Spyware/trojan crap?
 

A glut of posts on this made me think here may be a good place to ask...

I have a very non-techy (ie she can't find her way around a keyboard let alone anything else) relative that has the full suite of hijacker and spyware stuff that has taken over her PC to make it more or less unusable.

I've tried helping remove it remotely but it's as good as impossible. Simple stuff can take hours this way with her let alone trying to remove this crap.

So...anyone know of any software that'll remove it all? Stuff like Norton leaves bits behind as does adaware etc including MS's new spyware remover. Unfortunately one bit left and it's soon all back.

Any suggestions on something I can buy/burn to a CD and send to her?

format her shit once
split her hd into min 2 drives
use norton ghost and drive c: with only os stuff

tell her to reghost evertime she gets fuct

Hence the dilema - there's NO chance of any of that happening successfully. She's very, very bad with computers/technology. It's a 6 hour drive so I'm not going there to do that for her.

There's must be something around somewhere capable of fixing it all.

Multiple programs are required

Spybot, adaware, intermute.com (Spysubtract), and microsoft spyware remover for starters-- (I am currentlyusing thelast 2)
I also heard HiJackthis is a good program too

PLUS, virus software.. I am using Norton(it came with the computer) and AVG--

Should probably run these in Safemode

Good luck

man I wish there was some golden answer but truth is no single program is going to remove all that stuff, You have to use different parts of different programs. I use bohelper to get rid of browser hijacks, then I use hijack this to remove all bad items from startup, then a adaware scan, then a spybot s&D scan, then I run the immunizer from spyboy s&d and enable realtime protection, then I run spywareblaster to block more crap then reboot and repeat untill its gone.

Its alot of steps yes I know, thats why scumware sucks so bad. Best of luck to you as your gonna need it. :thumbsup

Here is something I found...Don't rely on those free programs..they are NOT effective enough..Pay for a good program like Bullet Proof



CLEAN:
? HijackThis (HJT) / Tutorial
? Ad Aware / Tutorial
? SpySweeper
? Spybot S&D / Tutorial
? CWShredder
? The Cleaner

PREVENT:
? SpywareBlaster
? SpywareGuard

ANTIVIRUS & FIREWALL:
? Kaspersky AV
? Sygate Firewall Pro
? Kerio Firewall
? Zone Alarm

ONLINE VIRUS SCANNERS:
? TrendMicro
? BitDefender
? Panda
? RAV

RECOMMEND:
? DoxDesk Quick Parasite Check
? Windows Update

After thinking about it for a minute or two, I would say your best bet is to run Hijack this to stop all the crap from loading and then try all your scans etc. You'll be amazed at the file names they use too, they look like system files but really arent.

People that can't get on the internet anymore are GOOD for business and it's legal so fuck them up as long as you get your .03 cents/click.

Thanks for the advice and I feared as much having never come up with a single solution myself :(

I'll bundle everything I can onto a CD or two and get her to keep running it until (hopefully) clean :(

This is part of the reason I keep clear of threads where people installing shit like this are mentioned (whether true or not). This stuff is really fucking nasty and anyone geuinely involved in fucking up so many peoples PCs like this deserves to be hung by the balls with barbed wire. 95% of the people daft enough to get this shit installed are also daft enough to have no idea how to remove it :( Unfortunately though slagging off those who do shit like this on GFY makes little difference and ultimately can just burn bridges that may be useful in the future so a more or less pointless thing to do.