# Suggestions for anti-malware software?



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I've been pretty lucky over the years. My surfing is pretty well confined to the same sites, and those sites have been secure. I was recommended by our IT folks at work to use SpyBot and TDSSkiller from Kaspersky to clean up some things that cropped up, and they worked quite well, especially given that they were free downloads.

But last night I started getting obnoxious pop-ups regarding presumed "trouble" my PC was having, and an annoying number of pop-up ads, making it near impossible to use my browser without being directed to undesired sites. My Firefox installation is set for pop-up blocking, and an emergency install of Opera did not improve the matter. I ran both the latest free download of SpyBot and TDSSkiller, and those didn't alleviate the problem.

So I guess tonight I need to bite the bullet and get something to fix it. I'm running XP-sp2.

Any suggestions/recommendations for anti-malware packages that keep a clean system?


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

For clean-up I've used Malwarebytes - they have a free download. There are things you need to do before running it as some malware, once installed, can evade removal tools. I've forgotten the exact procedure as it was a long time ago. 

Don't get anything from McAfee - if you ever un-intall it they will e-mail you for months trying to get you to re-subscribe.


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2014)

Try https://www.malwarebytes.org/
The link I provided has a free version. Not sure how well that is. I have the premium 
version. It cleaned out a lot of crap I didn't know I had and basically problem free since.
Also, it's time to upgrade from XP. Microsoft stopped updating them for awhile now.
That makes yours more prone to attack. I'm running Vista with malwarebytes installed. 
At the least, you should install sp3. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322389


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Thanks for the suggestions. I downloaded the free malwarebytes, and will run it once I get home, and see if it fixes things.

It was like pulling teeth to get me to move from Win98 to XP, so I'm disinclined to leave XP behind. And there's actually no applications I run, nor any I expect to ever run, that actually demand more than XP, if even that. At the same time, I take your point that the longer an OS has been around, the greater the likelihood that every crack in the armour it may have is likely to have been exploited, compared to a newer OS.

I seem to recall installing SP3 once, and ran into problems, which were resolved by removing SP3 and re-installing XP. Now that I think of it, though, that may have been before I started using one of my kids' castoff mobos and CPUs. I have the SP3 installation file somewhere at home. I'll give it a whirl.

....or maybe I should just use Ubuntu.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

I have been using the free AVG program for years and nary a problem.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

After years of being malware free, I got a bunch of crap on my computer the other night. I was trying to download an "Amplitude" program for PC and I wasn't paying attention to what I was clicking.....before I knew it, I had 4 malware programs running. 

They were hogging about 80% of the CPU. I shut them down using task master but Win 8.1 won't remove them. The programs are smarter than microsoft is.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Question: Do such malware programs exist as recognized files in the allocation table? Curious as to whether they might be overwritten by any of the various "wipe free space" options in cleaner software, or whether they would be "protected" against such overwriting. Further to this, do they get moved along with everything else when a defrag is done?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Another question: Is there anything one can look for under "Processes", when running _Task Manager_, that could be used to identify malevolent or otherwise invasive software? Do such things show up as eating up a detectable % of CPU capacity, or are they more likely to be buried way down deep amongst processes that take up well under 1% (showing up as 0%)?


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

Try SUPERantispyware.

http://www.superantispyware.com/

They have a free edition which is easy to use and it's quite thorough...look for the large red rectangle on the page linked.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Well, I've run both free versions of Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware and both found, and purportedly removed, a bunch of things, but I've still got trouble.

Basically, I keep getting sent to "surveys" (one of which claimed to be from this site, and I foolishly went to it, which may have precipitated worse things.), and keep getting a surfeit of pop-up ads for tech support of various kinds, all telling me that I have a problem with my PC.

I'll keep trying, but these pop-ups and hijacks (some for anti-malware software) are aggravating. In many instances, I'll be just about the click on something when an instant ad will relocate everything on the page.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Take a look in the control panel under Add/Remove Programs, sort by date and see if something was installed that shouldn't have been. If yes delete it and reboot, see what happens.

Also if you're running google chrome anywhere take a look at "extensions" and turn off what you don't want.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

mhammer said:


> I'll keep trying, but these pop-ups and hijacks (some for anti-malware software) are aggravating. In many instances, I'll be just about the click on something when an instant ad will relocate everything on the page.


Not to deliberately be a scare monger here, but those symptoms along with the difficulty getting rid of them, reminds me of a serious infection in our office system of around 24 computers. Our IT guy spent an expensive day (after a day of his own trouble-shooting) with Microsoft on the problem. Then another 3 days low level formatting and rebuilding every computer in the system. It was a tenacious root-kit trojan that was only showing symptoms on random computers, but the solution was necessarily very drastic. It was a good thing that our server did due dilligence with daily, weekly and monthly data backups stored off-site or it could have been much worse that a week of no computers.

