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We recognize that the
decision to buy a spyware remover program you is entirely yours.
Choose the spyware removal tool from the top
spyware remover programs list that best suits your needs and budget.
FOR ALL ZANGO AND
180SOLUTIONS INFECTED COMPUTERS!
Zango
- Remove and delete the most
common and most invasive parasite of the day from 180 Solutions - Many
spyware removal programs detect it but can't get rid of it. AdAware
doesn't even detect it at all (at the latest news anyway) and Spybot
detects it but doesn't remove it. Two
programs detect, remove and block it from ever being downloaded again.
Regblock
XCleaner
Zango manual removal
instructions
Zango
manual removal instructions straight
from the 180Solutions horse's mouth! Please allow time for the page
to load as they are screenshots from a discussion board where a
representative from 180Solutions posted these Zango manual removal instructions.
PLEASE do NOT attempt to remove anything from your registry if you
don't know what you're doing!! As
many, many people have complained, trying to delete or uninstalling Zango with the
add/remove program will most likely cause your computer to freeze up and
it will not work. If you are successful in removing it, don't blink,
because Zango comes right back when you're not looking! The
add/remove option does NOT get rid of Zango! There will still be
many files left behind and the program has a tendency to reinstall itself
as soon as you uninstall it.
Can you REALLY
remove 180Solutions spyware on your own?
It is a very difficult task to find and remove these spyware programs when
you don't know where to look. 180solutions has more than one spyware
program (n case, Zango, search assistant, metrics direct) and they all
tend to bring their "friends" along in your computer. Ben
Edelman, spyware expert, says "180 sometimes uses randomized
filenames which make its files unusually difficult to locate. 180 also
installs itself into multiple directories -- sometimes c:\Program
Files\180solutions (or similar), but sometimes into the root of c:\Program
Files and sometimes directly into a user's Windows directory. If users do
manage to find and delete some 180 files, another 180 program often pops
up to request reinstallation. If these tricks don't constitute hiding, I
don't know what does."
SPYWARE
IN THE NEWS!
MONEY TALKS!
All
Lavasoft AdAware supporters - this is a MUST Read! XBlock
remain true to their word to fight spyware!
Ever bought anti-spyware program from Aluria? Uh oh...
- Aluria's partnership
with WhenU -
COAST anti-spyware consortium collapses -
because of the inclusion of 180solutions? Seattle Post
180Solutions
joins COAST anti-spyware, Press Arrivenet
To COAST or not to COAST, that is the question - Wayne Porter, CEO XBlock
180 Talks a big
talk but doesn't deliver, Ben Edelman
Is COAST trustable? Ben says: "For a fee, COAST is
certifying controversial providers of allegedly-unwanted software,
dramatically complicating the role and duties of COAST and its members.
COAST staff are providing favorable quotes in 180 press releases. Who can
users trust? 180's endorsement by COAST is particularly puzzling and
particularly worrisome due to 180's many bad business
practices." Money always talks!!!
What will you
find on this page?
Before you can protect yourself
against internet threats, it is important that you understand what they
are and what they do. Each one has a specific purpose and there is
no one program that protects against them all. Learn
the definition of
each term and how each one affects
you and/or your computer, how to get rid of them, and how to protect
yourself from future infections.
Recommended adware and spyware blockers
these are especially helpful if you spend a considerable amount of time
online, if you belong to paid to read email programs (read my
"adventure" with CoolWebSearch and
SendMoreInfo), if you use any type of click for hits program (I love
Clicks, Clicks4U, etc.) and/or if you have children who like to download free
games, free music, free anything - or if you browse "adult"
websites on a regular basis. Not only do these programs detect and remove
spyware, they also BLOCK
it from being downloaded in the future. See the link below for spyware and
adware blocked by these programs. Truly one of the best investments you'll ever
make online!
Spyware,
adware and malware
blocked by Regblock and XCleaner
Introduction
Zango and all 180Solutions spyware detection, removal and
protection against future illegal downloads
adware
browser helper objects (BHO)
dialers
keyloggers
phishing emails
spyware
trojan horses THE most dangerous
threat! - commonly installed via spyware
viruses
Where do they pop up?
Are
cookies spyware?
How
do they get into your computer?
Examples of parasites - learn to
recognize them by name
Signs that you're
infected with one or more spyware applications
How do you remove them and protect
yourself against future infections?
