HELP

[splodge]

My laptop has been invaded by spywear popup thingy's. Not great with this IT lark, can anyone sugest an easy solution PLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSEEE

[principia]

download Ad-Aware @ Lavasoft - The Original Anti-Spyware Company - Lavasoft

install it, run it.

J.

[BigG]

A very good tool

Adaware

I use it all the time (& it's free)

Gaz

EDIT: - rats.. too slow!

[mikecsmith]

Get the restore disk that came with your laptop, save everything you want to keep on your laptop to DVD or CD, shove the restore disk in and restart and follow the instructions - spyware is a bitch to get rid of even with stuff like AdAware, good luck.

[BigG]

Originally Posted by mikecsmith

Get the restore disk that came with your laptop, save everything you want to keep on your laptop to DVD or CD, shove the restore disk in and restart and follow the instructions - spyware is a bitch to get rid of even with stuff like AdAware, good luck.

That's a very final approach - most spyware can be got rid of easily, some is a real arse, but I'd only contemplate a reload as the last of last resorts (IMHO).

Adaware is good and then there are other tools that can help too

Spybot search & destroy
Spywareblaster

to name a few more

[mikecsmith]

True, I will admit to having everything backed up and I use an external hard drive for most stuff, I can do a full system restore in under 90 minutes. I've just had bad experiences with spyware in the past where I've taken 4-5 hours waiting on scans from different software to sort it out so I just do a full restore these days as I find it less hassle.

[BigG]

Originally Posted by mikecsmith

True, I will admit to having everything backed up and I use an external hard drive for most stuff, I can do a full system restore in under 90 minutes. I've just had bad experiences with spyware in the past where I've taken 4-5 hours waiting on scans from different software to sort it out so I just do a full restore these days as I find it less hassle.

Fair point. 90mins for a full restore you say - that is pretty good going. Might look at one of those external drives myself.

Reminds me that I haven't backed up in a while

Cheers

G

[David P]

We've done this one before ...

My experience suggested that after trying all the free automated tools, a Windows system rollback thingie - to the previous restore point before the nasty was caught - was the best solution.

[mikecsmith]

Originally Posted by David P

We've done this one before ...

My experience suggested that after trying all the free automated tools, a Windows system rollback thingie - to the previous restore point before the nasty was caught - was the best solution.

Depends, if you've got one of these swanky root kits stuck on your system you're in big trouble and a rollback thingie will still leave you with the problem, if it's a basic bit of spyware then you'll be ok but the nastier stuff is a real biatch to get rid of.