What th'...??

[DanG]

When I got on the 'puter a few minutes ago, I noticed there were 8 new icons on my desktop. Then, when I connected and pulled up IE, I went to a strange page instead of FF. Then I went to "favorites," and there were twice as many as before.

Nobody has been here to mess with my stuff, so it had to have happened through the phone connection.  I know, I know, just last week I warned everybody about not leaving the 'puter connected to the phone line. :-[   Doesn't seem to be anything bad, just some ads for gambling, credit, sex, and such, but it gripes my butt to think that they think they own my computer! >:(

[isawlogs]

DanG
  I guess what your saying is .... do like I say and not like I do   ;)
  

[Duane_Moore]

 ;D ;D ;DGambling, Credit, SEX, why just ya give them Bad boys my e-mail address,   Duh---Duane ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[DanG]

Stand by, Duane!  They're on the way!!  ;D

[redpowerd]

locks on the doors?
im offerin a free acre of peace in the woods.....no takers?
good

[etat]

 DanG, make sure they didn't mess with your internet service provider, try to change it over to a different phone co.  I had a friend that somehow had that happen to him.  He wound up with a heck of a bill, and had a heck of a time gettin it straightened out. Just a thought.

[Ianab]

Browser hijack  :(
There was a thread a while back with some info on software to check for and correct this sort of rubbish.. I'll see if I can find it.
Can be a mission to dig that stuff out of ya system once it's got it's hooks in

Be very carefull about what you click on or agree to download, they ARE out to get ya.

[old3dogg]

DanG.
You have been nailed with spy ware.It is a son of a gun to get rid of.Try www.spybot.com.They have a program to get rid of this stuff.It isnt full proof though.I had to re format my hard drive on tuesday because I had it so bad.
What version of windows are you using?If it is XP than reformating is pretty easy.
Hope this helps.
Mike.

[tawilson]

http://www.mlin.net/StartupMonitor.shtml
Startup Monitor, a free program that has saved me a few headaches, and probably a few phone bills too.

[pasbuild]

Check out ZONE ALARM PRO you can customize it for your needs, stops all unwanted access to your puter.
I think its a free download.

[Norm]

All good advice, spybot is good try adware from lavasoft too. Gets some that spybot won't.

[Ron Wenrich]

I had that happen a few weeks ago.  It comes in bundles and also gives you an extra task bar.  Some of these I couldn't get rid of.  Usually, you can't do anything to them when they are running.  They attach to your startup menu.  

I used Ad-Aware, and McAfee to help weed them out.  I figure I got it when I had my privacy settings down.  With the privacy up, I've never had any problems.

They are also sending back info on your computer.  McAfee alerts me when a program wants to connect to another site.  I looked at the sites to see what they were.  Most are data miners.  They say they don't take your personal data, but I wouldn't trust them.

[DanG]

Thanx for the info, guys.  I'm about to launch northwards for the Masters, and will be gone for over a week. I'll just unplug and deal with it when I return.

For those who don't know, I work at the Masters golf tournament, every year. It's a great gig, and a good change of pace. I'm leaving about this time tomorrow, and will return on Mon. of the following week. Sawdust withdrawal is expected. :-/

[etat]

It never ceases to amaze me some of the things some of the forrum members are into.  I hope you have a safe trip, beautiful weather, and a lot of fun!!!  

[DanG]

Thanks, CK. I'll say hi to Arnie and Tiger for you.

[Ga_Boy]

DanD,

Don't fer git your golf bats. :D :D

[rebocardo]

Actually, you probably were already infected. It waited until the line was connected AND you were not using the computer. Then at 4:00 am it dialed somewhere. I would watch my phone bill for some long distance charges. You might have been used for a zombie attack, you might have key logging software installed now too.

Best thing is to write down and save any data then format the drive and reinstall the OS. Then install virus software.

[Rocky_J]

Woah, hold on there before you go listening to people telling you to delete everything on your computer when you haven't even isolated the problem yet! The first order of business is to identify and isolate the spyware on your system. Then remove the offending code. The only reason to reformat your system is if your system is no longer functional enough to clean it up (you can't keep the system up long enough to delete the virus).

you need to consult with a computer specialist first, before taking the advice of us chainsaw freaks and reformatting your OS.

[Ianab]

Yeah... format and reload the system is your LAST resort. Most virus / scumware / hijacks can be surgically removed. If the ad-aware and/or spybot wont clean it up, it's probably because you have a new flavour of scumware they they dont recognise yet.
I am a computer specialist as my day job and have to clean this sort of mess up pretty regularly. I'm only a chainsaw freak at the weekends  :D But there are so many different varieties of this stuff it's hard to give specific advise. Try the spyware programs first, and/or pay for an hour of a good techies time. Unless your system has been really trashed it can usually be cleaned up.
Ian

[oldsaw-addict]

Hey Ididnt know you were a PC tech lanab, I could use your skill on mine sometime. I had a pc a while back that had all kinds of popup ads and other things for lack of another appropriate word, that would come up at the most inopportune times, naughty sites, refinance this or that sites, viagra,pretty much anything and everything you can think of I got a popup for it once or twice, then I just got really sick of it because I HAD ad-aware and it wasnt getting it out for me, so I had to do a Format C: on the whole hard drive, thank god I have a better PC now that can actually work and keep this crap off, although I also get email every 30 minutes or so for just about everything you can imagine thats legal, plus some fools trying to scam others once in a while, they just get a well written and rather nasty/profane reply then I dont hear from them for a while. I even get attachments containing viruses galore by the barrelfull. you name it I'll bet I've recieved an email for it at one time or another. Its so bad that I have 3 separate email accounts, one for forum replies/business, another devoted to originally business and other things, now mostly spam mail, and a third for ebay related things ONLY I dont even let ANYONE know that address unless I know the person well IRL.  The main thing is that I only have so much space then I run out of room for more crap to come in. Its a failsafe in a way, I cant take in more than 4MB of spam mail which means that I can delete the messages before the next wave of spam comes in.

[Jim_Rogers]

After reading the above problems of stuff being added to the desktop and favorites, I downloaded some spyware from the link provided.
I don't leave my computer on, online as I'm on dial up and they kick me off when I'm not using the net.
But I have had adware from before and run that pretty regularly, and so I've been wanting the spyware stuff for a while.
So I got it and ran it.
It found four programs and 45 cookies on my machine. I reviewed the cookie list and deleted the ones that were trash. I did recognize some cookies as stuff I felt I needed for other programs to recognize me, so I left them on.
It was kind of interesting to see just how much stuff got in without me knowing about it.
I hope all will be well now.
Jim

[old3dogg]

I also use a different email for signing up for stuff or what not.
You can get them most anywhere nowdays.
And if you do ever have to reformat your pc be careful when backing up files on a floppy or cd.You can back up what ever it is that is giving you trouble.
Adding a "pop up killer" is a good idea too.
Mike.