ChrisN said:
Help, I have 'isearch' spyware on my XP home system, I've downloaded
'Adaware' and 'Spybot'. They removed the toolbar and desktop icons but
'isearch' seems to have morphed and now appears floating behind the
task bar at the bottom of the screen. pop ups are worse than ever even
with 'Yahoo' popup blocker activated. I also have on my Add/remove
programs a program with no file size called 'adware & spyware', when I
try and remove it I get directed to a web site for 'nospyx'. I don't
want to install SP2 until I'm rid of this stuff. I'm still learning
but I'm not daft, any help would be greatly appreciated.
cheers Chris.
You are very wise not to install SP2 until you get your computer clean
up. Ad-aware and Spybot are great, but you need to make sure they are
updated and that you do all scans with malware removal tools in Safe
Mode. You should run through the removal steps I will give you below.
In addition, I Googled for "remove isearch" and came up with this
promising link to instructions for manual removal from Computer
Associates:
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=453082740
General malware removal:
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
