Spyware Scumbags!
FYI to all bloggers! There are some among us who are hosting one of the nastiest, most difficult to get rid of spyware annoyances to come down the pike in a while.
To those of you who are deliberating cooperating with these lowlife bottom feeders, shame on you! You are not worthy of the blogger fraternity.
To those of you who are just trying to use the Internet as a way to express yourself and connect with others across cyberspace, beware of the following scenario:
You are are browsing the blogs, when you come upon one of those annoying sites where people are just content to post thoughts and pictures, but have to jazz up the place with animations, scripts and banners. As you sit waiting for all their stupid crap to load (onto to your PC, btw), you get a pop up informing you that you need to upgrade Internet Explorer. It seems legit to those of you who have been faithful with Windows Update, because it has the new Shield symbol on it. Do not go there! Run away, and get off of the loser's blog that launched it! Even if you close the window, you may see a new message in the main browser window, placed in a thin yellow bar right below the URL box. That is also a legit convention new with Windows XP SP1. That's what got me.
If you, like me, are fooled and click in the wrong place, you have opened Pandora's box. In my case, I loaded a malicious browser hijacker running under the name Elite Tool Bar. This guy puts a new toolbar on your browser with links to: Premium Sites, Adult Sites, Dating Sites, Online Drugs and Casinos. Give you an idea of the scum you're dealing with, doesn't it?
You cannot uninstall this using conventional means, and it also changes your home page and search engine to become enslaved to the ultra-sleazy website known as searchmiracle.com (i wouldn't go there if i were you). And then the real fun begins. About every minute or so, whether you are in IE or not, this bane from hell launches a new IE window with links to porn, dating sites and other crap. If you are in IE, a load of a new web page will often trigger a 'search window' to appear with a list of 'related' sites as a docked window on the left.
The bottom line is that you spend half your time shutting down unwanted windows as they interrupt the work you are doing by taking Windows' focus, and your system's performance goes right in the shitter.
Here's what i had to do to fix my system (at least, i think it's fixed):
1. Downloaded HiJack This, Spy Sweeper and Startup Mechanic from download.com
2. Ran Microsoft's Cumulative Security Update for IE6 SP1 (KB889293) to plug the most recently discovered weaknesses
3. Disconnected from the Internet. Pull the plug, baby! Take no chances.
4. Ran Startup Mechanic to identify any Hijack programs set to load at start up. I found the entry kalvsys listed as harmful and disabled it.
5. Ran HiJack This and fixed anything related to EliteToolBar or searchmiracle.com and also anything identified as a BHO (Browser Helper Object). These are generally bad, and if there is one that is part of an application you need, you can always re-install.
6. Disabled System Restore. Go to Control Panel | System, click on the System Restore tab and check Disable System Restore.
7. Ran full scan using Spy Sweeper, and cleaned out everything it found.
8. Re-connect to network and re-boot.
9. Once the symptoms stopped, re-enabled System Restore.
Quick note to my fellow freeware junkies. Ad Aware DOES NOT catch this bug! Nor does PAL Spyware Remover (at least not in the free online scan).
Best of luck to all who have been victimized by this heinous crime against all bloggers of good will. Unfortunately, these sleazeballs are making money by causing our PC's to hit web sites whose owners are paying searchmiracle and their ilk advertising fees based on hit rates.
These people are the lowest of the low.
- posted by The Drake @ 1:47 PM
I'd love to have 10 minutes with those people... just me, them, and a big stick. I've been hit too. I downloaded some utility that allows you to disassociate things with your browser. I had SO MANY loaded on there, 90% of which I've never heard of!
And Zone Alarm is a wonderful thing. It helps with some programs that try to access the internet so you know when they are trying and can deny them access. Of course, if they hijack IE, there's not much you can do with a firewall to stop it. Well, there wasn't much I could do, anyway.
Hope you killed it all.
I'm not as computer literate as you two. Is what happened to her also called a browser hijack? Would you recommend this "Hijack This" for everyone, or just if there is a problem?
The goal of both is pretty much the same, to use your PC to generate revenue -- except that your friend was victimized directly because of long distance fees caused by the dialer hijacking the dial up connection to an international location.
HiJack This can be a powerful tool, but you have to have some insight or direction to use it effectively. The tool itself scans your registry to identify, categorize and log potential hijack situations on your computer. The people who distribute the program will review your log to advise on the threat level indicated and what action to take. If you are having problems with a work PC, it's best to call a tech to analyze the situation, as there may be network-specific software objects in the registry that HiJack This classifies as a threat.
It's a sad commentary on the state of things in cyberspace, but it's gotten to the point where you almost have to be a computer geek like me to be able to use the Internet -- as a matter of self-protection.
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