Spyware Protection removal?

15 years ago

Originally Posted by David Uebergang

Hey warriors,

*I apologise if this is in the wrong thread, please move if necessary

I'm sure you've heard of spyware protection; basically it poses to be anti-spyware software but it really just makes up fake threats to con you into buying the product.

I can't figure out how to get rid of it. I had it once before, to get rid of it I simply booted it up in safe mode with networking, downloaded malwarebytes and it took care of it for me. But now it seems that neither malwarebytes or spybot search and destroy are picking anything up, yet 'spyware protection' is still there. Any advice what I can do to get rid of it?

Thanks,

Dave

I got a similar virus called the 'HDD Rescue' virus, which originated from Facebook. Malwarebytes and SpyBot didn't do anything for me so I had to get creative.

I booted in Safe Mode (networking) and went to 'Run' -> msconfig

After that go to your 'Startup' tab and look for either:

1. The virus name itself
2. Or a combination of random numbers and letters. - be sure they aren't something that your computer actually needs.

Uncheck the box and apply it.

Now the computer won't run the program any more. This is suitable enough for most people, but another tactic that I used was to follow the PATH of the virus through the Startup and delete it that way.

I'm a pretty lax guy, so it doesn't bother me that the virus is still probably on my computer... until it does any damage, I have no lesson to be learned

.

Thanks
1 reply

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futureshocked 15 years ago

If the above solution doesn't work for you, just restore from your last backup. If you don't have your computer backed up, you might have to format / fdisk and rebuild your machine from scratch.
- Thanks
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herry

15 years ago

Spyware Protection 2010 is a rogue security program that gives false reports of threats on the computer. It downloads itself onto the computer without your permission and claims that you are infected with spyware, adware, Trojans and other malicious software, e.g. W32/Blaster.Worm. When you click to remove the supposedly found infections it will take you to a page where you have to buy Spyware Protection 2010. It wants about $60 to use their program for a year. Please do not fall victim to this rogue program. Spyware Protection 2010 is a scam and a typical rip-off rogue program. You should remove Spyware Protection 2010 from your computer as soon as possible. Thankfully, we've got the removal instructions to help you to remove the rogue program from your computer for free using legitimate anti-malware programs.

Thanks

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swords

15 years ago

Originally Posted by futureshocked

If the above solution doesn't work for you, just restore from your last backup. If you don't have your computer backed up, you might have to format / fdisk and rebuild your machine from scratch.

Originally Posted by Banner Design

take a copy of whats important to you then format disk thats the best option or your disk might get corrupted

Problem with both of your suggestions.... taking a backup or files from your infected computer and moving it to a new or reformatted computer leads to just as much risk anyways. Any virus is capable of knowing EXACTLY what you are doing at any given moment. If it sees file movement to a USB (or similar device), it can latch on to those files and be in your USB then.

Not saying these aren't bad ideas, but if you're going to go through the terribly long and agonizing process of reformatting (I've done one from a virus before - it's a PAIN), you might as well make sure you're 100% clean.

Thanks

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GotLiveChat

15 years ago

Try searching Google for
spyware protection removal
as the 1st couple of results have sites that detail removal.

Thanks
1 reply

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David Uebergang

15 years ago

Originally Posted by swords

I got a similar virus called the 'HDD Rescue' virus, which originated from Facebook. Malwarebytes and SpyBot didn't do anything for me so I had to get creative.

I booted in Safe Mode (networking) and went to 'Run' -> msconfig

After that go to your 'Startup' tab and look for either:

1. The virus name itself
2. Or a combination of random numbers and letters. - be sure they aren't something that your computer actually needs.

Uncheck the box and apply it.

Now the computer won't run the program any more. This is suitable enough for most people, but another tactic that I used was to follow the PATH of the virus through the Startup and delete it that way.

I'm a pretty lax guy, so it doesn't bother me that the virus is still probably on my computer... until it does any damage, I have no lesson to be learned

.

Hey thanks for the idea. I did as you suggested but could not find anything that looked out of place in the startup tab. Because I'm not a tech head I had to search a few of them to see what they were and some of them "could be a virus if not located in the proper place" but they all seemed right to me.

Originally Posted by futureshocked

If the above solution doesn't work for you, just restore from your last backup. If you don't have your computer backed up, you might have to format / fdisk and rebuild your machine from scratch.

Originally Posted by Banner Design

take a copy of whats important to you then format disk thats the best option or your disk might get corrupted

Hey thanks for the reply guys but I want to try and avoid a format if possible.

Originally Posted by GotLiveChat

Try searching Google for
spyware protection removal
as the 1st couple of results have sites that detail removal.

Yeah i've tried that, it worked for the first time I had spyware protection, but it ends up with a scan not picking it up or requiring me to do something techy which I'm afraid of screwing something up

Thanks
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David Uebergang 15 years ago

My little bro went to the computer this morning and realising that it wasn't going to work, shut it down. On the way to shut down; end now popped up, he clicked it and bam. It ended it.

I never thought of doing this, I tried ending the process a few times but task manager wouldn't open normally.

Just ran another scan then, maybe because I could run the scan in normal mode and the virus wasn't active, malwarebytes is able to pick it up this time (YAY ). Just gonna research it quickly before I delete anything, but hopefully this means the problem is solved.

Thanks for the help guys!

David
- Thanks
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GotLiveChat

15 years ago

I'm assuming you've already done this but I'll ask anyways; did you run the software update for both MBAM and Spybot S & D, and THEN reboot the computer in SAFE MODE (not normal mode; you need to hit f8 I think to choose safe?)?

It's important to have the very latest update before running any scan, and even then it may not fix the problem. The true resolution is to rebuild OS from scratch.

Now depending on your computer, rebuilding the OS may or may not be too big of a deal. I know many latest Dell's offer the ability to restore the computer back to its original state (the state in which you used it for the very 1st time; no spyware then (unless factory-installed

). **Just be sure to grab all your data (photos/docs/files/etc.) and move to external storage before doing this as it blows the current system files away!**

Thanks

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Spyware Protection removal?

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