Corey

iTrader: (1)

Ditto on Firefox.
I do not use IE 8 except for the updates for Windows.
I also check manually instead of having it on auto update.

new files come out the 2nd Tuesday of each month, and I check on that Tuesday.

I use to run Spybot S&D a few years back, but now I run another paid app.
The name skips me, but it updates daily as does the paid version of AVG.

mt_goat

Ok you guys conviced me on Firefox, I'll start trying to organize these favorites. Maybe if I use folders it will go faster. They could use organizing anyway so I might as well make lemon aid out of the lemons.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

With Firefox make sure you install this too.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

mt_goat

Done, thanks

Richjrosa

OK one I can finally help with. I work IT and we've seen many variants of these little buggers. The reason the virus products Norton etc can't stop these is because they aren't viruses or really malware in the traditional sense. Usually most users have admin rights associated with their accounts and while surfing they get some sort of pop up that says something like your computer is infected blah blah blah. At this point the best thing to do is hold the power button in on your PC and power it off. Nothing has been infected yet.. IF however you try and close the pop up or click ok then it installs a nasty little malware program and is almost impossible to fix. I've been able to remove it but usually a clean rebuild is the way to go. I'd recomment backing up anything in this location C:\Documents and Settings\(your username) if you copy your entire profile you won't miss anything it contains your pictures document desktop favorites etc etc etc... I'd also recomment an external drive to save it to so you don't accidently format the drive containg the backed up data when you reinstall the OS.

If you guys have any other questions let me know..

mt_goat

Great tips, thanks!

Was this advice for me, or just generally for others that may get this problem. In other words, do you think the Hitman Pro didn't take care of it for me? All seems good now in my case.

Richjrosa

You can try and stay with your current build and see what happens. I generally like to think of spyware and malware as ivy on an old brick building. When you tear it off it takes chunks of the brick and mortar with it or computer code. It's always safer and more reliable to reload from scratch but if you're happy with it then so be it. You can always reload later but I'd back up the location I mentioned just in case. Either way you'd know if you were having pop up issues or redirect problems. The only other thing that's a little scary is if you have malware or spyware that monitors and sends out personal data without any symptoms. I usually think once it's been infected it's safer to reload and protect it with antivirus and spyware protection. I hear the new trendmicro is pretty good stuff for both spyware and virus protect. I usually use what ever we have at work cause I get it for free but it's also easy for me to rebuild my stuff.

mt_goat

Ok, good points! Thanks

mt_goat

Just an update, all is good, no sign of the monster and its running like new. Pro Hitman worked!!! I can't believe how fast it boots up and shuts down now, especially shutting down that was so slow before. All scans come back clean, spybot, ad-aware, McAfee, Malwarebytes, etc...

Mr softie has a huge (10 parts) security update available now, I just loaded it yesterday. That's in addition to the one they had a couple weeks ago.

I really like Mozilla Firefox now, it does auto spell check in posts!

92 TOY

I'm posting this link wherever appropriate because he did me good by fixing my fubar'd computer https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f39/...repair-204596/

mt_goat

Found some interesting info here: http://www.orangepower.com/showthread.php?t=90071

One quote:
BTW my computer is still running like new, no problems.

okie81

Internet Explorer has really made a comeback. Everyone who jumped off the wagon a few years back (and rightfully so) should take another look at IE8 nowadays.