A Trojon Horse or a Dirty Trick ??

[melott]

A couple days ago I was Google searching for
Amiga Retailers. (on my PC)
One of the sites got a Trojon Horse? past my
firewall.  This thing called 'CoolSearch' (a web
searcher) has installed itself as my home page
and I can't figure how to get rid of it. I can't find
what the file is called.
Anyway, the only web site listed for it is a site
called 'Merijn Software'.
Their web page says that some hacker is
responsible and is giving their site as a way
to remove the Trojon Horse. Their 'Spy Ware'
will remove it.
How gullibe do they think I am
Yaaah Riiight ,, I'm supposed to beleave that.
They want me to download their software and
pay whatever their price is.
No way in Hell I would buy their software when
they use these kinds of Dirty Tricks.
This happened at what I thought would be a
legitimate site....
Google searchers  beware :-x

Anyway .. anyone know how I can figure out
how to get rid of this offending file ??
I'm using Win98 SE.

[seer]

Ermm.. AFAIK, the tool is a free download ??

You mean this site ?

to download this ?

If you don't trust it, download AdAware from this site or Spybot from here and see if that helps...

[Cyberus]

try downloading 'Spybots'. Its shareware and I can recommend it heartily. Just do a google search or try download.com

I hope this helps

edit: seer beat me to it...

[Merc]

I've been able to remove these things by hand before, when I can't find something to do it for me.. it's tricky though.  I usually search the registry for something like the URL it takes you to, or search all files on the HD for that URL, and delete any and all references to it.  Last one I had to do was really nasty and put something in startup that reinstalled itself (by browsing to another, separate URL).

Just thowing that out as an option

[Dr.Bongo]

I agree with Spybots, also try Ad-aware 6 (it`s free to download too!) If these two can`t do it I`m not sure what will. Best of luck.

[Blomberg]

Adaware and Spybot (as already mentioned) along with a virus checker should do some of the work.

Other than that, I'd say stop using Internet Explorer, as it's full of vulnerabilities that let these things slip in.

I haven't had the need to scan for adware/spyware for some time now (knock on wood) due to (i think) the fact that I tend to avoid using IE except when absolutely necessary.
For all my browsing I use Mozilla Firebird, which has a nice popup blocker too.
I keep my virus checker updated (i use AVG which is free).
I use a personal firewall, Sygate, not the best in the world, but it does the trick for me and it's free for personal use.
I keep an eye on running processes using the task manager and msconfig to disable anything suspicious (with the help of google).

[redrumloa]

SPY/AD-ware is the most annyoning thing in the world. Everyoneone I know calls me with "Help me, such and such happened" :-x

[that_punk_guy]

What Blom said.

Also, when looking for free software, look at sourceforge.net first. So many people are using the spy-infested crap they find through sponsored search engine links when there are freely available, better coded, more trustworthy, open source alternatives available at Sourceforge.

[HopperJF]

melott wrote:
A couple days ago I was Google searching for
Amiga Retailers. (on my PC)
One of the sites got a Trojon Horse? past my
firewall.  This thing called 'CoolSearch' (a web
searcher) has installed itself as my home page
and I can't figure how to get rid of it. I can't find
what the file is called.
Anyway, the only web site listed for it is a site
called 'Merijn Software'.
Their web page says that some hacker is
responsible and is giving their site as a way
to remove the Trojon Horse. Their 'Spy Ware'
will remove it.
How gullibe do they think I am
Yaaah Riiight ,, I'm supposed to beleave that.
They want me to download their software and
pay whatever their price is.
No way in Hell I would buy their software when
they use these kinds of Dirty Tricks.
This happened at what I thought would be a
legitimate site....
Google searchers  beware :-x

Anyway .. anyone know how I can figure out
how to get rid of this offending file ??
I'm using Win98 SE.

ditch ur wintel
switch to amiga internet or a mac where these things do not work

[that_punk_guy]

HopperJF wrote:

ditch ur wintel

I doubt any people on Amiga.org use PCs because they think they're ultra-secure and reliable! Sometimes we just have to, or we want to use a certain package, etc.

[HopperJF]

not really
most apps on wintel come with mac versions or equivalents
if theres a market, amiga equivalents too
the point is people are living without wintel, its possible, its just whether people are willing/have the guts to take the plunge

there are people who get by on amiga

[Acill]

Yup I got rid of Wintel and now am a Mac/Amiga only user. I'd say it was the best thing I have ever done.

[Prod]

CWShredder is what you need.

[melott]

Well I agree with most of what you ppl are saying.

I have my A3k w/ WarpEngine 40mhz ,80 megs ram
and Cybervision64 card.

I have Ibrowse 2.3, (are there any update patches??)
And as much as I am not fond Explorer, the GFX
and speed are better than IBrowse.

Maybe its time for an IBrowse thread for  'Tips
and Tricks' to improve speed ect.

[bloodline]

In answer to this thread, SPYBOT!!!

HopperJF wrote:
not really
most apps on wintel come with mac versions or equivalents
if theres a market, amiga equivalents too
the point is people are living without wintel, its possible, its just whether people are willing/have the guts to take the plunge

there are people who get by on amiga

There is one reason why I have a Wintel over a Mac, Bang Per Buck. I tested an Apple PowerBook G4 and a Pentium4 Laptop, both running Reason 2.5 and Logic Audio at the same time. The Wintel was able to do so without slowdowns, and cost nearly £1000 less.