Date: 04/25/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: virus, web, spyware

So awhile back my computer was running super slowly, so I got a virus/antispyware program, ran it, and wiped out all the spyware and crap. Then, after that, my internet stopped working, so I tried several things which didn't work. I assumed that when the spyware was deleted, it also deleted an important file that the spyware was attached to, so I reinstalled windows. However, it's still not working, but it's acting differently than before I reinstalled windows. Before that, it was acting as if there was no connection at all. Now, it's saying that there's a connection detected, and it starts counting the time it's "connected." However, when I try going to a website, it doesn't work.

One more thing. When I plug in the wire to connect to the internet, the green and yellow light are on. And I have DSL.

Does anyone have suggestions?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/915782.html

Date: 04/26/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: software, browser, virus, antivirus, spyware

     I have a C3500 averatec. It's been crawling lately, and I can't figure out exactly why..
     I've been taking good care of the laptop since I knew there would be no free legitimate way I could reinstall windows XP tablet onto this machine (no CDs came with the laptop, or so I remember.) But nonetheless the laptop is getting a little bit more unbearable everyday:

The computer starts to crawl randomly if I copy and paste something big (such as a photoshop file, lengthy amounts of text, or sometimes even screenshots). Sometimes it recovers, sometimes it doesn't. It used to recover all the time. I can use it normally, but nowadays I seem to be shutting it off by holding down the power button because the laptop becomes very very slow to repond, rather than shutting it off properly.

The laptop usualy starts to crawl after 4~5 hours of use, which consists mainly of firefox, trillian, and ultraedit(text editor). Once in a while I also play a 3D game called RagnarokOnline and use photoshop to draw stuff. Gaming or using photoshop doesn't effect when the laptop gets sluggy - it seems to be kind of random. I didn't install any file sharing programs on the laptop except bittorrent original.

I scanned for spyware and ad-ware using spybot, ad-aware, and I ran hijackthis to make sure no strange browser help objects were installed. Nothing.

I also checked in windows registry to make sure only what was needed was running and made sure nothing else was starting up when windows starts through msconfig. Nothing suspicious there..

I also removed everything but two shortcuts (antivirus and a gamma correction software written by adobe) in the Startup folder in the start menu.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling firefox since at first the computer was freezing up mostly when I was leaving firefox open for long periods of time, but later I realised that it was freezing equally as much when I'd try to use a file browser to look at what files I have in a folder. I tried turning file indexing back on hoping that would help explorer list files faster, but so far I don't feel any difference.

I've spend the past few weekends checking for errors on the hard disk and defragmenting the data on it. Currently 20GB out of the 74.5GB available is empty. Defragging didn't lessen the crashes, and no errors were reported from disk error checking. I used the disk checker and disk defrager that was included with windows XP to do these tasks.

Usually when the laptop crawls, the hard disk light goes blink.. blink.. blink.. and all buttons become unresponsive. The curser usually still moves, but the momement will be jerky. The screen stops responding to clicking, and then once in a while it lets out angry long beeps as if I clicked the desktop 100 times in 2 seconds.

The laptop used to have a overheating problem but now that I open it up once  a season to clean out the innards, the heat problem is almost gone. The laptop still gets burning hot during gaming, so I try not to game for more than 15 minutes at a time.

The laptop is about 10 months old. I dropped a few times and have a corner chipped, but nothing seemed to be wrong with it right after the drops. The specs are kind of like this:

I thought the RAM amount was 512MB, but it shows up as 480MB.. I'm puzzled.
Maybe it was always like this.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/916615.html

Date: 04/30/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: software, virus, antivirus, spyware

I go into the BIOS, set them to defaults, no change.  I then boot into the new HDD and go into disk management, and see this:

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/918594.html

Date: 05/05/06 (Security)    Keywords: spyware

FTC wraps up case against Sanford Wallace with $4 million judgment and puts a halt for now to alleged spyware source Odysseus Marketing.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6068794.html

Date: 05/06/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: virus, spyware

does anyone know of a program that will get rid of Spyware Quake?
I got hit with it the other day and have been having a horrible time trying to rid my computer of it.
I've had some programs find parts of it, but it still has a flashing virus alert on my taskbar to try and get me to buy their program.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/625625.html

Date: 05/08/06 (Security)    Keywords: software, spyware

Windows XP successor to largely eliminate need to run separate anti-spyware or firewall software, analyst report says.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6069464.html

Date: 05/16/06 (Security)    Keywords: spyware, google

Free Scandoo service tags results of Google and other online searches to help fend off spyware and unwelcome content.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6072478.html

Date: 05/16/06 (Security)    Keywords: software, virus, antivirus, spyware

Companies may have the best antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall software, but that hasn't stopped rise in spyware.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6072948.html

Date: 05/30/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: virus, spyware

I currently have extremely large amounts of spyware on my laptop at the minute.
Nearly every thirty seconds, this pops up.