The source of the infection for our system turned out to be someone going to a games site. Those and gambling sites often seem safe and innocent when your using them but...


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

Steadfastly said:


> I have been using the free AVG program for years and nary a problem.



Oooh, I remember this one. It was actually very good, but I think they started charging now. I was actually taking about it yesterday.

Doesn't matter - I use a MAC now. It defeats viruses by using chi.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Here's a screen grab of the thread. Note how "backups" and "gambling sites" were magically transformed into highlighted links. They didn't start out that way.










One thing I hadn't noticed previously, that I just did...and may well have the desired impact, was under Tools/Options/Content. I had checked off "Block pop-ups", but was surprised to see an _awfully_ long list under "Exceptions". I cleared that list, so that everything was blocked. I'll see what the effect is after I shut down, and do a cold reboot.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

adcandour said:


> Oooh, I remember this one. It was actually very good, but I think they started charging now. I was actually taking about it yesterday.
> 
> Doesn't matter - I use a MAC now. It defeats viruses by using chi.


Once you go Mac, you'll never go back. I just got my first one after 2 decades of PC's and I'll never buy another PC again. I've heard it said that a Mac without AV/malware is more stable than a PC with both. It just happens to boot up/run faster without all that stuff running in the background though... ;^)


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

gtone said:


> *Once you go Mac, you'll never go back.* I just got my first one after 2 decades of PC's and I'll never buy another PC again. I've heard it said that a Mac without AV/malware is more stable than a PC with both. It just happens to boot up/run faster without all that stuff running in the background though... ;^)


Speak for yourself there, Mac Boy! Don't get me wrong. I love Macs too. But I built my first 286 PC around 1985 from scrap parts. I've been using PCs ever since and have never had a serious problem.

McAffee site advisor is great for marking known malware/phishing etc. sites in your search results and if you get sucked into a nasty site, McAffee's warns you with anything from an advisory popup, or an amber or red full screen warning depending on the risk before you can go to the site.

I have never had an active virus do anything but annoy me on any computer I've ever owned. I always keep on top of my computer maintenance. Also, having watched the birth of the WWW go from infancy to the monster it is today helps to keep my spidy senses on alert at all times when I'm online.

I'm knocking like hell on my wood desk right now...


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

You may be able to "roll back" your computer to a date prior to your infection - unfortunately, I forget how to do this too...


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

I picked up a worm at school and none of my usual software (most listed above) could find it. In the end, Microsoft security essentials found it! Great program and free so nothing to lose. 

TG


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## boyscout (Feb 14, 2009)

gtone said:


> Once you go Mac, you'll never go back. I just got my first one after 2 decades of PC's and I'll never buy another PC again. I've heard it said that a Mac without AV/malware is more stable than a PC with both. It just happens to boot up/run faster without all that stuff running in the background though... ;^)


Meh! After getting seduced into all of the other 'i' devices Apple sells as well as purchasing Macbooks for my daughters, I decided at the beginning of the year to replace my PC notebook with a Macbook and evaluate it as a business tool while leaving the rest of our business on PCs. I'm not blown away. Some things are easier, some are harder. They are VERY expensive, far more than PCs. And to the point of this thread, I haven't had a virus on it but we haven't had one on our well-maintained PCs since we started using them in the late 80s. (My first copy of Norton antivirus - then called something else - was purchased from Peter Norton who I think was selling them out of his garage in Venice, California!)

Too late for mhammer, but he's probably seen this advice before and ignored it. Use good antivirus software (even on a Mac). Be EXTREMELY cautious about EVERYTHING you click on, and if you're not positive forgo the experience and don't click. And backup, backup, backup, so you can restore if something gets through your care and caution. Also in his case, as someone has already advised, definitely upgrade from XP. Likely the only developers paying attention to XP these days are hackers because they know that Microsoft and other non-malicious developers are not. Microsoft provides a completely free antivirus product called Microsoft Security Essentials that works quite well, but it may not run on XP.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

There is a site called Major Geeks. 
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35
You can ask about your resolution there and often someone will geek-out on your issue and let you know how to resolve it. 

I had a homepage hijack one time and it was a devil to get rid of. In the process of deleting it, if you weren't disconnected from the internet, it would allow you to delete it but it would copy itself back on to your system while changing one digit in it's file name, thus making it look like something else and having you believe that you got it deleted. It was the Major Geeks guys who posted the instructions on how to remove it. 