Why we don't
recommend free removers anymore
Kewlbox.com - free game downloads
I received an email today (November 16, 2004) from Jason McMinn, Director
of technology of Blackdot (whatever they have to do with Kewlbox), who
proclaims that Kewlbox games have never triggered the download of Zango.
However, I know for a fact that Santa Balls had Zango tag along for the
download at some point. There was a screenshot of the Zango download
with that game which was posted on a discussion board in
this thread. I am willing to give Jason McMinn the benefit of
the doubt and take his word for now that Kewlbox has cleaned up its act
and no longer "promotes" any spyware with their games. IF
anyone ever downloads a game from now on at Kewlbox and ends up with
spyware, please email me and
let me know right away.
So, what are all these threats and why should you be concerned?
Many companies are filing lawsuits against several spyware
and adware corporations and the advertisers that use them.
Search engines - Google and Yahoo - are now taking strong stands against
these threats. Google has already banned adware and spyware companies from being
listed in their search engine, while Yahoo is in the process of adding a
spyware remover to their search engine for their searchers. ExactSeek has
partnered with a well known, and in my opinion the best of the best,
spyware remover to provide additional security to their
searchers.
There
are many internet threats, and it's important to know and understand the
difference so you can protect yourself accordingly. Some terms are classified as spyware when
they are completely harmless, such as the majority of cookies. Other
programs can help malicious people steal
your personal information, such as credit card numbers or passwords, some
can harm your computer and cause it to malfunction, other programs send
information "home" regarding your surfing habits and
there are programs that record your every keystroke.
The biggest complaint people have is that these programs install
themselves on your computer without your knowledge. Many come as a
bundled package with free software that you downloaded. Thinking that you are
downloading a cool program, you could end up with several more on your
computer that you don't know about, all from the same source. Never,
ever download free software from sources that you don't know, or from
newsgroups, discussion boards, people you meet in chat rooms, unless it
is people that you know well and trust.
Many of the terms associated with these programs mean the same thing, or one threat can also be another
threat at the same time. It can get quite confusing.
The term "parasite" has
become quite popular and is now widely used. It basically describes
ALL forms of internet threats that come as software programs, wanted or
unwanted.
Top
Definitions of
internet threats and what they do
Adware: Bombards you with unwanted advertising. Adware is an application, or a program, installed on your computer, with
or without your consent or knowledge. See spyware below. Its purpose is to monitor your
surfing so they can send you ads - pop ups, pop under, or top, bottom or
side scrolling - when you visit websites and they want to show you their
own advertisers rather than the site you're visiting. This
especially important to people like myself who work online and whose
income derives entirely from their internet marketing activities.
Adware / spyware will add and/or overwrite advertising links and cookies to web pages,
and redirect the sale and/or referral tracking code to a totally different
website or affiliate. This means that although you may have visited
this website and bought something while you were here, if your computer is
infected with spyware and you got a pop up ad while you were browsing the
site, the credit for your purchase will go to the person who used spyware
to generate the pop up ad, even if you never click on it. Everyone who
tries to make an honest living on the internet is affected by adware and
spyware.
Top
Spyware: Any type of software that installs itself on your
computer without your knowledge or permission with the purpose of
recording your internet surfing habits and/or collecting personal
information on you. Programs that monitor your surfing habits online
and send this information "home" without your knowledge or
permission. Many adware and BHO and all trojan horses also fall into
this category. These programs are called spyware because they
normally come bundled as a package with another free software program that
you downloaded but were never told you about the spyware that came with
it. Or you simply got infected with the spyware program through
illegal drive-by downloads while you were surfing. This means that a
website that has malicious codes inserted, invisible to you and
undetectable when downloading, installed itself on your computer
without your permission and knowledge. This is how most people get
infected with spyware. You could also receive an email that tells
you click here for this or that and when you do, the site has nothing to
offer that is related to the email. When that happens, you just got
infected with spyware, and in many cases a trojan horse, which is the most
malicious of them all.
Top
Home page hijackers: changes your browser start page without
any intervention from you and redirects you to a page of their choice
(often pornographic) and will prevent you from changing your settings back
to what they were. It can also add one or more toolbars, and when
you try to do a search via your favorite search engine, it will take you
to a totally different page. Very annoying! Example:
CoolWebSearch.