When I click it, it directs me to SpyFalcon.
Which is just a pain in the ass, and has slowed my computer down.

My laptop has ultimately no protection from viruses, spyware, adware, etc.
And it's been fine for well over a year--until now.

So I downloaded Ad-Aware SE--because I was told it was free, and worked pretty well.
However, it did nothing.

ARE there any free reliable programs that can be downloaded to remove this, as well as other possible threats I'll have in the future. Also, if I end up purchasing a program, what is the best choice?

I appreciate any help given.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/928807.html

Date: 06/26/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: virus, spyware

This is the most annoying problem.. EVAR I am so desperate to fix this problem, I'm going to describe every last detail of this problem.. and evvery detail I can provide about my computer. We are working with:

Windows XP on a..
2.53Ghz Pentium 4 Processor
1GB DDR RAM
260GB hard drive space
128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Video Card
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
If you need anymore specs, let me know...

Heres the problem. I used to be able to make music videos, and any kind of videos in Windows Movie Maker, perfectly fine. I mean, WMM would freeze every once in a while, but I heard that that was common.

NOW... for the past few months... I can not do ANYTHING in ANY video editor. I've tried Premiere, Ulead Video Studio, Movie Maker, and countless others. They all do the SAME thing... I just get a Windows error message, and it closes.

In Movie Maker, it is whenever I try to play the movie I have already created... in the others, it is pretty much any random time.

I have tried downloading all the codecs I've been recommended.. I've downloaded updates.. I've reinstalled the programs.. I went to Control Panel, Sound and Audio Devices, Hardware, Codecs and erased them and reinstalled them.

NOTHING works. I have no viruses, no spyware or anything like that that is doing this.

Please.... does anyone have ANY idea what could be doing this??? Just ask if you need anymore info... I really want to find out what is wrong... I have tried searching EVERYWHERE... and I've tried a hundred things to no avail.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/941724.html

Date: 06/27/06 (Security)    Keywords: database, spyware

The agency tells ICANN that the domain databases are critical to its fight against spyware and other Internet fraud.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6088651.html

Date: 06/29/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: virus, spyware

Relevant parts:
Mustang 350W ATX power supply
Albatron PX915G PRO
Pentium 4 2.66GHz 550FSB Prescott core

I'd list the drives but the computer can't even get that far, so I can't see that it matters.

What happened:
We had a bunch of storms last week, and while I did my best to be careful and unplug things, there were a couple of surprise storms while I was stuck at work. Last Tuesday, the 20th, I was in the middle of working on a spreadsheet when the whole thing shut down and rebooted itself. It was fine for the rest of the day, so I sort of went, "Wow, that was bizarre," and then forgot about it... until Wednesday, when it did it again. It proceeded to get progressively worse, rebooting more often, and the last few times it did reboot, it took three or four tries just to boot the BIOS. Saturday night I tried to turn it on when I got home from work, and it wouldn't boot at all.

What I did:
When it was still just randomly rebooting, I ran Ad Aware and Spyware Blaster repeatedly, thinking that I had some kind of spyware or virus. When it started having difficulty booting anything at all, I decided it had to be a hardware issue, and probably not HD related since it sometimes couldn't do anything before it would have to start over and try again. I wondered aloud to a somewhat-hardware-savvy friend at work about whether the mobo could have gotten fried, and he said that when his own was hit once, it was completely dead, whereas on mine the fans and lights and junk like that all come on. We concluded that it might be the CPU that got fried. Replaced that today... and... nothing. Did some more Googling and forum-reading, and I finally realized that it's probably the power supply, which I had previously stupidly ruled out just because some stuff was running and was, therefore, getting power. I've never had one fail on me and I didn't know that they were capable of partially working. But then I read this:

"When the actual power supply fails, it can exhibit a number of symptoms. You could experience crashes, data corruption, or hardware failure. Another thing that could happen is that when you turn on your PC, the lights and fans come on, but it doesn't boot, because the BIOS cannot verify a sufficient and consistent power flow is established before it continues the Power On Self Test (POST) and the boot process."

which is from http://www.PCNineOneOne.com

I've also read in several places that the power supply is the most common thing to go out after an electrical surge. So at this point I'm convinced that the power supply is bad. Basically I'd just like some other, more informed opinions, because several hours ago I was convinced that the CPU was bad. I'd take the supply somewhere to get tested except that anywhere I can go will probably charge me more than the damn thing is worth, so... Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/943217.html