Sometimes you can find the method of removal just by using Google's search and specific terms related to your issues.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

this looks like a great solution to virus etc problems

http://www.bromium.com/

it basically runs your browser/apps inside a virtual machine ( each tab has it's own VM ) that disappears once you close it

it runs right on the CPU core so is underneath the OS and almost impossible to hijack

applications have predefined permissions to limit their ability to do any damage if they get compromised ( why does a PDF file need to access your registry? etc )

apparently it is about the same cost as antivirus


I think it's a great idea....you can click on anything and it can't do any damage to your computer

I would still probably use antivirus though


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Well, I installed Service Pack 3 for XP. Apparently, I had 164 security updates from Microsoft that had never been installed. For whatever reasons, Microsoft Security Essentials would not install (although, in fairness, I had tried to install it before I was alerted to the 164 updates when I attempted to shut down last night).

Perhaps when I get home tonight, I'll be able to get MSE to install. I'm also going to re-install Firefox.

The current problem is that my browser keeps getting hijacked to either surveys, or to dire warnings about my computer being contaminated and a repair service eagerly awaiting my call to their 1-800 number if only I click on OK.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

man...XP isn't supported anymore, it probably has so many vulnerabilities I would just ditch it & upgrade, or get Ubuntu which is free & more secure than windows anyway


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I have a copy of Ubuntu 14 (and several earlier versions), but don't know enough to use it as my default system. I can run it from a CD boot, but that's about it. Absolutely no idea how to establish drivers for my USB wireless receiver so that I can get online from Ubuntu, and rather unwilling to commit the amount of time required to gain the expertise; I have _enough_ stuff to learn these days.

Honestly, my computing requirements pretty much peaked in 1998 or so, but stupid stuff I don't really care about or even need keeps obliging me to engage in upgrades that do nothing useful for me apart from simply working as well as before (as opposed to being buggered up by some decision by someone else somewhere else).

My wife's machine runs Vista, and I find it exasperating. Maybe I should just switch back to Win3.1, or...gasp, 3.0, and use Mosaic as my browser. I'll bet the hack-meisters don't even bother with trying to figure out hacks for those systems. And think just how crazy fast it would run on a 2ghz dual-core machine.

Old fart grumblings aside, I hope all the worthwhile suggestions from folks here, once completely followed up, will have me blissfully, and leisurely, sifting through this forum again, instead of cursing as a thread is suddenly interrupted by an overlay screen warning me of dire consequences to my computer.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

bluzfish said:


> Not to deliberately be a scare monger here, but those symptoms along with the difficulty getting rid of them, reminds me of a serious infection in our office system of around 24 computers. Our IT guy spent an expensive day (after a day of his own trouble-shooting) with Microsoft on the problem. Then another 3 days low level formatting and rebuilding every computer in the system. It was a tenacious root-kit trojan that was only showing symptoms on random computers, but the solution was necessarily very drastic. It was a good thing that our server did due dilligence with daily, weekly and monthly data backups stored off-site or it could have been much worse that a week of no computers.
> 
> The source of the infection for our system turned out to be someone going to a games site. Those and gambling sites often seem safe and innocent when your using them but...


The worst one I have run in to lately is the crypto virus. Basically goes and encrypts all your files locally and searches any network connected drives and encrypts PDF's, and MS office documents then tries to extort money from users for the decryption key. Unfortunately at the office I give support to the file securities are a little loosey goosey due to how the company works. Yes I make sure the backups are performed diligently but its still a pain in the ass to restore files.
For Malware I like Malwarebytes and Roguekiller. As well as sometimes Highjackthis. My organization also uses Symantec Endpoint Protection but for home use Malwarebytes is great. Its worth it to pay for the pro version and have your system monitored.
If your not at home going to porn sites or other questionable content sites you shouldn't really have to worry much. I've run one of my systems at home with nothing in the way of antivirus\anti malware for 2 years without problems. I wouldn't recommend that. With malwarebytes pro and antivirus software such as Avast and being careful about the sites you go to and the email you open there should be no issues.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

You go PC guys - myself included in that group until this summer! Love to hear all about your fooling around with fixes, preventative measures and AV/malware preventative software and the like. Meanwhile, I have a lot more time on my hands (and better things to do) courtesy my Mac Mini, $560 shipped to my door, taxes included...


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

gtone said:


> You go PC guys - myself included in that group until this summer! Love to hear all about your fooling around with fixes, preventative measures and AV/malware preventative software and the like. Meanwhile, I have a lot more time on my hands (and better things to do) courtesy my Mac Mini, $560 shipped to my door, taxes included...


Price is the only thing that has stopped me from going Mac in the past. $560 is a do-able thing though.

You don't think some bored genius will write a virus for Mac some day?

Edit:

I just looked up a Mac Mini to see what it was (I live under a rock, at the back of a cave, under a bridge) and it blew my mind!