Top
Dialers: Mostly associated with adult and porn content, can
also be used in conjunction with or downloaded from other websites that
would benefit from such a program. A GOOD spyware BLOCKER,
not remover, will protect you against many of these illegal installations.
Top
Browser Helper Objects - BHO: These programs allow to
customize and control Internet Explorer and many will install new
toolbars. A BHO will run every time your start your browser and will
record all the events of your browsing session: every website you
visit, how long you stay, how many pages you viewed, etc. until you close
your browser or shut your computer off. When you reboot your
computer or restart your browser, the BHO comes along for the ride
again! Some browser helper objects are legitimate, but they are few
and far in between. Most are common spyware. BHOs are not
stopped by personal firewalls, because they are seen by the firewall as
your browser itself. Some exploits of this technology search all pages you
view in IE and replace banner advertisements with other ads. Some monitor
and report on your actions. Some change your home page.
The main purpose of BHO, or so they claim, is to help you browse the
internet more efficiently. A lot of these applications are poorly
developed and can cause system instability, they often conflict with other
applications, they can cause your browser to crash regularly, and corrupt
important parts of your computer. In other words, they do the
opposite of what they are supposed to do. The programmers of spyware
and BHO don't care about you or your computer. To them, it's only a
means that justifies the end. Some companies go out of their way to
hide the presence of the BHOs that they install on your computer. They go so far as
to find ways around the most popular spyware removal tools by changing
their software regularly, sometimes just enough to avoid detection until
the next version of the spyware remover comes out.
Top
Virus: Program that replicates itself normally through
email. It comes as an email attachment with the virus code in the
attachment that you download. Most viruses are harmless to you and
your computer, although some can be quite destructive such as erasing your
hard drive and deleting/renaming files on your computer. A virus
also sends itself to your contacts in your email address book, often
attaching a file from your own computer to the email which includes the
virus code; so when recipients open the attachment they also become
infected with the virus. The attached file varies obviously from one
sender to another, and the subject of the email is rarely the same.
It can be anything, but is normally just a line or two of text.
Nothing personal, it doesn't use your name and there is no
signature. A good antivirus program that you update regularly will
protect you against infections. NEVER, EVER download
email attachment from people you don't know, and even from friends and
family unless you KNOW it's coming and you EXPECT the attachment in the
email. If a friend or relative is infected with a virus and they
don't know, your email address is most likely in their contacts so you'll
be a prime victim for the virus to spread to you.
Top
Keyloggers: a spyware program, generally a trojan horse, that installs itself without
your permission and records your every stroke. Some can be found in
the task manager, but most are stealth programs that are totally invisible
to you. You don't know you have them, you don't see them, you can't
delete them. Many are pre-programmed for certain websites only, such as
paypal, banks, stormpay, or to record every time you type a password and
any type of numbers, such as credit or debit cards, bank accounts,
etc. Others just record everything and send the information
home. This can be done via a website which is pre-programmed in the
coding of the program, via email but you'd never know about it, or any
other way that the malicious recipient chooses to have the information
sent to them.
Top
Phishing: This is becoming a major threat for identity
theft. These are emails that seem to originate from a legitimate
website or company which tell you that there is a problem with your
account and you need to log in to confirm your information. They
often threaten to close and delete your account if you don't. BUT
when you click on the link, the page looks identical to the website you
expect, but if you look in your browser, the URL or website link is not
the official website link for that particular company. See example
of phishing email here.
Top
Trojan horse: the most dangerous threat of them all.
Unlike viruses, trojan horses do not replicate themselves, therefore, are
rarely considered viruses. A trojan horse is a malicious and
destructive program that usually enters your computer through an open port
(if you don't have a GOOD firewall
) or through security vulnerabilities of
Internet Explorer (Active X is a big culprit of this - more below on how
to protect yourself). It can also be downloaded, without your
knowledge, from special coding, invisible to you, inserted on a website
that you visit or as part of free internet computer games or other
software programs. Another way to get infected with a trojan horse
is to click on a link within an email that tells you to "click here
for whatever reason" and when you get to the site after clicking the
link, it is in no way related to what the email said. You most
likely just got infected with a trojan horse.