Date: 06/30/06 (Java Web)    Keywords: spyware, microsoft

A computer user, Los Angeles resident Brian Johnson, is suing Microsoft Corp. over the company’s Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy tool, alleging that it violates laws against spyware. The suit was filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle (court documents). It seeks class-action status for claims that Microsoft didn’t adequately disclose details of the tool [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/microsoft-sued-over-windows-genuine-advantage-spyware-seeks-class-action-status/

Date: 07/03/06 (Mozilla)    Keywords: software, html, web, spyware, microsoft

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/276185_software03.html

Q: Microsoft essentially allowed Internet Explorer to go dormant for several years, until Firefox started coming along and chipping away at its market share. What do you think about that, and what does that say about the state of competition?

Ross: That makes me furious, to be completely honest with you. That, more than anything, is why we really had to start Firefox in the first place.[...]

The truth is I think Microsoft is very directly responsible for spyware and adware and the pop-up ads in general that proliferated across the Web after they abandoned their product [Internet Explorer]. I mean, this is the world's most-used software application ever ... and I just think it's irresponsible for a company to abandon it simply because they can't find a financial incentive to continue development on it.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/mozilla/369128.html

Date: 07/08/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: spyware

My computer is infected with BraveSentry spyware. I have no clue where it came from. Ad-aware won't find it and remove it so after some searching online I tried SpyHunter. The free trial scan of SpyHunter showed BraveSentry in several places. I purchased the full version so that I could remove the spyware. Now SpyHunter won't find it at all, but BraveSentry is still on my computer. Any ideas on how to get rid of this?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/651443.html

Date: 07/11/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: virus, spyware

About every thirty seconds or so, my computer will "snag" (not exactly freeze, but anything typed will not show up for several seconds, the screen will not scroll, I am unable to click links, etc. etc.) for about three to five seconds at a time. I've done a SpyBot scan and updated that, and immunized my computer, and also did an Ewido scan as well, thinking it was some sort of weird virus/spyware thing, but it's still "snagging" and it's really starting to drive me crazy. Any advice?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/652400.html

Date: 07/18/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: virus, antivirus, spyware

I've been experiencing some issues with Windows XP's shutting down process, whenever I shut down the computer from the desktop, it takes longer than normal to do so. What happens is this-- I go to the Start menu, select "Turn Off Computer", then I choose "Shut Down", and then the computer does the normal process of shutting down, closing whatever was in the background-- usually not very many programs running in the background (I think), but then for a minute or so, it goes through this process where it doesn't do anything-- I can still move the mouse around and still use menus, programs, as if I'm normally using Windows. However, it does eventually go to the screen where you see the logging off/saving your settings/Windows is shutting down messages, but even on that screen it still seems like it's not doing anything, but then it does eventually shut down. Before this happened, it never was this slow. Is there anything I can do to correct this problem? Everything else in Windows runs fine, the startup process is fine but the shut down process has me concerned. I've checked for spyware and viruses, but nothing's come up when I ran Norton AntiVirus.

If anyone can assist me with this problem, I'd appreciate it.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/657341.html

Date: 07/18/06 (Java Web)    Keywords: spyware, microsoft

As you know two class action lawsuits have been filed in US against Microsoft which alleges Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Tool is a spyware. Is WGA really a spyware? Let’s take a look from different angles. “WGA was indistinguishable from other seedy spyware firms in the Caribbean that steal data off your PC without proper permissions,” [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/is-microsoft-windows-genuine-advantage-spyware/

Date: 07/18/06 (Java Web)    Keywords: spyware, microsoft

Another lawsuit has been filed, in U.S. District Court in Seattle, against Microsoft over Windows Genuine Advantage, alleging that the anti-piracy tool is spyware. It was filed on behalf of two Washington state businesses and three Seattle-area residents. It seeks class-action status like the earlier lawsuit. The latest complaint questions the tool’s accuracy in determining whether [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/microsoft-windows-genuine-advantage-alleged-spyware-in-another-class-action-lawsuit/

Date: 07/20/06 (Java Web)    Keywords: security, web, spyware, microsoft

Millions of visitors to Myspace.com and other web sites have been infected with spyware by a banner advertisement according to iDefense, a Verisign company. iDefense, an Internet security company owned by Verisign, said the spyware infects unpatched versions of Windows using a security flaw in the way the operating system and Microsoft Internet Explorer open Windows [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/myspace-banner-ad-spreads-spyware/