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

gtone said:


> You go PC guys - myself included in that group until this summer! Love to hear all about your fooling around with fixes, preventative measures and AV/malware preventative software and the like. Meanwhile, I have a lot more time on my hands (and better things to do) courtesy my Mac Mini, $560 shipped to my door, taxes included...


You Mac guys might have a lot more time on your hands but you also have a lot less money in your pocket.


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

worth looking at.
This guy............Steve Gibson (computer programmer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
has a site...........GRC | Gibson Research Corporation Home Page 
with this...........GRC | Shoot The Messenger


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## Option1 (May 26, 2012)

Lincoln said:


> Price is the only thing that has stopped me from going Mac in the past. $560 is a do-able thing though.
> 
> You don't think some bored genius will write a virus for Mac some day?
> 
> ...


There's plenty of viruses (virii?) out there for the Mac, and some of the malware browser hijacks like Conduit search are OS agnostic. I run Sophos (free for OSX) on the iMac and it's picked up occasional viruses, about the same quantity as I catch on my Windows systems. Mind you, I might go places on the Mac that I wouldn't dare tread on my Win 7 setup.

In other words, there's plenty of things to like about Macs, but these days being virus immune isn't one of them.

Neil


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## Guest (Oct 10, 2014)

As general advice: switch to Chrome. Run both the AdBlock Plus and Disconnect plugins in Chrome (hopefully soon you'll only need disconnect).

Use 1Password for your password generation and management.

For AV I usually recommend Sophos. Partially because it's unobtrusive. Partially because I know a bunch of the developers there and they're good people who are honestly trying to write good security products. Even on the Macs in our house there's a weekly Sophos scan that's run on Saturday morning with reports sent to me. It's mostly a due diligence thing.

I'd say get off Windows too, but I know that's not tenable for a lot of people.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

gtone said:


> You go PC guys - myself included in that group until this summer! Love to hear all about your fooling around with fixes, preventative measures and AV/malware preventative software and the like. Meanwhile, I have a lot more time on my hands (and better things to do) courtesy my Mac Mini, $560 shipped to my door, taxes included...


"There are no Viruses for MAC" is the lie that will someday have great impact to MAC users. When you think you're safe is when you're not. If the majority of users moved to MAC for safety from malware there'd be a greater demand for hackers to write much more damaging malware.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

guitarman2 said:


> "There are no Viruses for MAC" is the lie that will someday have great impact to MAC users. When you think you're safe is when you're not. If the majority of users moved to MAC for safety from malware there'd be a greater demand for hackers to write much more damaging malware.



Who said there wasn't malware for Mac's? I sure didn't, as there are a few though most are pretty obvious as they're disguised as Apple security programs. ;^)

Most hackers aren't going to waste their time writing malware for Mac systems as Macs are rarely, if ever, used for network servers/mainframe storage devices. It's that simple really...


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

what about running a Mac O/S on a PC system? Is that a do-able mod yet?


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2014)

Lincoln said:


> what about running a Mac O/S on a PC system? Is that a do-able mod yet?


It's a thing. It's called a Hackintosh and it's not for the un-tech savvy. It requires work to get it up and running because Macs don't boot from a traditional BIOS and OS X ships with limited hardware support outside of what Apple includes in their machines.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

iaresee said:


> It's a thing. It's called a Hackintosh and it's not for the un-tech savvy. It requires work to get it up and running because Macs don't boot from a traditional BIOS and OS X ships with limited hardware support outside of what Apple includes in their machines.


that leaves me out. Linux kicked my a$$ in the late 90's even though at the time I was using Unix at work and could do anything with a PC. I learned that being able to use an OS is the easy part. Configuring an OS to run, is a very different matter.
I can't go through that again.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

bw66 said:


> For clean-up I've used Malwarebytes - they have a free download. There are things you need to do before running it as some malware, once installed, can evade removal tools. I've forgotten the exact procedure as it was a long time ago.
> 
> Don't get anything from McAfee - if you ever un-intall it they will e-mail you for months trying to get you to re-subscribe.


Strange. I had McAfee on two laptops. When I spilled a cup of coffee on the one I cancelled the subscription. They asked and when I told them about it they added the unused part to the subscription to the other laptop.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

Electraglide said:


> Strange. I had McAfee on two laptops. When I spilled a cup of coffee on the one I cancelled the subscription. They asked and when I told them about it they added the unused part to the subscription to the other laptop.


