Yarrggh, Suu999 feels very very dumb. I consider myself to be very computer-literate, and now I am performing my first-ever Spyware removal of XP Anti-virus 2008. I was surfing on the Internet for art reference from my favorite Don Bluth cartoons, and suddenly this website came up with these warnings and told me to download this software…I downloaded it and installed it, and now I have spent the past hour and a half trying to figure out how to get rid of it. It looked so legit to me that I thought it was really something from Microsoft. I knew it looked a little suspicious, but downloaded it anyway.
Now I have to get rid of it. I guess even the computer literates get fooled sometimes. Moral of the story is: If you ever think a download looks suspicious, DON’T DOWNLOAD IT!! Feel free to make fun of me for my folly…I probably deserve it.
On another note…lookin’ forward to Blender V.2.47. It looks good.
It’s called “NoScript”. I’ve been using it for awhile with firefox and I have never gotten any viruses. It’s fool proof too. Even “computer-literate” people shouldn’t have a problem with it.
Too bad you already have spyware in your computer though. Bummer. =/
If I downloaded that thinking it was legit, I wouldn’t be considering myself computer-literate. Look up ‘rogue spyware’. You should back up all your important files right away before things go off the deep end. My dad did the same thing (he is not computer-literate at all) and pretty much screwed over his computer. I had to format and reinstall. Fortunately I used a quick hack to make myself an administrator account and backed up all of his files through a secret entrance into explorer through a help menu.
That was a pain. Don’t let it happen to you. Back up. Think of the children!
use systems restore to go basck to befoe you installed it which should deactivate it, then run a virus scanner to find and delete all the files it put on you hdd.
I got the problem solved last night. I downloaded Malwarebyte’s Anti-Malware and finally got the spyware removed from the system, so no more XP Antivirus 2008! Yaay, go me. promises not to get duped again
I consider myself to be an Tech Expert (aka Supa-L33T H@KZRZ!!! RAWR!!) And a once got entangled in the smitfraud scheme myself.
The smitfraud virus is a FAKE virus that changes many settings on your computer (your background, hard drive accessibility, clock, etc.) to make it appear as though you have a horrible virus. It then leads you in every way it can to download free anti-virus software to get rid of this supposed “virus”. Upon download said software, you are actualy downloading along with it a virus, that the software (which is legit) will find. In order to delete this virus, you must pay $20 a month for their Premium Anti-Virus.
So
The WHOLE point of ransacking you computer is to make you buy crappy third party anti-virus software.
THAT, good friends, is lame.
Take it from me, they don’t joke when they say if it looks suspicious, be suspicious. The smitfraud is very hard to recover from, requiring registry hacking and many other advanced technical manuevers on your part.
PS. 1 @M l33t. 1f U d0nt b3L13v3 m3 @$k my m0m, n00b…
I agree with C-106 Delta. That website popping up from nowhere should have been a dead givaway, but with so much advertising on web sites these days, sometimes it’s hard to tell whether it’s something you asked for, something the content provider put there, or some rogue hacker playing games. No Script blocks all of that, and you can selectively turn it on to play embedded content or see menus and other legitimate stuff.
I use NoScript all the time at home and work, and the internet really seems like a calm oasis, full of valuable content. Then I use the computer at the library or at school, and oh. mi. gawd. I am so glad I don’t have to put up with that crap most of the time. The anti-hacking protection seems almost like a side benefit.
Yeah if you are on Firefox noscript is a must. And I also recommend cookie safe the same type of script just for cookies but that isn’t as important as noscript.
I just downloaded NoScript for Firefox. It is working amazingly. It’s giving me complete control over every script that runs in a website, which is awesome!
