bridge.dll

[HOIB]

A friend's daughter's 4 month old Compaq R3000 laptop just started giving us
this error on startup near the end of the boot up:

(Small box - center screen) Error loading C:\windows\system32\bridge.dll.
Specified module could not be found". As far as we know, she didn't
intentionally cause this. \system32 has bridge.dll present.

Anyone know what feature(s) use bridge.dll? XP Home's KB and built-in Help
make no mention of it. It's an annoyance because the LT works fine
otherwise. It's just another mouseclick she'd rather not have to bother
with.

Thanks, good people!

H

 

[Michael D. Alligood]

Bridge.dll is associated with spyware programs and viruses. Anti-virus
software and
firewalls do not fully protect your system against the majority of spyware
and privacy threats. Spyware is commonly bundled with software downloads,
attached to e-mails, or transmitted through networks so it can appear to be
legitimate software, but once installed it can be nearly impossible to
detect and remove without the help of a dedicated spyware removal tool such
as:

Ad-Aware 6.0 (build 6.181)
http://www.lavasoftusa.com

SpyBot 1.3
http://www.safer-networking.org/

SpyWare Blaster (Spyware Protection)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html/

HiJackThis
http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

Please make sure that you download the updates for each of these programs to
ensure complete detection of known spyware programs. Although nothing is
absolute in removing spyware and keeping it off, downloading and executing
the programs above can dramatically decrease future infections.

Also please utilize free online virus scans from the following sites:

Trend:
http://housecall.antivirus.com
http://housecall.trendmicro.com

F-Secure:
http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml

McAfee:
http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/mfs/default.asp

Panda:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/

Symantec:
http://security.symantec.com/

BitDefender
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php

In addition, you can direct your question News Groups that specialize in
virus infections...
microsoft.public.scripting.virus.discussion
microsoft.public.security.virus
alt.comp.virus
alt.comp.anti-virus


After Spyware / Adware is remove, you may get an error finding files on
reboot

After you use anyone of these programs (with the exception of HiJackThis)
you may receive an error of some sort after rebooting your system. This is
pretty common. Many spyware programs add themselves in the Startup location
and execute when Windows boots. If you receive an error when rebooting after
removing spyware, do not panic. This is more than likely a startup remnant
trying to access the spyware program that is no longer on your computer.
HiJackThis is a great utility to find and remove these startup remnants.
However, there is a less technical way of removing these items:

(1) Click START to RUN and type: msconfig
(2) Select the STARTUP tab
(3) Uncheck the file that pertained to the startup error message you
received
(4) Click APPLY and OK
(5) Reboot your system

If this fails to fix the startup error message after reboot, there are still
options:

(1) Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\StartMenu\Programs\Startup
(2) Delete the icon that pertained to the startup error message you received
(3) Navigate to C:\Documents and
Settings\username\StartMenu\Programs\Startup
(4) Delete the icon that pertained to the startup error message you received
(5) Reboot your system


--
Best of luck!

Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCP, CCNA, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW A, CIW CI

 

[Guest]

HOIB,

Please see the following instructions.

Spyware/Virus Removal and Prevention:
http://www.fixyourwindows.com/windowsxpsolutions.htm

Startup and Temporary Files Cleanup:
http://www.fixyourwindows.com/optimizewindows.htm

Good Luck!

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Bridge.dll is _not_ a valid Windows file, it's part of
LoudMarketing's spyware.

http://pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/l/loudmarketing.asp

To deal with issues caused by any sort of "adware" and/or
"spyware,"such as Gator, Comet Cursors, Smiley Central, 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 www.safer-networking.org/. 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

More information and assistance is available at these sites:

Blocking Ads, Parasites, and Hijackers with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

The Parasite Fight
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm


Bruce Chambers
--
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