I imagine that as long as you are a subscriber on some level, you are fine.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

All software companies will try to get you back with nagging emails if they know you've left their fold. I just mark the sender and domain as blocked so their efforts just go to my junk folder.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Depending on the machine I run AVG Free, MSE, McAfee and Telus Security Service. From what I've found none of these will run on anything older than XP so I have some machines with no anti-virus on them. They all have their good points and bad points. MSE will now only run on Vista and 7; AVG Free only does the basics and keeps on wanting you to upgrade to the paid version etc.. There is nothing I've found that works with older OSX's which is why I had to re-install Jaguar (10.2) on the G4. When I find an AV system that works with everything I run I'll recommend it. One that works with win 98 and IE 5 would be nice.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2014)

Lincoln said:


> that leaves me out. Linux kicked my a$$ in the late 90's even though at the time I was using Unix at work and could do anything with a PC. I learned that being able to use an OS is the easy part. Configuring an OS to run, is a very different matter.
> I can't go through that again.


Linux has gotten WORLDS easier to install and run. I remember sourcing specialized hardware in the 90s to build my first PC that could run Linux. The damn ethernet card was the hardest thing to get -- there were only two supported ethernet chipsets in the Linux kernel at the time (yes, _in_ the kernel, kids. we didn't have kernel extensions waaaaay back then!).

Linux is basically plug and play now -- from the hardware through networking right up to the X system. And distros like Ubuntu make gorgeous UIs that are easy to use as your primary desktop.

A Hackintosh is not unlike an early 90's Linux machine. It's very fragile and any update from Apple can throw it off. You have to really love thwarting Apple to run a Hackintosh.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

iaresee said:


> Linux has gotten WORLDS easier to install and run. I remember sourcing specialized hardware in the 90s to build my first PC that could run Linux. The damn ethernet card was the hardest thing to get -- there were only two supported ethernet chipsets in the Linux kernel at the time (yes, _in_ the kernel, kids. we didn't have kernel extensions waaaaay back then!).
> 
> Linux is basically plug and play now -- from the hardware through networking right up to the X system. And distros like Ubuntu make gorgeous UIs that are easy to use as your primary desktop.
> 
> A Hackintosh is not unlike an early 90's Linux machine. It's very fragile and any update from Apple can throw it off. You have to really love thwarting Apple to run a Hackintosh.


What's the difference between Unix and Linux? Yesterday I bought a box of old software at a yard sale.....over 100 discs for $3. I now have, among other things, a complete set of Caldera Open Unix 8 discs including various Linux discs that go with the set. I started to go thru the box this morning and so far I have found discs for, Win NT, 95, 98, 98SE, ME, an anti-virus that's possibly for pre win XP, hopefully the complete set of osx 10.4 (Tiger) and something called "Novell ferrets out the problem", 'Resources to help solve your Y2K issues, then move on to other IT challenges.'. 
This program seems to support everything windows has put out so somewhere along the way I'll try the free version and see what happens.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2014)

Electraglide said:


> What's the difference between Unix and Linux?


UNIX has, over the years, become a specification for an OS -- it exists in many, mostly interoperable, variants now. Linux is a specific implementation of that specification.



> This program seems to support everything windows has put out so somewhere along the way I'll try the free version and see what happens.


Please, don't use those discs you bought!  Grab yourself a modern version of the OS. I highly recommend Ubuntu, which is BSD-based. Or Mint if you like things to look like Windows.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

iaresee said:


> UNIX has, over the years, become a specification for an OS -- it exists in many, mostly interoperable, variants now. Linux is a specific implementation of that specification.
> 
> 
> Please, don't use those discs you bought!  Grab yourself a modern version of the OS. I highly recommend Ubuntu, which is BSD-based. Or Mint if you like things to look like Windows.


http://www.srnmicro.com/products/
Strange this link didn't come thru. It's an anti-virus program that's supposed to cover every thing. Sorry about that.
As far as the Caldera set goes. I'll use it. Just to see what it does. Which means I'll have to probably redo the grand daughters tower....change the hard drive or put it in an old laptop. Should be fun.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

So, disabling Javascript in Firefox makes the "problem" go away. Unfortunately, javascript has to be enabled for some things to work on the web. Fortunately, this isn't one of them...at least as far as I can see.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

Can't you just set Java to "ask to activate"?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

That's a good question. I'll check when I get home.


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## Option1 (May 26, 2012)

mhammer said:


> So, disabling Javascript in Firefox makes the "problem" go away. Unfortunately, javascript has to be enabled for some things to work on the web. Fortunately, this isn't one of them...at least as far as I can see.


NoScript gives you control over which sites will run javascript and which won't. It's available as an extension/add-on for Firefox. http://noscript.net/

Neil


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2014)

bluzfish said:


> Can't you just set Java to "ask to activate"?