A trojan horse usually disguises itself as a useful and
innocent program which contains hidden codes that, when activated, can,
and usually do, take control of your computer. It renames legitimate files and
it's a stealth program, meaning that you would never know you have it on
your computer because it doesn't show up anywhere and uses legitimate
files that it renamed to camouflage itself. It doesn't slow down your connection, it doesn't make
your computer crash, it doesn't change your browser or settings, you can't
see it in the task manager (control - alt - delete) or remove/add
programs. It is completely invisible to you.
Hackers now regularly use trojan horses to get control of your
computer. It's much easier than hacking into it. Once the
trojan horse is activated, it is programmed to send all information to a
remote destination where the hacker is located. Without your
knowledge. This information is used to turn your computer into a
zombie and is pre-programmed to deliberately launch distributed denial of
service attacks (DOS or DDOS) which overload servers with millions,
sometimes billions of hits which in turn causes the servers to
crash. Yahoo and MSN have been targets of DOS attacks, so has my web
host a few times. It is quite common and it all comes from
unprotected computers.
Trojan horses are also used to spread spam around the world. The
majority of the spam we all receive every day is sent from zombie
computers owned by people who don't know that they are infected with a
trojan horse. Millions of spam emails can be sent within seconds by
using thousands of unsuspecting infected zombie computers. Your
computer could very well be used to launch DDOS attacks or send spam every
day and you would never know it.
How do you protect yourself against trojan horses?
The best protection is a good firewall
that will provide stealth protection and close all ports and will make
your computer totally invisible on the internet as if it didn't even exist
and won't answer any outside inquiries from other computers on the
internet. To know more about firewalls, visit the firewall
page.
The second best protection which is also a must have these days, is a good
spyware BLOCKER, not remover, program such as Regblock.
Free
Trojan
Horse Scan
You don't have to open an email attachment to be infected with a Trojan
horse. Just visiting malicious websites can easily put one on your
computer without your knowledge. Do you use click for hits
programs? Do you surf the web a lot and regularly? Do you
visit porn websites? If you answered yes to any of these
questions, you should really do this free test for peace of mind if
nothing else.
Free
Online
Port Scan
Don't have a firewall? Curious to know how vulnerable your
computer really is? Even if you already have a firewall, put it to
the test! See how well, or how little, protected you are
online. Hackers and lurkers regularly scan ports on your computer,
that's how many get in. See if your computer allows them in or if
the connection is refused. This is quite an eye opener!
Top
How do you get these
threats on your computer and what is Active X's role
Most spyware is downloaded through
drive-by downloads or comes bundled with free software programs. You
are totally unaware of its installation and what personal information it
will collect on you and your surfing habits.
Role of Active X
Many applications use a vulnerability in Internet Explorer and use Active
X to trigger the download. A basic way to avoid this in some cases
is to disable Active X controls (this will only work in Internet
Explorer):
Click on Tools at the top of your screen and then click on internet
options
In the next box, click on the Security tab - make sure the bar on the left
is set to "medium". If it's not, move it up until you
reach "medium". It is the default setting. You'll
see that with this setting, unsigned Active X controls will not be
downloaded. It will not protect you against all illegal
installations, but it will block some.
Beware of free
software download websites. If a website offers only free downloads
and there is no way for that website to make any money from paid versions,
the more likely these programs will be bundled with parasites and they
won't tell you about it. A well known website or company name you
recognize and think you can trust is often more at fault than a site
you've never heard of before because they have more to gain financially
from BHO and parasites. While you're downloading a program, keep an
eye on the files being downloaded and make sure only the program you want
is downloading. Although that is not foolproof because many BHO and
parasites won't allow you to see their actual downloads, some are not as
smart and you can spot them. Stop the download instantly!
It might be too late for some files that have already downloaded. If you don't know how to
uninstall programs and delete all files, Uninstaller
PRO 2004 can help you get rid of all unwanted stuff in your computer. They
have a free trial, take advantage of it! Clean up your computer of
unwanted stuff that you accumulated over time. If you're not sure what a
file is or what it does, keep it. Never delete anything if you're
not sure what it is. Write down the name of the file, then ask someone about it, do a
search on the file, try to figure out if it should be removed or
not. I use Advanced Uninstaller Pro 2004 myself and I do recommend it.
Just be careful what you delete.
