I recently discovered that a program called faces-of-bush has been installed on my PC, I tiredto unintall it but this led to loads more programs intalling on my PC. I think I've got rid of them now but I keep geting pop-ups every few minutes on my IE browser. I tried unistalling or deleting it but I can't. Is there anyway to solve this? I used Ad-aware and Spybot and even used them in safe mode in case that might clear it better. I'm still getting the pop-ups but I can't see the adware but I know I've got it becuase I keep getting pop-ups.

First I would recommend you get a pop-up blocker, from Google, or the new IE 6.0 version has one built in. Most spyware gets installed from ads, when you click on them by mistake. Kind of strange AdAware and Spybot didn't find anything. I recommend you run MSCONFIG, and look at all the startup programs. If there is anything in there, that you cannot confirm what it is, or does not look "normal" search for the name on Google, and verify what it is. Most of the time this stuff runs in the background, but MSCONFIG will see it. Of course this is assuming you have Windows XP. If you don't let me know.

Well I've tried blockers before but they didn't work. I'm guessing it's something to do with it being adware. I do have XP but I don't know what MSCONFIG is.

Click Start -> Run -> CMD -> Type MSCONFIG

Go to the Startup Tab. This will show you all the programs that run when you login into your system.

I don't understand what you mean by CMD. I don't see anything like it anywhere.

Type "MSCONFIG" in the box and click OK.

Yes what he said. Sorry for leaving out details. I'm not sure how much you know about Windows. So I try not to insult anyone's intelligence.

i too, had that Faces of Bush thing. plus a few other things. my comp is really REALLY f***ed up right now. my computer is slowed down so much right now, plus i get a million pop-ups. i know theres so much crap backed up inside my comp. i have an ad-ware program that is used to delete all of it, but now, even that isnt enough. my pop-up blcoker that came with Juno isnt working anymore, along with the whole speedband part is disabled, and its all because of the stuff that on my computer. i somehow got a new pop-up blocker that is working fairly well, but still, many pop-ups get past that. i dont know what to do anymore. everything locks up all the time and crashes so i have to restart. i think of this as the computers vs. spyware war.

Heretic, you are one among many who have encountered problems with Spyware and viruses. I'll give a few hints here so that you and others can protect themselves. Also, you're system sounds like it's too flooded with Spyware, I suggest you backup your files (if you have a cd burner or another hard drive) and rebuild your OS. Of course when you rebuild your OS, follow these hints and you will probably never have a Spyware problem.

1. Trust no one! A lot of virus writers are able to spoof your friends e-mail addresses and make it seem like the content is legit. Then you download the joke, and you have yourself a virus. Always check your e-mail carefully and confirm with friends that you truly received a message from them. Same thing applies to websites. If it looks suspicious, don't download anything from it. Under any circumstance click on an Ad.

2. P2P networks can be dangerous. A lot of P2P software does install spyware, if you're going to use these make sure you know how to install them properly so that you can get rid of the spyware. If anything run AdAware or Spybot S&D after you install the software, to make sure you get rid of anything else you've missed.

3. Whether you're on dial up or high speed cable. Get a firewall. If you have a router with a firewall, that's an even a better option. You don't have to buy one, there are multiple firewalls you can download from the web for free! ZoneAlarm is recommended. If you have Windows XP SP2, their new firewall interface has been improved. The reason for the firewall, is that Spyware tries to capture information from your computer and sends it back home. The firewall "closes" all doors going out and coming in. So you have to tell the firewall to allow programs to exit.

4. Buy Anti-Virus software. Of course the popular ones will do like Norton and McAfee. Also these versions have Spyware protection, so you're getting a good deal. This will save you from having to rebuild a system and keep your system safe and trouble free.

5. Last and most important. Stay up to date with the latest patches on everything. OS, Anti-Virus, etc.. This will keep you from, being vulnerable to the latest exploits.

A lot of folks may already know this information, but you'd be surprised how many home users don't know how to protect themselves. They think, all they need is a Anti-Virus. Unfortunately it takes more than that.

I'm not sure if there's a resident tech around in the forum, but I'm always willing to help with computer problems whenever I can. I've been doing this, for about 7 years now, and securing our Network is part of my job. So I know a thing or two about hacking/protection/prevention.

Anyways, I hope these tips help. I didn't go into too much detail, however if someone asks I can give you more information.

dude, thanks so much for the tips. my computer is so messed up right now. hopefuly ill be able to fix it. ill download a firewall tomorrow and take it from there. yeah my friend told me today to go to Zone Alarm to get one so i guess i will. damn computers suck

Also I found one virus with the (read only) in properties. Adware cant remove it till you change to archives. Took me two weeks to figure that one out.

I tried MSCONFIG but I can't find the start up tag. The pop-ups have stopped now but my PC is now very slow. I might buy some software tomarow. Is there anything good that I can get with about £25?

Download 'Bazooka Spyware Scanner'. It seemed to help me quite a bit.

Pop-up problems? Use this to train.

Are your Spybot and Ad-Aware up-to-date?

sounds like a browser hi-jacker.

here

halfway down the page find a program call "Hijack This!". Install, update and scan and it should come up with a list. This is the stuff thats loaded up on your comp at the moment. Be careful what you delete though - you can restore it, if you deleated it by accident

I used start up list to check my start up programs. What do I do from there?

You have to look at the programs that are running, and find out what they are. Look at the name of the executable. For example, if it says msnmsgr.exe This means that MSN Messenger startsup when you log into your desktop. Just lookup the executables, doing a google search. If you see anything releated to spyware, find the file and delete it from your system.

my computer is slowly getting worse. i downloaded a firewall from Zonelabs.com. when it was done, i went to set it up, but it says the file is not a valid Win32 application. so now i cant use it. i was in my remove programs section yesterday to find all of this crap that i dont need and that was d/l into my computer. i went to remopve this one program. it said in order to do that i hjave to switch moes on my comp. so i did. it restarted and then everything was really big. i actualy got to delete that program. then i changed the screen resolution back to normal. but my comp is still in that other mode. so i can no longer put my computer into stand-by, and i think the mode change is the cause of that. also, every page i sroll up or down on or window i try to move moves really strangly. it like goes very slow and lines appear in the screen for a second when i move them. its getting annoying. also, there were other useless spyware programs that i tried to remove, but it wouldnt happen. i went to remove and it just said Uninstalling now....and it wouldnt uninstall the program. i continue to run my AdWare and i get different things everytime. i delete them but more keep coming. really, thats not helping at all anymore. i keep getting pop-ups, even when im off-line. i dont know what to do. everything is so slow and i cant even use a firewall to prevent more from getting in. so im basically screwed. my friend said to just reboot my harddrive and install windows all over again. but i dont wanna do that cuz i have too much stuff on here that would be a b**** to download again. does anyone have any suggestions of help for me?

Ok, you have too many problems going on at the same time.

1. Your video problem. Re-install your video driver. What you experience, as you scroll, has to do with the refresh rate. This usually means your display settings are incorrect, or you don't have proper video card drivers.

In order for me to help you with the rest. I need to know your Operating System and what Service Pack you have installed.

I used start up list this and was the only one on my running processess, netdaemon.exe.
I searched for it but can't find any information on it.

Delete this file. Usually anything that says deamon or demon, is Bad.

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