Java != JavaScript -- JavaScript was a poor name for the technology since it's relationship to Java is non-existant.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

mhammer said:


> Well, I've run both free versions of Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware and both found, and purportedly removed, a bunch of things, but I've still got trouble.
> 
> Basically, I keep getting sent to "surveys" (one of which claimed to be from this site, and I foolishly went to it, which may have precipitated worse things.), and keep getting a surfeit of pop-up ads for tech support of various kinds, all telling me that I have a problem with my PC.
> 
> I'll keep trying, but these pop-ups and hijacks (some for anti-malware software) are aggravating. In many instances, I'll be just about the click on something when an instant ad will relocate everything on the page.


Just an FYI. There has never been and never will be (as long as I own it) any pop-up ads or surveys or anything else like that on GC. The only ads you will ever see here are the banner ads at the top of the forum pages. There is also a banner ad that runs within the threads but you will never see that when logged in. So if you ever see any pop-ups even any that say they are from this site, they are not, trust me. One issue that any site has is links. I can control and detect malware that can sometimes be put on the site by malicious attacks, but I cannot control links to other sites that people post. Example, if someone says "download this from here" it may infect your machine with malware from that site, not here. Some browsers like Chrome will alert to potential malware from a link but it wont specify what link, so they are sometimes hard to find within the threads.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Understood. And just so we're clear, I attribute no blame to you and this site whatsoever. I work on surveys for a living, and I know that plenty of folks use 3rd party survey providers to gather marketing data from time to time (e.g., my congregation is using surveymonkey to gather member views on what they'd like to see in the replacement for our recently-retired clergy). In my own case, I took a peek at the "survey", just out of professional curiosity, to see what sort of things were being asked (the pop-up also said it was a survey for GuitarsCanada, and included "Traynor" somewhere in the blurb). And while the initial link to the "survey" (which was as bland and boilerplate as bland and boilerplate can be) snuck in somehow, via some means unrelated to this site, I suspect that my being suckered into clicking on the link for the survey (in good faith), probably allowed more things to infect my machine. Curiosity and survey-cats don't mix.

I'm just glad its ONLY stupid irritating fake warnings about Java updates, and not something like disgusting images of grinning ISIS morons holding up severed heads. (Folks may have read about _this_ item: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...rs-hack-unb-student-union-s-website-1.2797758 )


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## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

mhammer said:


> I've been pretty lucky over the years. My surfing is pretty well confined to the same sites, and those sites have been secure. I was recommended by our IT folks at work to use SpyBot and TDSSkiller from Kaspersky to clean up some things that cropped up, and they worked quite well, especially given that they were free downloads.
> 
> But last night I started getting obnoxious pop-ups regarding presumed "trouble" my PC was having, and an annoying number of pop-up ads, making it near impossible to use my browser without being directed to undesired sites. My Firefox installation is set for pop-up blocking, and an emergency install of Opera did not improve the matter. I ran both the latest free download of SpyBot and TDSSkiller, and those didn't alleviate the problem.
> 
> ...


We have two laptops in our household that were having similar problems. I have always used Malwarebytes for malware, but when we run it, there doesn't appear to be any issues, yet it seem obvious there were issues with performance.

I went to the Malwarebytes website and found their forums where all I did was start a post about the problems I was having and was quickly responded to by their online experts, who walked me through their process of fixing the issues with our laptops. They do this for free but ask you make a small donation. The work they did to fix our laptops was easily worth a donation. Here''s the direct link to the appropriate forum...

https://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?/forum/7-malware-removal-help/


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Thanks. I'll give that a try later today.


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2014)

Mark, try: https://www.ghostery.com/en/ -- browser extension that's pretty darn good at the blocking of the crap.


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2014)

tnx for that link. I just installed it.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ghostery/


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Installed. Interesting.

EDIT: Holy moly, there are a _lot_ of people trying to data-mine my on-line behaviour.


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2014)

mhammer said:


> Installed. Interesting.
> 
> EDIT: Holy moly, there are a _lot_ of people trying to data-mine my on-line behaviour.


Yes, there are!


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

iaresee said:


> Mark, try: https://www.ghostery.com/en/ -- browser extension that's pretty darn good at the blocking of the crap.


I have never had a problem with viruses on my computers. I just use the McAffee program that comes with my Shaw provider. But I have never come across a comprehensive program like the one you linked to so I thought I would give it a shot. Now it will be on every computer I will own in future and I will highly recommend it to others.

I read the reports that show the scripts and although I knew I was being tracked and used as marketing fodder, I had no idea of the extent of it. None of my other preventative measures were anywhere near as effective as I thought they were.

Thank you for the link. Ghostery is definitely a keeper. Over time, I will learn to use it in the most effective way so only tracking I want is going on in the background (some cookies and tracking from favourite sites can be a good thing for the user).