Would you like to know
of some ways you might have picked up spyware? See how they do it
and what they think
about people who get infected...
Who's seeding the net with spyware?
Top
Signs that you're
infected with spyware, adware , BHO, or any other parasite
- Does your screen occasionally flicker?
- Does your screen
occasionally vibrate or shake for no apparent reason?
- Does your
computer crash more often than before? Illegal operations?
Fatal exceptions?
- Does your browser just close itself for no reason when trying to
view something?
- Does your computer reboot itself all by itself?
- Has your start page changed
without you changing it?
- Do you suddenly have a new toolbar and you don't know where it came from and how it
got there?
- Do you have new icons that you don't recognize, either on your desktop or
at the bottom right of your screen?
- Do you ever
see a quick light, like the flash of a camera, from a corner of your screen and brush it off as
"I must be dreaming" or you think it was something from
the room or even outside that you saw reflected on your screen?
- Do you get pop up ads, ads scrolling up from the bottom of your screen, or
scrolling down from the top or scrolling in from either side?
- Is your computer just acting weird, slower than normal?
- Do you type a link in your browser and it doesn't take you to the website
you want?
- When you do a search, does it take you to totally unrelated
websites through a different search engine than the one you used?
- Do you visit porn sites or buy prescription drugs online and all
of a sudden you're flooded with MORE spam related to it?
If you answered Yes to ANY of the above questions, you're infected
with one or more parasites. If you're getting the "camera
flash" on your screen or if your screen flickers, it's a BHO or parasite taking a picture of your
screen. You need to get rid of this beast as fast as you can! Some even
record your every keystroke. Did you just type a password or your credit
card number? Uh oh...!
Top
Where do
these adware/spyware programs pop
up?
Many pop up with affiliate programs, lead programs, and many merchant and
affiliate websites. If you're doing any type of business online, whether
you're recruiting for an affiliate program or trying to make retail sales,
selling and/or buying leads, or have your own website trying to sell
something, you're being robbed by parasites! Not only
companies use adware, spyware and parasites, many affiliates in affiliate marketing
and/or affiliates recruiting for an affiliate program engage their services to increase their income.
They don't have to do
anything to make money - people visit a website and up comes the ad
overwriting the original cookie replacing your cookie with the parasite
cookie and the "scum affiliate" who didn't lift a finger
is getting credit for the sale or referral thanks to the parasite,
leaving you to eat his dust although it was YOUR website and YOUR efforts,
and most likely YOUR money that triggered the action and YOU get nothing because the parasite stole
your sale or referral. I've seen many pop up for lead programs,
dating service affiliate programs, and other common internet
opportunities. If you're not making sales or getting referrals, this
could very well be a major reason why. What kills me is that many
merchants and networks reward these scumbags by calling them Super
Affiliates and give them huge bonuses that they don't deserve! It's
YOUR money that they're getting. Spyware programs don't have
websites of their own, they use YOURS to steal from. If you're
involved in affiliate marketing in any way, shape or form, Ben
Edelman's website on spyware is a MUST READ.
When surfing the net, on some pages you will get an ad either popping up,
popping under your current page, or scrolling in from the side or bottom
of your screen. You are infected with a parasite. If you look
at the top of the ad, not the ad itself, it should tell you which one it
is. Learn to recognize them and get rid of them quickly.
Have you ever wondered how they KNOW which page you are visiting to send
you a targeted ad for that particular website? Do you think they're
psychics? They have ESP? Nope! The problem is that
often their software on
YOUR computer is recording ALL your surfing habits and sends all the data
"home" so they know what you look at and which websites you
visit every minute you're online and how long you stay on a particular
website. Although not all record your internet surfing, some will
only track keywords or search phrases to target their advertising.
But how to know which one does what??
Look at your task
manager - click "control, alt, delete" keys together ONCE,
and a small box will pop up. This tells you what
programs are currently running on your computer. Do you see anything
suspicious? If you have any program ending with .exe, end the task
immediately unless you KNOW what it is. Click once on the program name you don't recognize, then click on
"end task". Another box will pop up after a few seconds to
confirm you want to end the task. You are not deleting
anything by doing this, it only closes the program. Even if you end
task for a
program you need, it won't hurt anything, it will just close the program,
then you can just restart it later or reboot your computer.
