Re: Unwanted Web Pages keep opening up on IE

You are missing a very important one:

Run Ad-Aware SE, Spybot and HijackThis:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

Note: Update the first two programs, once installed, before running.

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com



"cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" <cquirkenews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:gtmuf1l0me8l297ahdg3tdsv0qd86h8rsh@xxxxxxxxxx
> On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 08:51:07 -0600, Bruce Chambers
>>BH2 wrote:
>
>>> don't know what I have done but, web pages keep opening up when I
>>> haven't
>>> clicked a link. When I am on my computer not on IE, web pages keep
>>> opening
>>> up, the main ones are http://ad.yeildmanager.com and
>>> www.screensavers.com
>>> how do I get rid of them. I have ad aware and spybot s&d, but do not
>>> seem
>>> to stop them, your help is appreciated
>
> I've used AdAware and Spybot as on-demand scanners; they may have some
> "resident" protective facilities, but I haven't used those. This is
> in contrast to traditional antivirus, which is best run as a resident
> "underfootware" service, to intercept material as it tries to run.
>
> There's a third approach to malware, and that is static protection,
> such as applied by Spyware Blaster (and - unused by me - as part of
> the Spybot feature set). This sets up certain settings in IE
> Restricted Zone, browser cookie management, and the system-wide HOSTS
> file, to block known offenders. Once again, this involves no code
> running "underfoot", and thus no performance or stability impact.
>
> The final (first?) layer is the user. Think before you click:
> - some web sites suck
> - many sites found by a search will suck
> - almost all that pop up unexpectedly will suck++
>
>> To deal with issues caused by any sort of "adware" and/or
>>"spyware," such as Gator, Comet Cursors, Smiley Central, Xupiter, Bonzai
>>Buddy, or KaZaA, and their remnants, that you've deliberately (but
>>without understanding the consequences) installed, two products that
>>are quite effective (at finding and removing this type of scumware) are
>>Ad-Aware from www.lavasoft.de and SpyBot Search & Destroy from
>>www.safer-networking.org/. Both have free versions. It's even possible
>>to use SpyBot Search & Destroy to "immunize" your system against most
>>future intrusions. I use both and generally perform manual scans every
>>week or so to clean out cookies, etc.
>
> Bruce is speaking from a time when commercial and traditional malware
> were more clearly delineated than they are now. Yes, you certainly
> will get more commercial malware if you click unwisely, but you can
> get commercial malware without clicking anything at all - especially
> if your system code is not patched properly.
>
> The three items that need continuous patching are:
>
> 1) Microsoft software, e.g. Windows, IE, OE, WMP, etc.
>
> I'm grouping these together because generally, the procedure to keep
> these patched is similar, at least where those subsystems that were
> bundled with the OS are concerned.
>
> Service Pack 2 tends to push a little too hard on this, IMO, in that
> it will automatically install patches as well as downloading them; I
> prefer to automatically download them, but review before installing
> them. We've seen a couple of toxic patches that would have been
> better avoided for a few days; unfortunately, we've also seen early
> exploits that would have hit unpatched systems following that policy.
>
> 2) Firefox
>
> Like IE, Firefox is a large point of contact between your PC and the
> outside world, and thus frequently needs patching to stay safe.
> Microsoft releases such patches every month, and most months see a new
> point revision of Firefox too.
>
> The patching process is different, though. Instead of downloading
> patches that repair unspecified parts of the large OS and interlinked
> subsystems, with Firefox you simply download the new version (around
> 5M) and install that over the existing one.
>
> 3) Java
>
> Many commercial malware (e.g. CoolWebSearch) attack defects in Java as
> a clickless way into the system, so you need to patch that too.
>
> The process is similar to that of Firefox, i.e. you download an entire
> new Java JRE and install it. It's a much bigger download, though.
>
> There's another important difference; whereas FireFox and MS replace
> faulty code when installing the new version, Sun leave the older Java
> engine(s) behind - and yes, they can still be exploited.
>
> So unlike MS and Firefox, you have to explicitly hunt down and kill
> all older versions of Sun's Java, ideally before installing the new
> one. I'd do MS and Firefiox first, then Java, so that when Java asks
> which browsers to integrate with, they are there to be chosen.
>
> <nice links snipped>
>
> The other thing that's changed, is that several traditional malware,
> such as trojans and downloaders, are "rogue affiliates" that drop
> commercial malware. Also, some things that appear to be commercial
> malware turn out to be quite "rogue", in that no web site or other
> accountable entity can be found.
>
> The result of all this, is that some things fall between the classic
> "you have it because you installed it" commercial malware that
> antivirus apps ignore, and that are safe to manage informally (e.g.
> from Safe Mode), and the more hard-core stuff that enters without a
> vestige of user permission, and which may defend itself in various
> ways (disabling defences, running even in Safe Mode, etc.).
>
> So I've taken to approaching even commercial malware formally, i.e.
> from a Bart PE CDR boot, as the first strategy. Fortunately, Spybot
> works natively from Bart (the vendor offers a plugin for it, and it
> has native supprt for inactive registry hives) and AdAware is fairly
> easy to plug into Bart as well.
>
> In contrast, Microsoft's Antispyware Beta can't even install from Safe
> Mode, let alone run "from orbit" (Bart's PE CDR boot). So while it's
> an effective scanner, it's not as useful for first-contact
> intervention; I use it after everything else has done most work.
>
>
>>--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -
> Never turn your back on an installer program
>>--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -


.

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