180 search assist

[PEG]

A window pops up, looks similar to other microsoft
windows information messages, states that 180 search
assist has been removed from my computer and has option
to reinstall it.
Does not respond to right click for properties to get
more information about the window itself.

Is this a scam or virus?

Please advise how to determine. I deleted all cookies on
and off line, and yet it still pops up at least once
after turning computer on.

comments, anyone?

 

[Michael D. Alligood]

1800 search assist is associated with spyware programs. 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

SpyBot 1.3

SpyWare Blaster

HiJackThis

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 dramically decrease future infections.

--
Best of luck!

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

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

The "180 Search Assistant" is a component of n-Case.

n-Case is a form of spyware. Two products that are normally
quite effective at finding and removing such scumware are Ad-Aware
from www.lavasoft.de and SpyBot Search and Destroy from
www.safer-networking.org/. Both have free versions.

Symantec provides removal instructions:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/adware.ncase.html

Additional 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


Bruce Chambers
--
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