Anyone else have this stupid tool bar that over-rides my google toolbar and bombards me with popups?? I downloaded, what I thought was a MSFT product messenger.. and with it came this stupid toolbar. I tried many things to delete it.. and just now got rid of the toolbar by removing it from Regedit. Even with that.. I am still not sure that I took care of all of it. There might be crap associated with the lop $h!tbar that I still need to get rid of. I ran adaware 6 and it didn't do anything. I did an online search and there are many companies trying to profit from this toolbar by selling a software that gets rid of it.. i.e. spyferret. Anyways.. there should be a freeware that will get rid of this pest, but I can't seem to find it.

BTW.. I did some investigating. if you end up with some browserhijacker... the best tool to fight this is "CWSHREDDER". Simple and straightforward program.

PC Magazine tested 15 or so spyware removers in the most recent issue, and picked Spy Sweeper as the best. I've been using the free version for a few months, and it picked up a lot of crap that Ad Aware missed. It won't let you update the definitions for free, though. I'm probably going to pay the $30 for a one year subscription to get the updates. It's worth it to avoid the problem you had even once.

I use Spybot Search & Destroy.

Tells you what you've got, and what it does, and removes it.

It's free

good luck

Rusty

__________________
190E's:
2.5-16v 1990 90,000m Astral Silver
2.0E 8v 1986 107,000m Black 2nd owner
http://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall.jpghttp://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall2.jpg

USE MOZILLA OR FIREBIRD END THESE PROBLEMS.

Security by Obscurity! :p

__________________
190E's:
2.5-16v 1990 90,000m Astral Silver
2.0E 8v 1986 107,000m Black 2nd owner
http://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall.jpghttp://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall2.jpg

I download this after reading your post and it does seem to work much better than Spybot or adaware, especially in removal of the adware.

Shot down PC Dave!

just kidding.. more seriously, does anyone know which internet explorer option turns off the dialog box that comes up saying


Do you want to install and run "(after reading our terms and conditions) Time and Date Manager, which will keep your computers clock up to date" signed by THE SOMETHING CORPORATION blah blah

Where the terms and conditions say 'we will also install software to continuously monitor your web browsing, in a not particularly anonymous way, and install various links all over your computer, pointless toolbars, and pop-up adverts.'


Interesting you should note, the signing only indicates that the software comes from who it says it comes from (and hasn't been modified in-between), but nothing more than that - it may come from any dodgy person or company.

Signed software may still do perfectly illegal things on your computer.


thanks if you know how to stop these (it it in 'security' tab or 'advanced' tab - 'enable install on demand'

__________________
190E's:
2.5-16v 1990 90,000m Astral Silver
2.0E 8v 1986 107,000m Black 2nd owner
http://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall.jpghttp://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall2.jpg

Are you running the Google toolbar's popup blocker? It's free from the Google site, and blocks virtually all popups, including those seriously annoying "software" offers. I installed mine on a new computer in December, and it's already blocked over 2,000 popups.

this Lop toolbar somehow DELETED my google bar. So now I get tons of junk.. casino games, car ads, camera ads, etc. and its ANNOYING as hell. I ran spybot, adaware and CWSHREDDER and it still can't get rid of that damned program BTW... i hate WinXP... I liked Win98SE much better MSFT can go to hell... and take Bill Gates along

To help prevent this using IE - go to "Tools - Internet Options - Advanced" - and UNCHECK both 'Enable Install On Demand' boxes. Repeat, both boxes should be unchecked. This will help prevent programs like this auto-installing when you visit certain sites.

The spyware removal programs mentioned are good for most spyware, but many of these browser hijack softwares are sneaky and reload after deletion when you reboot. In many cases, you have to boot Windows in safe mode, delete the files, and then reboot. Many keep files running in system memory so you can't delete them unless you do so from DOS or safe mode.

There's a free program called 'Hijack This!" which is excellent in identifying and removing unwanted programs.

AdAware does an excellent job of removing most of the problems as well.

You can get both these free at this excellent link:

http://www.computercops.biz/downloads-cat-14.html

I run both Spybot and AdAware to eliminate crap. Between them, they get pretty much everything.

snibble - Let me know if you need help removing the spyware.

Good luck!

__________________
Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

Actually I did a little experiement of my own this afternoon - the steps you suggested will stop some bad software (I think), but by experimentation visiting a number of sites with these boxes that pop-up, if you want to keep your PC spyware clean, you REALLY SHOULD DO:

In internet explorer, click tools > internet options

go to the 'security' tab

Under 'activeX controls and plugins' select 'DISABLED' for 'download signed plugins' and 'download unsigned plugins'.

This will let you browse the web and make it almost impossible to contract any evil ad/toolbar/etc programs - so browse away!

A message still pops up if a site you visit needs these options at 'enabled' - but they are very rarely used.


good luck

Rusty

__________________
190E's:
2.5-16v 1990 90,000m Astral Silver
2.0E 8v 1986 107,000m Black 2nd owner
http://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall.jpghttp://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall2.jpg