Unwanted toolbar

[William Edelstein]

Every time I log in to Windows XP on my laptop computer, I get a toolbar
that I do not want and I don't know how to get rid of it. It floats in the
middle of my screen and is about 4-1/2 inches long and 3/8" high on a screen
set to 1028x768. It has the following buttons: Home, Links, News, Games,
Music. It has a blank space next and a green search button. When I hit
"Home," it goes to http://www.active-max.com. When I click on "News" it goes
to http://www.cnn.com. There is a small white "x" on a green background in
the upper left corner. When clicked, it turns into a small white "x" on a
red background. Another click finally makes the toolbar disappear.

Does anybody know what this is and how to get rid of it?

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Bill Edelstein
Schenectady, NY

 

[David Hollway [MVP]]

Every time I log in to Windows XP on my laptop computer, I get a toolbar
that I do not want and I don't know how to get rid of it. It floats in the
middle of my screen and is about 4-1/2 inches long and 3/8" high on a screen
set to 1028x768. It has the following buttons: Home, Links, News, Games,
Music. It has a blank space next and a green search button. When I hit
"Home," it goes to http://www.active-max.com. When I click on "News" it goes
to http://www.cnn.com. There is a small white "x" on a green background in
the upper left corner. When clicked, it turns into a small white "x" on a
red background. Another click finally makes the toolbar disappear.

Does anybody know what this is and how to get rid of it?

Bill,

It could well be spyware - software installed "by accident", usually by
piggybacking on some other software you've downloaded. For example, many
"free" apps ("Internet Accelerators", "Keep Your PC Clock Accurate", etc)
come with such software, and apart from a few clauses in the long and
unreadable EULA they give no indication that they're installing nasty stuff.
Try downloading Spybot Search & Destroy from http://security.kolla.de, and
scanning your system with it. Spybot does for spyware what an antivirus
program does for viruses.

Hope this helps..

 

[William Edelstein]

Bill,

It could well be spyware - software installed "by accident", usually by
piggybacking on some other software you've downloaded. For example, many
"free" apps ("Internet Accelerators", "Keep Your PC Clock Accurate", etc)
come with such software, and apart from a few clauses in the long and
unreadable EULA they give no indication that they're installing nasty stuff.
Try downloading Spybot Search & Destroy from http://security.kolla.de, and
scanning your system with it. Spybot does for spyware what an antivirus
program does for viruses.

Hope this helps..

David,

Thanks for your suggestion. I had already used SpyBot without success. I did
find a reference to this problem at
http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=9725. The instructions
are rather complicated, however. I also have an extra toolbar on IE which is
labeled "hstdrdroarj" in the "View Toolbars" menu. No, I am not kidding, nor
do I know how to remove it.

I am relatively good at computers for a non-computer science person and am
being stretched beyond my limits in terms of taking care of my computing
environment. Actually, I have two desktop PCs which are OK. I use SpyBot on
them and ZoneAlarm as a firewall. However, given all the threats--viruses,
worms, trojan horses, and now spyware--it is clear that much better and
simpler security is needed.

Thanks again, and more ideas are always welcome.

Bill Edelstein
Schenectady, NY

 

[roger]

Hi William,

Download the utility CWshredder:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip

Unzip - close *all* instances of IE & OE, hit the executable and
follow
the prompts.

You can also download Hijack This from here:

http://www.mjc1.com/files/merijn/hijackthis.exe

Go here:
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/

For instructions on how to use it; you have to post the log it
produces so experts tell you what is good and what is malware


Try downloading, installing and updating the
spyware removers from the links below. Run both of them.

Ad-aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Spybot S&D
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?lang=en&page=download


If these don't correct the problem, then get yourself a copy of
BHODemon, available at
http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm .

It does not need installing - simply unzip and run the EXE program. It
is easy to use. It will find the hijackware DLL files, and give you
the ability to disable them.

Good luck, hope this helps.

..