Get
familiar with your computer, learn which program does what and how to perform these
minor tasks. It could
save you a lot of headaches, and possibly a lot of money later.
Nobody was born a computer guru. Those are skills that we MUST
learn and even more so in today's internet environment. You HAVE
to be able to recognize threats before they harm you. Your
computer does not bite, and if you treat it right and protect it from
dangerous internet threats, it will remain in good condition for years and
won't cost you much to keep it that way. Just kind of like a car
that you need to maintain.
Some parasites are extremely difficult to remove and uninstall. They don't
show in the "uninstall programs" in your control panel on your computer, and they
don't have an uninstall feature within the program. They
don't all show in the task manager either. And why should they,
really, since they never told you about their installation and you ended
up with these programs in your computer without knowing it! You
have no idea where to look or how to get rid of them. Others will
let you uninstall them but as soon as you restart your browser or reboot,
they're back. You just can't get rid of them!
Even Google is on the prowl to stop these thieves! http://www.google.com/corporate/software_principles.html
Top
EXAMPLES
OF BROWSER
HELPER OBJECTS (BHO), SPYWARE and PARASITES
nasty, nasty, nasty little things!
Note that this is only
a partial list of the most common spyware, there are hundred of them!
1800/180 Solutions, n/case, Metrics Direct, Search Assistant and Zango -
Zango is the most recent parasite from 180 Solutions.
Both XCleaner
and Regblock detect it, remove
it and protect against future illegal installations.
Be aware that just removing the program or
uninstalling it with the add/remove or uninstall option will NOT get rid of
it of Zango!
It comes back by itself when you reboot your computer or restart your
browser. If you have other 180Solutions (n/case or Search Assistant)
in your computer in addition to Zango, they all have a tendency to bring
back their friends.
BuyersPort, Morpheus,
Morpheus Shopping Club, WurldMedia, WURLD Shopping Community
If you think you're saving money by using any of these, think
again! See
what this pest really does to you!
CoolWebSearch - PARASITE FROM HELL! CWShredder used to
be the best tool for this parasite. However, new versions of
CoolWebSearch appeared faster than solutions could be developed. The owner of CWShredder gave up on it. Very
unfortunate, it was by far the best free tool to remove it. The best programs to
detect, remove and protect against future CoolWebSearch illegal downloads are Regblock
and XCleaner.
My story with CoolWebSearch
I got infected with this MONSTER parasite, by my own fault for not paying
attention when downloading XCleaner upgrade which went into a different
folder than its original version and did not protect me because it never
started with my computer!! The start-up version had been
overwritten so it wasn't loading since the folder was the wrong one for
the new version. I could have kicked myself 100 times for this
stupid mistake. You should always pay attention when you download
something, even if you know what it is and you trust the source... Learn
from MY mistake!
CoolWebSearch is BY FAR the worst parasite I have ever had
to deal with! I was clicking on SendMoreInfo paid emails when one of
them sent me to a blank page, there was nothing there. Then my
computer started making all kinds of noises right away and eventually
froze up a few seconds later. I knew I had just been victim of another
driveby download *sigh*, but I didn't know which one it was. I
couldn't even do ctrl-alt-delete to reboot, I had to shut off the power
bar. Then I noticed that XCleaner didn't start after the reboot, I was
wondering why it hadn't blocked the download in the first place.
That's when I realized my mistake with XCleaner and noticed that it went
into the wrong folder and it hadn't been protecting me for weeks - I guess
I should consider myself lucky to have picked up just one of these spyware
downloads - but did I get the worst or what?! I did a manual scan
right away, and CoolWebSearch was found. OH NO, not CWS! I
wanted to cry! I knew what it was, and I knew it was bad, but oh boy
I had no idea how bad it really was until I tried to fix the damage it
did to my computer in less than 5 minutes! XCleaner got it out
of my computer, thank God!, but my computer was not working
properly. I had no pop ups, my browser was not hijacked, my
connection wasn't slow, but my website could no longer be accessed in my
computer, not a single file! Other programs were not working the way they
should. It took me FOUR DAYS of full-time work and investigation
and rebooting 1000 times, repairing corrupted files, deleting more
registry entries, deleting and renaming hundreds of files and folders,
moving things around, trying this and trying that. And I knew what I
was doing!
