Best Method for Getting Rid of Spyware/Malware/Trojans and Other Icky Stuff
I recently cleaned a friends laptop. Her browser was opening up to suspicious and “adult” sites . I thought I would run a couple of spyware program and that would be the end of it. It wasn’t. It was a really tough case.
She also had a problem that I had seen before; any kind of java script was hijacked and instead of a Google AdSense Ad or other there was a flashing obnoxious ad demanding a virus scan of some sort. Do you have malware or spyware of some kind on your computer?
Symptoms That You Have Malware ( Trojan, Spyware, etc)
- browser is opening up on its own.
- Strange looking Ads that blink or ask you to do a virus check NOW.
- Home page in browser has changed and/or you can’t change your home page-
- When doing a search in Google or browser new browser open up using related terms and to a suspicious site.
- Popups asking you to do a virus or spyware scan
- Getting popups to anti-virus site with odd names- like PantiVirus or MacAfffe ( similar to real program but with misspellings)
- General performance problems like slow Internet, sluggish program, hard to load applications.
Adsense does not run any animated ads so if your AdSense ads are blinking or flashing or animated then you most likely have some kind of trojan or malware that has hijacked you java script.
- weird messages when you try and open your spyware removal applications or they won’t open at all.
- New and “interesting” sites in your Bookmarks and Favorites.
Example of How Spyware Gets Installed
Below is what a typical window that will install spyware :
In any case I spent a lot time trying to get rid of her malware. Not only was she getting weird popups and her browser opening spontaneously, but the Internet connection slowed to a halt. You could surf for about 2 minutes and then problem would be back. I ran just about everything I could think of and still couldn’t get rind of the problem. I ran multiple virus scans, Lavasoft’sAdaware, Trend Micro, about 4 different Trojan removal software, etc. and nothing worked.
Finally…. Getting Rid of Hard to Clean Malware
I was very close to calling it a day and reformatting her hard drive. I did some more searches and found a step by step method of getting rid of these nasty malware programs, on Major Geeks Forum. It tools some time but in about an hour her laptop was clean.
The procedure for getting rid of all the malware- a nasty trojan, was done using entirely free tools and the instruction were superb .They also had download links to for everything you need.
I cannot recommend this thread highly enough.
The application that did the trick on this computer and several other’s was little known malware seek and destroy application Malwarebytes It is also free.
I was operating Windows Xp but they had methods for most operating systems.
View the Major Geeks Malware Removal Instructions here
A word of caution- don’t skip around and jump ahead - stick to their instrcutions.
Hey Lisa, great post and a very helpful guide. Something like that happened to me as well. It’s funny how some of the latest versions of malware work, they are very sneaky. I was getting the infamous “blue screen of death” and it looked like my computer kept rebooting. I couldn’t figure out why my computer would just automatically start rebooting without me pressing a button.
Then I realized that it wasn’t rebooting and it was just a fake screen! But it was made to look like my computer was in reboot mode it was incredible. A helpful tip for you all, if you are getting any kind of strange screens hit the alt/tab button. If you can minimize the “fatal error screen” then hint hint - it’s fake!
I can also vouch for Malware Bytes remover it is an excellent tool. If you upgrade to the paid program you also get real time protection though it will slow your computer somewhat. Nothing will protect your computer like a great firewall and excellent real time virus/spyware protection.
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<a href=”http://www.spyware-fix.net/index.html” target=”_blank”Spyware Fix
This stuff causes more problems for people and their computers that user incompetence ever could! Most people pay people to sort their computers out, or worse still, just go out and buy a new one because theirs has ground to a halt.
You know I have a theory that computer manufacturers and fixers put out malware and spyware stuff in order to make people use their services or upgrade their computers!
MalwareBytes is great - I also like Super Anti-Spyware, ccleaner and spywareblaster (among other things!). One thing to add is if you get a serious virus/spyware thing, then one of the best ways to remove it is boot in safe-mode first and then run your scans.
Cheers, Dan
I was browsing on Digg.com recently, opened up a bunch of tabs there, and one site installed something nasty; a search engine redirect malware.
I ended up using Malwarebytes too. Bless the authors, that’s all I can say. _Very_ annoying when someone messes with your laptop.
I have always used a combination of Spybot and Ad-Aware to check for and remove spyware, but I have heard a lot of people talking about MalwareBytes, so I might have to check it out.
In regards to AS’s theory that computer manufacturers put out malware, I wouldn’t go that far, but they do certainly benefit from it.
I think computer manufacturers usually focus more on bloatware, which is pre-installed software. They pack on as much bloatware as they can and by the time the user installs a few programs of their own, the computer is dramatically slower. It is a shame more people don’t know about this process and how to prevent it.
I think the quickest method and the only way to be sure is just to wipe your computer and reinstall Windows. With the rootkits coming out now (google rootkit), you’ll find that lots of these trojans morph on every reboot. It’ll take hours like it did yourself of research to fix. And even then, you’re not 100% sure. What I do is create a clean install then use a image software like Acronis or Norton Ghost to create an image. And if the machine gets infected, I just reload the image which takes about 6 hours while I sleep. In this day of age with stolen credit cards and passwords, it’s the only way.
Thanks for the step by step malware removal instructions. It’s really useful! Otherwise i might end up reformatting my PC which was seriously infected by malware. Thanks again
Never heard of Malwarebytes before. I used before Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy. Sometimes if your PC is infected beyond repair, the best thing you could do is reformat. However I don’t recommend that as updating and installing all the software back will take a huge chunk of time.
Hey, great post. My pc has always been clean and healthy, but make also sure you’re sites and blogs are well protected as well:
I’ve recently noticed some attack attemps on my old Joomla sites where someone even managed to hack my site and insert hidden Malware into the code.
I didn’t even notice it, but google notified me about the issue. (webmaster tools). Regards,
Interesting though I do not share the same opinion with you about cleaning tools. For anti-virus is a concept of the past. The future lies in intrussion prevention systems. Anti-virus programs are 20 years old and hackers have completely overcame them. Especially when there is a free tool that can be implemented into any trojan and randomly changes digital signature, thus making trojan or virus completely invisible to any antivirus. Only intrusion preventrin software can save you.
Actually malwarebytes is not that good as people think. If you analyse it’s database, you quickly discover it is 3 times smaller than the one from eset, bitdefender etc. This means it contains less examples of known malware. And as such it is not so effective. And if you look at their website, you will not see any certificates though Malwarebytes has been on the scene for a while now.
I actually run computer blog majoring in computer security and I invite you to drop by. I really want you to realise how subtle anti-virus application really are.
But if you still prefer using such tools, I have a special security division of all kinds of free security applications you may freely download.
www.pcterritory.net
Good summary of malware and the problems it poses. On the Major Geeks website they offer a small program called HijackThis which is a great tool to find infected files and adware on your computer.
A long time ago i had a annoying trojan that was causing havoc in my computer, i tried pratically every virus removal sofwatre out there, AVG, Avast even Norton, none of them even found the trojan, i was recommended Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, downloaded it ran it, it found the trojan and removed it promptly.