Spyware, Browser Hijacks, or other Yuckware? Check here 1st

missing links and version dependence?
in your "Yuckware ..." post, the instructions break down at the point where they ask the end-user to download the following:

CoolWWWSearch.SmartKiller removal tool and
CWSHREDDER

although the smartkiller was downloaded, the resulting error message indicated that "v1/v2 was not found", indicating a dependency on an earlier release?

as for the CWSHREDDER, the link produced a "LINK NOT FOUND" error, so this link may have moved.

please advise as to whether i should continue with the instructions

thanks, and again, great INFO!!!

You can ignore Smartkiller, its not needed with the current CWShredder. A direct-to-download link for CWShredder is available in This Post. That post also has some other updated info.

Twain Tech removal
I finally got rid of one instance of Twain Tech on an XP machine
after fighting it for days.

1. I deleted everything in \documents & settings\*username*\
local settings\temp folder.
2. I deleted the key: HKLM\software\microsoft\windows NT\
currentversion\winlogon\notify\WPAEvents. It was pointing
to the "2ldsrch.dll" file in system32 folder that kept coming back.
3. I ran the Giant software that finds and deletes the "2dlsrch.dll"
file that shows up as 'TwainTech'.
4. Reboot

If you update to Windows XP service pack 2 and run the "critical updates"
for XP, you can prevent programs like this one from coming back. I just
wanted to see if I could get rid of this one manually before updating
to SP2.
Hope this helps someone! - Jim

EDIT (Moderator): Link Removed

Microsoft just released their antispware tool, based on recently acquired software...get it here: www.microsoft.com/spyware

Prolly oughtta mention its a Public Beta just yet - full release is a bit further down the line - though prolly not too far off. S'posed to be regularly updated on the "Second Tuesday" cycle M$ uses for Windows Patches once it goes mainstream. Unsurprisingly, some fee-for-subscription anti-yuckware vendors are badmouthin' it, though Symantec and MacAfee reps are on record as sayin' they think its "A good thing", more or less. There are some issues with false positives, and it seems to attack toolbars pretty visciously. Apart from that, the only bad stuff I've heard about it comes from the same folks who have bad stuff to say about anything M$ does. I haven't tried it, but I've downloaded it, and I'm gonna put it onto a machine here in the near future and see what I think. I expect it'll be OK - not spectacular, but prolly OK.

I just like to thank you all for the wonderful advice in this thread.

I am not very good at computer stuff but finally got rid of my offeroptimizer/xlime etc pop ups by downloading the BHODemon and finding a file called ZServ.dll Program ID
zServ.ZServObj.1
I disabled this and now no more annoying pop ups.

The only problem I am now faced with is when I start my pc I receive a message saying Norton Anti Virus was unable to start email protection.

When I check my antivirus I get a script error page then it shows my securtiy and anti virus programs as refreshing?? I have norton 2002 and have disabled the firewall as I use the windows SP2 one. This problem has only been happening for the last few days.

Thanking you all

Hi micama and welcome to A2K


Just curious did this start happening the same time you disabled the firewall ?
I would recommend keeping the Nortons firewall and disabling the firewall that came with SP2,

Might be a good idea to post a question Computer forum,

Prolly the best solution to that problem is to gather up your Norton install disk(s) and activation code(s), then fully uninstall all Norton/Symantec apps through Add and Remove Programs, then go into Search and hunt down and delete every folder containing "Norton" or "Symantec" in its name. Reboot, reinstall your Norton stuff, reactivate, and you should be good to go. If your Norton product is current, and you completely and correctly wipe it out, you'll get a fresh full year's worth of subscription on the reinstall, BTW.

had to do a complete reformat of my computer as my problems esculated with xp files disappearing etc. Could not even get into my help folder, search folders etc.

I did install and download avg virus free last night and it detected a trojan which was imbedded and could not be fixed. It did remove some of the other contaminated files though. it was a downloader
trojan. My norton even being updated weekly did not pick it up. I checked the file and it was created on the 22nd december when I started noticing the popups.

I have given norton the flick. Spy bot did not pick anything up either.

Oh well my computer is nearly back to normal now.
Have 2 firewalls running the avg virus scanner and the bho demon installed as well.

I find it quite interesting that folks get all bunched up about Norton and MacAfee products ... with all sortsa "crashed my system", "slowed things down", and "missed this or that" complaints. Interesting because both are highly rated (consistently at the very top of the pack performance-wise) by independent testing organizations, and because I myself have quite a bit of positive experience with both. What this leads me to conclude is that both could use better documentation and user-support, and that even that prolly wouldn't matter much, since folks rarely bother with either resource until things at their end are already screwed up bigtime.

Both are resource-intensive, yeah, and I'd sorta like to see that remedied, but I understand where they're comin' from and where they wanna go with it, so I see no reason to anticipate either will evolve a smaller footprint. As machines, processors, memory, and operatin' systems constantly become more capable, that's less and less an issue. Heck, a contemporary mid-line, mid-price mainstream graphics card today has more memory and computing power than was common for an entire expensive topline desktop computer of 5 years ago

There is no perfect software. A huge part of the problem however is that there are no perfect users, and an amazing pecentage of users seem to go out of their way to be imperfect, then blame the software for not preservin' 'em from their own misdeeds, omissions, and in-general-poor-practice.

Hi timberlandko

re your comment I agree.

My IT son, who was in New Zealand on holidays and just came home also highly recommended norton to me. He is going to get me a newer version to install.

He too explained the same thing that you did.

However with my Norton anti virus I always checked with new updates and kept up to date with all issues.

I would just like to add that in over 7 years of computer use this was the first time I was attacked buy a trojan or any other virus.

Bump.

Personally, I have seen poor results using Norton. I prefer McAfee over Norton.

I use a Compaq Armada M700 with Win 2000, McAfee Enterprise 7, and Ad-Aware SE. I keep everything up to date. I have never gotten anything worse than ISTbar adware. Now, maybe this is just me, but it seems the best defense is a good virus scanner, good spyware scanner, and keeping everything up to date.

And yes, McAfee is resource intensive, which is why I turn it off when I'm doing something, and turn it on when I'm done. (the computer always stays on so it has time to scan)

The current offerings from both McAfee and Norton/Symantec are notorious resource hogs, best suited to newer, faster machines with plenty of RAM. Both are decent, efective and reliable at what they do, more or less, but as the vendors add to the lists of things they do, and wrap the applications ever deeper into the core of the host operating systems, they become increasingly bloated and unwieldly. Particularly troublesome are their respective "all-in-one" security/privacy suites. Performance impact is considerable, and in many cases, other legitimate, trustworthy applications on a machine may bring about major stability issues, suffer functionality impairment, and even inhibit bootup/shutdown when resident on the same machine as particular Norton/Symantec or McAfee applications. I've seen this most frequently on machines running older (Win9x/ME) operating systems, but I've seen it on some XP machines, too.

Just an FYI - typically, by any of a number of independent tests, Norton/Symantec scores a bit higher than McAfee on effectiveness, particularly against just-emerging threats. Both, however, rank at the top of the pack.