Spyware programme thingy

[pesty]

Im after a program that will check my pc over for spyware and the like.

Needs to be very very easy to use and preferably free although I dont mind paying for a good one thats easy

Every time I start up WE I get a home page that I havnt put there and when I change it it just goes back will a spyware program cure that?

[slinky]

here you go..

Have a quick look at that...

slinky

[FunkyNige]

Slinky has linked to Ad-Aware which is just a scanner.
If you want to stop spyware getting on in the first place then use:

Spybot Search and Destroy Link
and
Spyware Blaster [url]www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html[/url]
as well as Ad-Aware, they're all free but need to be kept up to date just like an antivirus.

I run all three and never get anything bad on my computer.

[pesty]

Cheers guys put on Search and destroy 1.3 and it found 107 problems and fixed them but still my homepage was some wierd search page.

So I did the spy ware blaster one as well and still the page was there. Just clicking around in the settings I found where to change my homepage and now its sorted.

Result PH to the rescue.

[pesty]

arrrrg

Spoke too soon bloody home page has changed again on IE

[rsvmilly]

Google for CW Shredder and run that.

[pesty]

ok serached for CW shredder and downloaded 2004 spyware nuker.

It found over 400 porblems and fixed them(which is worrying since I used the other programs first)

The web page is still there when I start IE. No matter what I do or what I delete about that page it reapears

[slinky]

Pesty, silly question, what is your homepage set to?

Have a look in tools --> Internet Options --> Home Page

Then go through and clear out temporary files (including offline files) set temporary internet files folder to about 20mb..

Close and re-open IE and see what happens..

hth,

slinky

[pesty]

slinky said:

Pesty, silly question, what is your homepage set to? Have a look in tools --> Internet Options --> Home Page Then go through and clear out temporary files (including offline files) set temporary internet files folder to about 20mb.. Close and re-open IE and see what happens.. hth, slinky

Yep done that. Set home page to blank. clear all files and run both internet shredders.

Start up IE and its blank all ok.

Close IE and open again and the stupid page is back

[anniesdad]

Try this.

Run.....regedit

find "start page" and right click

click modify

retype in your required homepage.

[malman]

Does cwshredder report it clean. Did it ever report any coolweb search items if so which ones. There are a couple of really sneaky ones that I know of that seem to superglue themselves into your PC.

You may want to try "hijack this" but post the logs on one of the spyware forums BEFORE you go deleteing everything. Hijack this is just a report and delete tool you are its intelligence (or the forums are)

Or you can try teh "pest patrol" online scanner - just runs through a browser window.

[pesty]

anniesdad said:

Try this. Run.....regedit find "start page" and right click click modify retype in your required homepage.

ok tried this as you suggest. couldnt find start page so did a search and found an entry called start page and next to it it said about blank.

so it seems to think blank is the start page but it isnt

We are getting very close to my limitations as to my PC knowlage.

[anniesdad]

pesty said:

anniesdad said: Try this. Run.....regedit find "start page" and right click click modify retype in your required homepage. ok tried this as you suggest. couldnt find start page so did a search and found an entry called start page and next to it it said about blank. so it seems to think blank is the start page but it isnt We are getting very close to my limitations as to my PC knowlage.

About blank is the start page that you are describing and trying to get rid of.

copy this

www.pistonheads.com/gassing

and paste it into the field.

[pesty]

malman said:

Does cwshredder report it clean. Did it ever report any coolweb search items if so which ones.

ok just run spyware nuker2004 and it finds coolweb search - type Trackware

[plotloss]

www.lavasoft.de and download Ad Aware version 6.0, install and run

Then Google for something called Spybot Search and Destroy and install that and then run it.

Hey presto, no more spyware issues.

[FunkyNige]

There's another one called hijack this! Try that too:

www.siena.edu/antivirus/Spyware/hijackthis.htm

Edit - it will creat a log and you have to manually remove things. To check what you need to remove, type the page it sends you to into google and try to find a forum where someone lists what needs removing.

>> Edited by FunkyNige on Wednesday 25th August 16:10

[pesty]

I'm getting well confused now

I have now 3 seperate spyware detectors which have all been run and cured the problems they find. some come back though if i run them again.


The problemis .. if it is a problem is...

I set the homepage to google or pistinheads.(in tools and another place)
I open IE and Google or pistonheads is the homepage.
Close IE
Open IE and its this page again which apears to be about blank with a few pop ups.

I am probably doing something stupid

[plotloss]

In the last stage, the clean bit are you selecting everything its found?

In AdAware you have to right click the list and select 'Check all' or similar and then click next.

If you dont select them it doesnt delete them...

[anniesdad]

pesty said:

I'm getting well confused now I have now 3 seperate spyware detectors which have all been run and cured the problems they find. some come back though if i run them again. The problemis .. if it is a problem is... I set the homepage to google or pistinheads.(in tools and another place) I open IE and Google or pistonheads is the homepage. Close IE Open IE and its this page again which apears to be about blank with a few pop ups. I am probably doing something stupid

Try changing it in the system registry editor as I have suggested.

[pesty]

yep annies dad tried that and black still comes up.

there are other entries that come up in registry edit.

search bar- res://C:WINDOWSsystem32fabng.dll/sp.html#37049

That 37049 was the number that kept coming up as the start page on one of the other programs.

also there is this
loacal page = C:WINDOWSSystem32 lank.htm

>> Edited by pesty on Wednesday 25th August 16:52