danieltamy

Hello, guys! I have a very annoying problem! A couple of days ago I wanted to see some kind of short movie on the Internet. I can't remember the site, but I received a message that I need to download some kind of program that would enable me to this that movie. Ok. I downloaded and installed it. Then I realized that I don't need it and I uninstalled it.
The problem is that with that program another 'thing' was installed on my computer and all the time there were messages appearing from nowhere saying that my computer could be infected with spyware and that I have to download some antispyware and antivirus programs from the web. I couldn't loose this 'thing' but after I restarted the computer in safe mode I manged to delete all the files from Program Files related to this 'thing' and all the remains from the video softaware that I installed initially. But now I still have an annoying thing which is some kind of icon in the taskbar that is active even in the Safe Mode. It looks like a shield with a question mark in it that flashes and changes into an 'x'. From time to time there is a text ballon that appeares from that icon with the message:"System alert! System has detected a number of spyware applications that may impact the performance of your computer. Click the icon to get rid of unwanted spyware by downloading an up-to-date antispyware solution." and if I click on it, it opens an Internet Explorer window with the site of Virus Protect, some kind of antivirus software. I can't get rid of it. I don't know what to do. I used Nod32, Spyware Doctor and also an Antyspyware tool from Microsoft and they didn't detect any problem. Can anyone help me? Please!

Darren

Yup, sounds like spyware, and a pretty obnoxious one. The thing about this kind of spyware is that it is program to run as a WIN32 Shell Extension, which means that many of it commands are triggered by the Windows Registry using OEM values, which can be pretty hard to spot, even for the most experience Windows user.

I would give AdAware a try and see if this will detect and remove it. I hope this will help you.
Good luck.

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danieltamy

Hello again! I downloaded AdAware and I had a full scan of my system. It found some spyware and I agreed to remove them but I still have that problem. The icon in the taskbar with that message are still there. Any other solution? Can't I manually find it and delete it in some way? The problem is that it hasn't got any name so I don't know what to look for.

Darren

I know it sucks big time having things on your system you don't want, believe me - I have been there, and I would feel the same way as you.

There is one way of checking it out, you can download and install Visualizer Instant Help, and see if its launched by the Windows startup procedures.
http://www.freeimagebrowser.com/instant/

Once you are logged into the software, click on the Running Processes button and then click on the Log Running Processes link (on the left side). Right click inside the text field (right side) and select Select all from the menu, then right click again and select Copy. Post a new comment to this thread and right click inside the comment field and paste the data you just copied from Visualizer Instant Help. I can then try and help you by checking the Windows Registry startup and see if it launched from there.

__________________
Project manager
Visualizer Image Group

"Don't judge yourself on how far you have come,
It's better to get somewhere than nowhere"

danieltamy

The other problem that I have is that I cannot log into the software because it says that "The software cannot connect to the server. Please try again!" I think this happens because I'm on my university server and it doesn't allow me to do many other things (like connecting through DC++) I live in university accommodation and I go home for Christmas and I think there it will work. Is there any other possibility till then? If not, I think I will post another thread then. (It's becoming very annoying this 'thing' that I have on my computer) Thanks a lot anyway!