Something weird's going on with my computer!

[Blondie]

It just started today.

Every now and then, a word will be underlined in color a post I'm reading here, the word insurance will be underlined and if I place my cursor over the word I'll get a message that'll say "for the best insurance quotes click here."

Another example is in the word weight loss, with "Looking for a great online pharmacy--click here to check out......"

Where did this crap suddenly come from?

I'm guessing that something got downloaded onto my computer, but I've been the only one on it for the last 2 days, and I didn't click anything that would allow that (never do.)

Can anyone help me?

 

[chell]

Seems like I remember reading a post similar to this just a few days ago.

 

[Dan Murphy]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=543028


In reading this, I do not think it was me who recommended that to grinningghost, I have only used Ad-aware (recently moved to the pay-for Plus version) and Spy-bot S&D.

 

[meandtheguys]

Hi! It seems someone had this problem last week and it was suggested they install a spyware program such as ad-aware. It is free, and it caught a lot of probs. in mine. Make sure you update it before you run it each time. I am not an expert, but if I can help, I will.

Michelle

 

[Blondie]

We've had Ad-Aware for over a year now.

I did a scan this morning and it caught 17, of which I removed.

I just ran another scan and it caught another 77!

Ezula was most of it, although one or two Gators were on there too.

Where did I get Ezula from?

Should I try one of the other ones too, like Spybot?

 

[Blondie]

Well, the underlined words are now gone, I guess that's a good thing. Strange thing is, the only sites I've been to today is my MSN homepage and the DIS.

 

[adamak]

http://www.ezula.com/HOTtext/support.asp

Look under 'how to delete' in the above article. Hope this works. You must have click OK unknowingly to install Ezula at some other website, just like Gator.

 

[Otto's Doll]

I have used Spybot for a long time, but just downloaded Adaware, and it found 43 new things to fix. Definetly get both programs, it will be worth the time. (Both are free for the basic program, and my computer is much faster now.)

 

[Blondie]

Found the ezula, deleted it and restarted.

We'll see!

 

[ASFCurly]

one thing, if you have downloaded a toolbar, some of them have word highlighters, and if you search a word, then if you accidentally press that button it will highlight is on every page, so that could be something to think of.

 

[Lovely2CU]

I would definitely recommend using both Adaware and Spybot.

But both applications can only be as good as the information they hold, so remember to use the built in links and update them regularly (say every two weeks).

As well as adware and spyware, you may also get hit by a browswer hijacker that will set itself as your home page. Some can be manually overwritten, but some can be very difficult to remove. Sometimes you can re-set your browser to your own home page, but the hijacker reappears the next day. A pretty good little utility for dealing with this is "CW Shredder", which can be downloaded free here: CW Shredder. Again, CW Shredder has an update link which should be used regularly.

The Merjin site also carries a lot of information on browswer hijacking, etc. and even has a forum to get help or to share your experience with others. Another utility is "Hijack This" (also obtainable from the above site), which scans the PC registry and produces a report in text form. This can be posted on the Merjin forum and a knowledgable person will look at it and advice on what to do next will be posted.

These unwanted 'implants' are, to put it mildly, a blight onn us all. Some can bypass firewalls and other protection and really spoil your enjoyment of using a computer and the internet.

Good luck.

 

[browneyes]

I hope all the people that put out that stupid adware junk gets 1000 times that much adware put on their computers.

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

I have two questions about this:

1) Why is it legal to sabotage people's computers like that? Some of that spyware invades people's privacy and then damages their property...why is this allowed to happen? I just don't get it.

2) Why why why do they do it? How many people actually purchase products from creeps who invade their privacy and damage their computer? I know of nobody who responds in a positive way to spyware, spam, or pop-ups. Banner ads aren't so bad, but that stuff that gets in your face is so irritating that I would never ever purchase anything from those people.

How do they make their money? It seems to me that their offensive tactics would only serve to anger and turn away potential customers. They can't possibly make a profit, can they???

 

[Lovely2CU]

Hi Dakota_Lynn,

The answer to your first question is that it is legal simply because it's not illegal. I know that sounds like a silly answer, but it is an unforseen side effect of the PC/internet boom, along with spam.

Although governments are trying to legislate against it, it's very difficult to police effectively and it's really been left to individual and corporate members of the user community to protect themselves. ISPs and software providers such as AOL and Microsoft do what they can to offer built in protection, but as with most things, the bad guys keep finding ways to overcome the latest developements.

Dubious applications can arrive from a number of sources, the obvious one being downloads from the internet. However, they also come as part of some software packages, known as 'bundled applications'. For example, I installed a new (branded) keyboard recently and the keyboard software came with a number of additional non-keyboard related applications. It was only because I was aware of them that I was able to deselect them before they were installed.

A large number of (so called) free applications that you can download from well known sources can also contain adware and spyware. So in a lot of cases, we are actually, as it were, 'inviting them into out homes'. In some instances, if you 'zap' the unwanted stuff using an application like Adaware, the host application no longer functions correctly.

Another type of 'nasty' is the 'data miner' which reports back on you files, your surfing habits and can even feed back a record of your key presses!

Some of the unwanted applications are so bug ridden that they interfere with the running of a PC, often causing it to slow down and sometimes stop rinning altogether!

This leads me into the second part of your question - Why?

Firstly, I agree with you entirely, I wouldn't respond to them, but someone must or they wouldn't do it.

The purpose of spyware is to feed back data to enable the advertisers to target you as a potential user of their product. I guess that they must work on the 'blanket' principle of hitting as many people as possible in the hope that a few will respond to the subsequent 'spam'.

In summary, as stated above, I'm afraid it's up the the users to protect themselves as much as possible, but there's always a possibility that something will get through. In my own experience, four weeks ago I had to re-build my PC from scratch because of somthing I couldn't remove, so it can happen even if your aware of the problem and how to protect yourself.

I hope this answers your points.

Best wishes.