Adware

Simon · 2014-03-03, 04:22 PM

And take a moment to be glad it's not ransomware. A neighbor called me last week to come help him as his computer had downloaded something that wouldn't let him do anything aside from go to their website and pay for the program they sell. It wouldn't let him use the Control Panel or boot into Safe Mode on restart via any of the usual methods so he was about to toss it in the canal.

(For those who may need it, we got to Safe Mode by restarting and then pulling the plug on power just after it began the startup sequence. This made his PC open the Startup Settings screen so we were able to restore a previous good save point.)

The reason I bring this up is to ask if you've tried using System Restore to just move back to an earlier save point before the adware infected your computer?

ecchi · 2014-03-05, 06:19 AM

Thanks.

The Malware software threw up over a hundred things it thought were malware, but on investigation most were not. Some were even PHP pages I had written myself which may have been malformed (I usually use Perl, and am only just beginning to learn PHP) but were defiantly not malware! However it did throw up four programs with "Better Surf" in the name which was a surprise for two reasons. Firstly I run a malware blocker and I was assuming that would block such shit. I thought the bastard doing this would be some free software that I had downloaded that also installed Better Surf as a sideline. Secondly, I have twice run Windows file search thingy looking for files with "better surf" in their name, it did not find these four!

I have also removed a couple of keys using the words "Better Surf" in their name. I am not entirely sure what I did and was a little worried that my computer may not boot after my amateur brain surgery on it. But it seems OK.

Thanks everyone for your help.

housekeeper · 2014-03-05, 12:19 PM

Cool, just as an aside and I'm sure you already know. Always best to use 'selective startup' and disable everything except your anti virus software, check that if you haven't already: run > 'msconfig' > 'system configuration utility'

2014-03-03, 04:22 PM	#1
Simon That which does not kill us, will try, try again. Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Conch Republic Posts: 5,150	And take a moment to be glad it's not ransomware. A neighbor called me last week to come help him as his computer had downloaded something that wouldn't let him do anything aside from go to their website and pay for the program they sell. It wouldn't let him use the Control Panel or boot into Safe Mode on restart via any of the usual methods so he was about to toss it in the canal. (For those who may need it, we got to Safe Mode by restarting and then pulling the plug on power just after it began the startup sequence. This made his PC open the Startup Settings screen so we were able to restore a previous good save point.) The reason I bring this up is to ask if you've tried using System Restore to just move back to an earlier save point before the adware infected your computer? __________________ "If you're happy and you know it, think again." -- Guru Pitka

2014-03-05, 12:19 PM	#3
housekeeper Oh! I haven't changed since high school and suddenly I am uncool Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: New York City Posts: 250	Cool, just as an aside and I'm sure you already know. Always best to use 'selective startup' and disable everything except your anti virus software, check that if you haven't already: run > 'msconfig' > 'system configuration utility' __________________ Trans-Glam Productions photography - design - video production twitter

2014-03-05, 06:19 AM	#2
ecchi Banned Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: About to be evicted!!!! Posts: 4,082	Thanks. The Malware software threw up over a hundred things it thought were malware, but on investigation most were not. Some were even PHP pages I had written myself which may have been malformed (I usually use Perl, and am only just beginning to learn PHP) but were defiantly not malware! However it did throw up four programs with "Better Surf" in the name which was a surprise for two reasons. Firstly I run a malware blocker and I was assuming that would block such shit. I thought the bastard doing this would be some free software that I had downloaded that also installed Better Surf as a sideline. Secondly, I have twice run Windows file search thingy looking for files with "better surf" in their name, it did not find these four! I have also removed a couple of keys using the words "Better Surf" in their name. I am not entirely sure what I did and was a little worried that my computer may not boot after my amateur brain surgery on it. But it seems OK. Thanks everyone for your help.