A plea for assitance...

My daughter managed to get her computer infected by something called Spyware Protection 2010

It's one of those rogue Anti-Spyware programs that tries to force you to buy some special removal tool...ain't gonna happen

She found some help at security-wire.com but still ends up being told to purchase 'spyware cease'

I don't trust this site as it seems highly likely, it is associated or in cahoots with the original rogue software company.

Anyone heard of, know about or have a real fix?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=spyware+protection+2010+manual+removal

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Ferdinand
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=spyware+protection+2010+manual+removal

Thanks...but she's already got that list and has tried at least three different approaches. So far no love

Part of the problem is that her computer is so old and under powered that it doesn't take much to cripple it. The virus slows it down even more so she doesn't know if waiting for 6 or 7 hours for 'malwarebites' to finish is realistic or not

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Archeo-peteriX

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Ferdinand
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=spyware+protection+2010+manual+removal

Thanks...but she's already got that list and has tried at least three different approaches. So far no love

Part of the problem is that her computer is so old and under powered that it doesn't take much to cripple it. The virus slows it down even more so she doesn't know if waiting for 6 or 7 hours for 'malwarebites' to finish is realistic or not

Formatting the hard drive and starting over is not an option?

No, my daughter is adamant she won't do this.

It looks like she has succeeded in clearing the crap out but only time will tell.

She would have switched to an Apple or loaded Linux a long time ago but she has two apps that simply won't work on anything but Windows

One is here Geneology program that now has over 30,000 listings of relatives going back to the late 1600s. She has spent over 10 years building this repository and nearly every entry is validated through three or more different sources!

The other is a SIMs program that isn't quite as important but she does have a huge library of clothing fashions she created(1500+) that would likely could not be recreated.

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Archeo-peteriX
No, my daughter is adamant she won't do this.

It looks like she has succeeded in clearing the crap out but only time will tell.

She would have switched to an Apple or loaded Linux a long time ago but she has two apps that simply won't work on anything but Windows

One is here Geneology program that now has over 30,000 listings of relatives going back to the late 1600s. She has spent over 10 years building this repository and nearly every entry is validated through three or more different sources!

The other is a SIMs program that isn't quite as important but she does have a huge library of clothing fashions she created(1500+) that would likely could not be recreated.

So I guess putting everything on a flash drive is not on the table, what a shame.

Although, if you're running a PC, you should have some kind of back up it would seem; after losing two computers worth of stuff I found a way to save everything I have now..... just sayin

Peter, I am with Rick on this one. First, I pray she has backed up all of her hard work onto a flash drive or cd. If so, then format and reload is the way to go here. Many times, it takes less time to do that then to attempt to scrub the drive of the virus. Make sure she has all the drivers for her system before taking this step.

What OS version of Windows is she running? I have everything back to Win 98 in my shopping bag of software.

alan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2011 09:42PM by alanrw.

Oh, all the daat has been backed up onto DVDs but it's the setup and apps that aren't transferable to another OS and it is unknown if they would reinstall properly....they are old.

You're preaching to the choir however this would be much more complicated than it seems.

The computer is running Win Home and has only been updated to a certain point. A couple of years ago after one of MS updates/ Service Packs the computer became unusable. It was an MS bug that I also experienced on my machine. We reverted to the previous setup and waited for the next Win update which did work ok except, the main genology app no longer functioned. Revert once more.
No more updates were attempted until last summer...with the same results; the app would not function. So, once again revert to last known working setup.
There will be no more updates as it is obvious that the app is no longer compatible with Windows current versions.

Now the problem of redoing the hard drive would be finding and restoring it to exactly the same Windows update. Personally, I'm not sure it's worth the risk of losing the time and money invested in building the genealogical database. The app was only about $700 but there are litterally thousands of hours of research involved and perhaps thousands of dollars spent on archive searches...the people who hold things like sensus counts and church records generally charge money for you to look at them

What was Windows Home? Will the app run on Win98 or Windows 2000?

alan

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Archeo-peteriX
Oh, all the daat has been backed up onto DVDs but it's the setup and apps that aren't transferable to another OS and it is unknown if they would reinstall properly....they are old.

It's been my experience that almost everything is backwardly compatible. I'm not saying this is true in your case but couldn't it be tried without screwing up what is there now?

XP Home Edition as opposed to XP Pro.