CoolWebSearch has several dozens of variants of its spyware. Each
new one worse than the previous one. Depending on the variant that
infects your computer, you may have to reformat because your computer
won't be manageable. The easiest solution, really, but not the most
practical one if you do a lot of work on your computer and you haven't
backed it up in a while. Some of these variants disable your
firewall and antivirus, won't allow you to download spyware removers, will
not let you use Google or Yahoo search engines, you may not even be able
to connect to the internet at all. If you don't already have a
spyware blocker and you ever get infected with CoolWebSearch and you have
no idea how to manually remove spyware, you will have to pay to get this
one out of your computer, guaranteed. What saved me from
reformatting is that I already had XCleaner installed, just at the wrong
place, but the manual scan worked perfectly. Don't let yourself be
"coolwebsearched!", trust me the price of Regblock
or XCleaner will
seem like peanuts rather than working to get rid of it on your own.
Reformatting your computer and losing all your work, or taking your
computer to the shop will amount to several times the price of these
programs. The best protection is to block them from ever getting in
your computer in the first place.
Ebates - Moe Money Maker
Ezula
Gator/Gain/Claria - Gator was a great tool several years ago when
it first came out. It was wonderful to fill out forms and remember
all your passwords. And it was free! However, Gator has since turned into a major
spyware application with new software and browser helper objects
installing on your computer without your knowledge. Deleting or
uninstalling Gator will NOT remove all the components. MANY files
will stay behind and continue to do their dirty work. Uninstalling
Gator does just that, it removes Gator, the useful application we all know
it to be. Unfortunately, it leaves harmful files behind and all the other junk, like Gain, and every other
spyware program from updates that you know nothing about because it never
bothered to tell you, it just updated itself all by itself over the years. When you do uninstall Gator, make
sure you check the small box to delete ALL your personal information and
passwords, do it by hand yourself if you can. But do remove it
all. Just imagine
that Gator remembers all your passwords and records every website you
visit, and then turns around and sends this information
"home"... YIKES! Use Roboform
instead of Gator if you want a form filler or
your passwords remembered., it's safe and parasite free. If you are
transferring your data from Gator to Roboform, make sure you download
Roboform first before you uninstall Gator and remove the rest of its
components with a spyware remover. If you
already know what Roboform
is, you can download
it here for free. You should NEVER use the same password on
every website or use the same password pattern. If your password is
cracked once, it will be cracked everywhere else. If you have a
large database of passwords, Roboform
has an upgrade for a one time fee, well worth it!, that will allow you to
save and remember all your passwords and fill out all the forms for you
with just a click of the mouse. I use Roboform myself and I
LOVE it!
Golden Retriever/ShopAtHomeSelect
HuntBar - parasite from hell! original download looks like
Traffic Syndicate, operates under legitimate Microsoft file names and
unless you know what you're looking for, you won't find the program. There
is no uninstall option anywhere, it installs a new tool bar that you can't
delete, and is usually downloaded through a drive-by download.
IGive
Kaaza
Metrics Direct
nCase/180Solutions, Zango
Points Passport
School Cash
Shop at Home Select/Golden Retriever
WhenU - PriceBandit, SaveNow, ClockSync, WeatherCast, WhenUShop,
WhenUSearch toolbar
Are Cookies spyware?
NO!
Cookies are used by websites to
remember who you are, such as not having to log in every time on a
particular site, they help you track online purchases, they keep track of
hits on your website. They are also used by merchants and affiliate programs so that when a
customer buys a product or service the merchant can track your order to
make sure nothing goes wrong, or if someone joins your affiliate program from your website, you get properly
credited for the sale or referral. Without cookies, this wouldn't be
possible. If you do any type of business on
the internet, you know how important cookies are.
Cookies do NOT
collect personal information nor do they send any information "home", cookies do NOT keep track of
all your internet surfing habits. While cookies are not dangerous
for the most part, you shouldn't keep them all either. It's very
important when using a spyware removal program to look at what it finds
first before you hit the delete button and only keep what you SHOULD be
keeping and delete what you do NOT want. Many programs do not
recognize this, and see everything as dangerous when it really isn't.
