (from the HT option) before doing anything. And backup your whole HD if you can (external HD).

I would start with deleting those two, which are obviously spyware:

O16 - DPF: {88D758A3-D33B-45FD-91E3-67749B4057FA} (Sinstaller Class) - [url removed]
Should be fixed.

O18 - Filter: text/html - {2AB289AE-4B90-4281-B2AE-1F4BB034B647} - C:\Program Files\RXToolBar\sfcont.dll
Should be fixed.

For the rest, wait for more advices or post about it on a specialized computing forum.
But you can safely start with those two and see if it improves anything.

Florence

[Edited at 2006-09-26 10:11]

Ad-/Spyware? | Analysis

Katja Vuorisalo — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 09:59:00 +0000

Forum: Safe computing
Topic: Ad-/Spyware?
Poster: Katja Vuorisalo
Post title: Analysis

[Oddie wrote:

I would advise trying Hijackthis
[url removed]

then analysing the log with
[url removed]

and posting us about the results.]

These were considered as "unnecessary" or "nasty" according to HijackThis-analysis:

O2 - BHO: (no name) - {7D0A2E0A-19CF-43D7-9673-6AFAD573CEBC} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\babsesrv.dll (file missing)
Unknown application.
Unnecessary (deactivated) entry that can be fixed.

O2 - BHO: Starware - {CA356D79-679B-4b4c-8E49-5AF97014F4C1} - C:\Program
Files\Starware\bin\Starware.dll (file missing)
Unnecessary (deactivated) entry that can be fixed.

O3 - Toolbar: Starware - {D49E9D35-254C-4c6a-9D17-95018D228FF5} - C:\Program Files\Starware\bin\Starware.dll (file missing)
Unnecessary (deactivated) entry that can be fixed.

O3 - Toolbar: (no name) - {C8A973DE-1408-4B51-8C5A-03FE9C281CCD} - (no file)
Unknown application.
Unnecessary (deactivated) entry that can be fixed.

O8 - Extra context menu item: &MSN Search - [url removed] \Program Files\MSN Toolbar Suite\TB\02.05.0000.1105\fi-fi\msntb.dll/search.htm

O16 - DPF: {88D758A3-D33B-45FD-91E3-67749B4057FA} (Sinstaller Class) - [url removed]
Should be fixed.

O18 - Filter: text/html - {2AB289AE-4B90-4281-B2AE-1F4BB034B647} - C:\Program Files\RXToolBar\sfcont.dll
Should be fixed.

BUT HOW DO I GO FOR FIXING THESE PROBLEMS NOW? Additionally, there were many others that were considered as "unknown". Should these also be fixed? Then, most of the entries were analyzed as "safe" also. Thanks a million for your help!!

Ad-/Spyware? | Be careful with shutting down Microsoft services

Uldis Liepkalns — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 09:56:00 +0000

Forum: Safe computing
Topic: Ad-/Spyware?
Poster: Uldis Liepkalns
Post title: Be careful with shutting down Microsoft services

It is true that many of them are not needed, however, shutting down needed ones you may loose your Internet connectivity, network, connection with a printer and like.

I can advise to look here... ooops, it is offline. But here is a cashed copy:

[url removed]

the guy offers good and comprehensive advice on that.

Uldis

Ad-/Spyware? | Hijackthis

Florence Bremond — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 09:03:00 +0000

Forum: Safe computing
Topic: Ad-/Spyware?
Poster: Florence Bremond
Post title: Hijackthis

I would advise trying Hijackthis
[url removed]

then analysing the log with
[url removed]

and posting us about the results.

Now it could also be a hardware failure of some kind (memory etc.) in which case you would need to drive the dear thing to the shop.

Florence

Ad-/Spyware? | I have Spybot

Katja Vuorisalo — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:30:00 +0000

Forum: Safe computing
Topic: Ad-/Spyware?
Poster: Katja Vuorisalo
Post title: I have Spybot

[Isabel Booth wrote:

I have a programme called Spybot - Search and Destroy. It was preinstalled on the PC but you can look at the website: [url removed]
which is good at finding this kind of stuff and removing it from your PC.]

I have been using Spybot-Search and Destroy. It usually finds a couple of entries per day and fixes them but the problem doesn't disappear. When I go Ctrl+Alt+Del, I see that HotkeyApp.exe and a whole bunch of other unknown processes are always running in the background. And my keyboard has started blocking more often now, too!

Ad-/Spyware? | I tried

Katja Vuorisalo — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 07:55:00 +0000

Forum: Safe computing
Topic: Ad-/Spyware?
Poster: Katja Vuorisalo
Post title: I tried

[John Jory wrote:

Have you shut down all those nasty 'services' which XP runs in the background, e.g. to send a report to Microsoft for every burp your PC makes?
Many add-ons make an entry in the "Services" tab, and are run in the background. You can get an impression of how many there are by selecting Start | Run, then enter 'msconfig' + hit OK.
The tab 'Services' shows them all.
Use the option to hide all Microsoft services. Then you can decide which of the remaining services you wish to disable. Don't disable your antivirus tool ;-)
Use the same procedure to re-enable any service that is really needed.]

Thank you, I tried this, let's see if it helps. Moreover, my Start-toolbar sometimes disappears, too, and all screen goes black for about a minute or so even if I try to activate it by pushing on keyboard. This hasn't happened before, either...Strange...

Ad-/Spyware? | Spyware software

Isabel Booth — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 06:57:00 +0000

Forum: Safe computing
Topic: Ad-/Spyware?
Poster: Isabel Booth
Post title: Spyware software

I have a programme called Spybot - Search and Destroy. It was preinstalled on the PC but you can look at the website: [url removed]
which is good at finding this kind of stuff and removing it from your PC.
Isabel

Ad-/Spyware? | Windows XP "Services"

John Jory — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 06:54:00 +0000

Forum: Safe computing
Topic: Ad-/Spyware?
Poster: John Jory
Post title: Windows XP "Services"

Have you shut down all those nasty 'services' which XP runs in the background, e.g. to send a report to Microsoft for every burp your PC makes?
Many add-ons make an entry in the "Services" tab, and are run in the background. You can get an impression of how many there are by selecting Start | Run, then enter 'msconfig' + hit OK.
The tab 'Services' shows them all.
Use the option to hide all Microsoft services. Then you can decide which of the remaining services you wish to disable. Don't disable your antivirus tool ;-)
Use the same procedure to re-enable any service that is really needed.

You can also check the Web along the lines of "services windows-xp unnecessary", where you are likely to find many articles on the subject.
There is also a very useful freeware tool called "XpAntispy" which helps you to disable the most questionable MS services.

Ad-/Spyware?

Katja Vuorisalo — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 17:51:00 +0000

Forum: Safe computing
Topic: Ad-/Spyware?
Poster: Katja Vuorisalo

My computer has slowed down considerably lately. When I shut down my pc, it gives a notice: "Shutting down application HotKey App" that I don't even recognize what it is. When I run an antispyware-program, there are often plenty of ads that need to be fixed, new ones come up every day. After I have fixed these problems the pc is still very slow and there are many "processes" always running (such as HotkeyApp.exe and many others) when I check. Do you know how to get completely rid of these ad- or spywares if that's what they are called? Do they come through Yahoo and Google toolbars mostly? This slows down my work a lot and it's very annoying. Thanks in advance!