Fixing the bug infestation is a lot easier than rebuilding the system which works fine otherwise

It's not my computer or I would have dumped all MS products and installed Linux. I'm sure there are perfectly good apps that will do what she needs but she is adamant about not switching

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rkj

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Archeo-peteriX
Oh, all the daat has been backed up onto DVDs but it's the setup and apps that aren't transferable to another OS and it is unknown if they would reinstall properly....they are old.

It's been my experience that almost everything is backwardly compatible. I'm not saying this is true in your case but couldn't it be tried without screwing up what is there now?

The problem is not knowing how far to retreat.
We know what update is installed but it is only saved locally on the computer now...MS has long since removed anything that old from it's update site.

Believe me when I say it is a lot easier to deal with the virus than resorting to rebuilding the computer

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Archeo-peteriX

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rkj

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Archeo-peteriX
Oh, all the daat has been backed up onto DVDs but it's the setup and apps that aren't transferable to another OS and it is unknown if they would reinstall properly....they are old.

It's been my experience that almost everything is backwardly compatible. I'm not saying this is true in your case but couldn't it be tried without screwing up what is there now?

The problem is not knowing how far to retreat.
We know what update is installed but it is only saved locally on the computer now...MS has long since removed anything that old from it's update site.

Believe me when I say it is a lot easier to deal with the virus than resorting to rebuilding the computer

Ah, the beauty of windows... I've got xp home on the acer and I love it though

I'm working with a macbook at the moment in the house, tonight I got in to the belly of the best and changed the password. The original was lost... That was interesting!

Good luck Peter

Peter, what about trying to install the program on your linux machine and if it works, just transfer the data over?

alan

I had that on my old XP system. I battled it gallantly but every time I thought I had it beat it would rise from the ashes and take over my computer again. I tried every bot-killer I could but the only solution was to burn it down and start over.

YMMV

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matt in Everett, WA

BMW n00b with a 1987 325e

Did you try the latest Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool?


[www.microsoft.com]


I would also install Avast and do a boot time scan.

you could also remove the infected drive and scan it with another PC, just dont boot from the drive.

Put it into a external drive case and make sure your antivirus scans the USB or Firewire attachments

then manually run a deep and through scan of the external drive when it mounts.

Also try spybot search and destroy. you can download that at cnet.com

www.avast.com



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2011 06:03PM by JUMPNYC.

Already tried that. It can only be accessed through WINE and the license server doesn't recognise non Windows OSs so it will only run in demo mode

We're watching...so far no return but you know how that goes

Due to a situation I can't control; physically touching the daughter's system is not an option...she suffers from SEVERE OCD with contamination fears. Yes; I am a source of contagion; but that is my cross to bare

Hmmm, that complicates things. I guess you are definitely on the correct path given all the parameters here.

alan

Yeh...but life is so much easier with Linux; OCD or not

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Archeo-peteriX
Yeh...but life is so much easier with Linux; OCD or not

I don't know if this relates but I've always run AVG anti virus and adaware but lately all I use is a firewall because my computer runs too slow with all that anti stuff.

Running the macbook is great in that respect; turn it on, it works..... so far

Rick

Rick: if you are careful about opening e-mails or the sites you surf to; chances are you won't pick up any of the 'bugs'; but it's still possible.
Don't rely on a firewall...all it does is prevent prying eyes from looking into your computer from the Internet.

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Archeo-peteriX
Rick: if you are careful about opening e-mails or the sites you surf to; chances are you won't pick up any of the 'bugs'; but it's still possible.
Don't rely on a firewall...all it does is prevent prying eyes from looking into your computer from the Internet.

Thanks Peter, I know. It's thin ice and I know it, but having the acer run fast is such a neat thing

Is there a way to safeguard without slowing down the whole show?

Unfortunately no. There will always be overhead with monitoring programs and there will always be malicious bugs out there

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rkj
Is there a way to safeguard without slowing down the whole show?

Most of the free anti-virus programs that I've had experience with, including Avast and AVG, are huge resource hogs and slow older systems to a crawl, as you have experienced. That renders them useless, since the only way to run the computer is to uninstall the AV software.

IME Microsoft's Security Essentials (also free) does a much better job, especially in terms of playing nicely with system resources. I've installed it on some of our older (and newer) Windows computers and been quite happy with it. I never even notice it's running.

Of course, best of all, don't click on those sketchy links!

__________
Dave
'91 325iX