After reviewing and investigating MANY spyware remover
programs, I have found two that really stand out from the rest. If you're an experienced internet surfer,
XCleaner
is your best bet. If you're new online or somewhat confused as to
what is spyware and what isn't, or what you should or should not keep, RegBlock
is the best program for you. They don't run in the background, so
they don't use up your computer resources. These two programs also
stop spyware from being installed in your computer in the first place,
where other programs only remove it AFTER it's been installed.
Just removing spyware doesn't cut it anymore. Who knows how long
it's been in your computer and how much damage has already been
done? Stop these illegal programs from ever downloading! I
can't guarantee that you'll never end up with spyware again, but at least
you'll be protected against the illegal drive-by installations of most
common spyware programs today.
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How do you get rid
of these internet threats?
Removing spyware does NOT protect you.
I will never stress this enough! Most people don't run their spyware
removal programs every day. You get busy, you forget, you don't
think about it. Checking your computer for spyware every once in a
while is very dangerous. That's not enough! If it's already in
your computer, it's already too late. How long has it been
there? Do you KNOW? Do you KNOW how much information the
parasite got on you and how much has been "sent home"?
What if you have a keylogger or trojan horse?
The
ONLY way to protect yourself is to block spyware from downloading and
getting installed on your computer. The best programs that do just
that are RegBlock,
which is the BEST spyware blocker and remover, and XCleaner
(same basic program as Regblock but with many more advanced features -
mostly recommended for average to advanced computer users). Although with technology and new parasites including those that
keep "improving" there are no guarantees that no spyware will
ever find a home on your computer again, it will block most spyware from
ever being installed in your computer without your knowledge and
permission. These two programs are updated within hours of
uncovering a new threat, so it's important to check for updates often and
keep your spyware blocker updated.
Some of these spyware applications are extremely tricky to remove and operate on your
system as a stealth program, meaning that you don't see it anywhere in
your computer; the program cannot be closed from task manager
because it's not there; there is no mention of the program in the
add/remove control panel option; it is
totally invisible. Unless you have a good spyware detector or
remover, these programs can go unnoticed for a long time and if you don't
know much about your registry and how to remove files and programs, you
won't be able to do this on your own. Never, ever delete anything in
your registry unless you know exactly what you're doing.
Many people think that ads popping up out of nowhere all over the place on
many websites are just the way the internet normally works. It's
not! Or when they have a much slower connection than usual and pages
that normally load fast are suddenly loading very slowly, it's just more
traffic on the internet. It's not!
If you don't know how to
uninstall programs and delete all files, Uninstaller
PRO 2004 can help you get rid of all unwanted stuff in your computer. They
have a free trial, take advantage of it! If you're not sure what a
file is or what it does, keep it. Then ask someone about it, do a
search on the file, try to figure out if it should be removed or
not. I use Uninstaller Pro and I do recommend it.
Why do I recommend
XCleaner
and
RegBlock?
Because not only do they detect and remove
spyware, they also protect
against illegal drive-by downloads and installations. Click here to
see which programs they block from being installed on your computer.
You'll see it's a very small price to pay for all the protection you get.
They do not run in the background so they don't use up all your
resources. In other words, they don't slow your computer down at
all. You won't even notice these programs on your computer.
EXCELLENT support from their technical team!
Why
we don't recommend free spyware removers
I've received a lot of emails telling me that I should recommend some free
spyware removal programs. I used to, but I don't anymore.
Why? Very simple:
1. They don't protect you against
downloads, they only remove spyware after it's already in your
computer. The worst free program you can use on its own is
AdAware. It detects VERY few spyware programs but will find and
delete ALL your cookies! That program is pretty much useless.
There are much better programs available. Most people use AdAware
and Spybot and even the two of them combined don't find everything in your
computer or can't remove all the files.
2. The majority target all cookies (cookies are NOT spyware)
more than anything else, don't or can't remove all spyware files, and more
often than not they don't even find the latest threats, never mind remove
them. When files are left behind, they will eventually interfere with
other programs and cause your computer to malfunction and crash.
3. You have to remember to run these programs to remove the illegal
downloads. Most people can't be bothered to do this often, never
mind every day. Very dangerous!
4. The few that do protect against a handful of spyware downloads
(if you want full protection, you need to buy the whole program (which
cost more than Regblock), they run in the background and after a few
hours, your computer resources are so low and your computer is so slow
that you need to reboot. Extremely inconvenient when it doesn't have
to be that way and doesn't even provide full protection.
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