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

iaresee said:


> Mark, try: https://www.ghostery.com/en/ -- browser extension that's pretty darn good at the blocking of the crap.


We talking an anti-virus type program or an ad blocker type program? And is there anything it doesn't work with or catch?


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2014)

bluzfish said:


> I have never had a problem with viruses on my computers. I just use the McAffee program that comes with my Shaw provider. But I have never come across a comprehensive program like the one you linked to so I thought I would give it a shot. Now it will be on every computer I will own in future and I will highly recommend it to others.


Cool! But just to be pedantic: Ghostery isn't really protecting you from virus per se, it's blocking tracking facilities and malicious javascript exploits -- I gues that virii, but not in the "wipe your hard drive, hold your files hostage" kind of virus way we're used to. 

I also really like Disconnect (https://disconnect.me/) but it's been a real CPU hog for about 3 months now and they haven't been able to fix it, so Ghostery wins!


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

Yeah, I know that. But tracking technology used to the extent it is apparently being used these days is almost obscene to me. And that kind of marketing, surreptitiously spying on my personal online activity and either selling the info or using it to try and force advertising on me is offensive to my sensibilities.

Again, thanks so much for the link.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Ok, I just installed Ghostery on the grandaughters computer....runs XP Home sp3 with AVG free. And it says on gc.com there are 6 trackers and the buttons are blue which means, if I understand everything, that it is allowing the trackers until I tell it to block them in some way. Don't you think it should block these trackers and then give you the option to un-block them. Sorta like and anti-virus program telling you that you have a virus and what do you want them to do about it. I asked myself if this was something I really needed and I answered back, no. There's nothing in the site or program that I find useful. So Google tracks this site. I have an android phone, google tracks everything. And to be fair, before I installed it on this computer I tried to install it on the G5 running snow leopard. The Safari version wouldn't install for me. And when I installed it on this computer I unchecked all the little boxes including automatic updates. Nothing is updated automatically on any of my computers. And gc with six trackers is the most. all the other sites I surfed had 1 or 2. Youtube had 1, FB had 1, Kijiji had 2. Hell, even a 'safe' site I go to occasionally that has young ladies smiling at you only had 1. So now, since I won't use it, it will come off this computer.
And just for the hell of it I did a little looking. This is from wikipedia. 
Evidon, the company owning Ghostery, plays a dual role in the online advertising industry. Ghostery blocks sites from gathering personal information. But it does have an opt-in feature named GhostRank that can be checked to "support" them; GhostRank takes note of ads encountered and blocked, and sends that information, though anonymously, back to advertisers so they can better formulate their ads to avoid being blocked.[4]
Read into this what you will.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

It's 2014 and computer activity tracking is inevitable and in some cases, desirable. But any time I can put a stick in the spokes of a marketing machine spying on me and selling my information to any porn and snake oil site that will pay for it, I will.

Like I said, it is a tool that needs to be honed to personal preferences. For instance, I have Ghostery bypassed for this site to make sure the advertising that helps support GC is effective so the site can attract more of it. I really don't know if it actually helps, but with Ghostery, I seem to have that option where I didn't before.

I only turn on my location on my phone when I need to use it. My Surface Pro 3 with win 8.1 Pro is set to ask me first before giving out my location and info so I can have some modicum of control. And my hard drives are double encrypted to prevent background data mining. I'm just not worth the trouble for anyone to get through that without an invitation.

Just call me a paranoid SOB. I'll take the compliment with grace.


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2014)

Since installing Ghostery, every page I open loads really fast!
I like!


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

Without reading the whole thread, are we all a go for Ghostery? If so, I investigate further and likely download. I have a mac, btw.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I have rejected every tracking thing that pops up on Ghostery (i.e., none are accepted), but I still get sent to "surveys", and I still get those weird highlighted words/phrases. I don't think I've _completely_ run out of free downloadable anti-virus/anti-malware packages, but I've run 4 or 5 separate ones so far, with each one "finding something" and removing it, and I still get "sent" to new windows with surveys (which I assume are phishing expeditions, each one taking great pains to look legitimate, and related to the current site being viewed). And, worse, I still can't see my work e-mail from home. Not that I'm a workaholic, but I get a fair chunk of non work-related, or tangentially work-related, e-mail from friends, list-servs, academics, etc. (some of which comes from other time zones, so it arrives after I've left work for the day, or weekend), plus "corporate spam" from my employer, that I like to be able to clean up when I have the chance. I'd really like to be able to fix that.


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2014)

mhammer said:


> I have rejected every tracking thing that pops up on Ghostery (i.e., none are accepted), but I still get sent to "surveys", and I still get those weird highlighted words/phrases. I don't think I've _completely_ run out of free downloadable anti-virus/anti-malware packages, but I've run 4 or 5 separate ones so far, with each one "finding something" and removing it, and I still get "sent" to new windows with surveys (which I assume are phishing expeditions, each one taking great pains to look legitimate, and related to the current site being viewed). And, worse, I still can't see my work e-mail from home. Not that I'm a workaholic, but I get a fair chunk of non work-related, or tangentially work-related, e-mail from friends, list-servs, academics, etc. (some of which comes from other time zones, so it arrives after I've left work for the day, or weekend), plus "corporate spam" from my employer, that I like to be able to clean up when I have the chance. I'd really like to be able to fix that.


A clean install of Windows is likely your best bet at this point. 

Want to buy an iMac? I'm selling mine really cheap -- $250. Works great, but I've got a new retina iMac incoming.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Thanks, Ian, but I'll pass.

So, with Ghostery running, alongside PC-Tools, instead of being routed to a survey or a warning about my out-of-date Java, I saw this:









So now, armed with that information, what can/should I do?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

*SUCCESS!!*

HUzzah!

I finally managed to see a URL flash past me as yet another, and another, window opened up. Ghostery and the other stuff I had run was doing what it does, but could not stop the interruptions.

So, I decided to Google the URL, or at least what I could see of it. And what should show up first, but this: http://malwaretips.com/blogs/serve-bannersdontwork-com-removal/

I followed the instructions, and I am interference-free for the first time in weeks! Just as important, I am now able to read work e-mail at home (not because I'm a workaholic, but because I get personal stuff at work).

The basis of the resumption of normal browsing involved mousing up to the upper right-hand corner in Firefox, clicking on the icon made of three little bars, clicking on the question-mark in the window that pulls down, and "resetting" Firefox. That's it.

Phew!


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

Excellent! I do like Firefox for some of those types of things it does. Do you mean the 'help' question mark? I don't see a reset option there (v 33.0).


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Sorry. Missed out on a step there.

1) Click three-bar tools icon.

2) Click on *? *at the bottom for help menu.

3) Click on "Troubleshooting Information" near the middle of the Help list. (the part I neglected to note)

4) Click on "Reset Firefox" in the upper right of the Troubleshooting information screen.

There. THAT'S it.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

Thanks. Good to know.


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## Guest (Oct 30, 2014)

keep in mind, you lose all your add-ons as well.
You'll have to reinstall the ones you like.
I like using cool previews.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Useful to know for some, I'd imagine. Just remember you're talking to a guy who thinks that the Windows Write applet that came with Win 3.0/3.1 is the best word processing software he's ever used. I still miss it.


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## Option1 (May 26, 2012)

Mark, the thing to remember is some of those add-ons like AdBlock Plus, NoScript, and Ghostery can help prevent possible future infections. 

Neil


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Option1 said:


> Mark, the thing to remember is some of those add-ons like AdBlock Plus, NoScript, and Ghostery can help prevent possible future infections.
> 
> Neil


Neil: Thanks very much for this suggestion. I just installed AdBlock Plus and it not only blocks those annoying ads but loads the pages much quicker.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

mhammer said:


> Useful to know for some, I'd imagine. Just remember you're talking to a guy who thinks that the Windows Write applet that came with Win 3.0/3.1 is the best word processing software he's ever used. I still miss it.


I prefer pen and paper myself. Good to hear you computer is working ok again. The only addon I have is the youtube thing. No adblocker or anything like that.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

mhammer said:


> Well, I installed Service Pack 3 for XP. Apparently, I had 164 security updates from Microsoft that had never been installed. For whatever reasons, Microsoft Security Essentials would not install (although, in fairness, I had tried to install it before I was alerted to the 164 updates when I attempted to shut down last night).
> 
> Perhaps when I get home tonight, I'll be able to get MSE to install. I'm also going to re-install Firefox.
> 
> The current problem is that my browser keeps getting hijacked to either surveys, or to dire warnings about my computer being contaminated and a repair service eagerly awaiting my call to their 1-800 number if only I click on OK.


mhammer...I recently had 'recently bought' pop ups and pop ups brought to you by 'Buy And Save' along with 'a problem with my computer' pop up. I tried many of my 'go to' methods and none got rid of the problem.

So...since I had Microsoft Security Essentials on this XP machine, and Microsoft hasn't been supporting XP for a while now, I remover Security Essentials and installed Avast. I ran the scan and it showed no problems but when I opened my browser to surf, Avast has a Browser Cleanup utility that automatically said "this thing is trying to F you in the A" (ok it wasn't quite that graphic) and it allowed me to punt it from my system.

You should make the move to Avast...download it at CNET.


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