Evil Spyware program lurking on your PC? Read this! (long)
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Registered User
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,575
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From: Palm Springs
Even if you don't completely understand this or aren't experiencing the symptoms I've described, I recommend you read through it anyway, and run the program I mention near the bottom.
Over the last few months, when I've been typing a a new post or when replying, the S2000online screen has suddenly been replaced by another web page, which has an address http://bis.180solution.com/ad..... The screen is basically blank (white), but most often has a varying number of lines of software code. This page swap was happening about 30% of the time, and after doing a page back, my partially typed message was always completely blank (erased). (BTW. This has only been happening with the S2000online posting page displayed.
)
After doing an internet search for 180solutions, I found this site:
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2001/10...01gearhead.html Even if you don't completely understand it, read what it's saying It turns out, the article was talking about the exact problem I was having!
The next step I took was to go to the link (at the bottom) called "Getting rid of Spyware". (On the new page here, you can also browse to the "List of Known Spyware Infested Software" link.) Now, in the middle of this page it says:
"To find out what spyware might be on your systems, download a free utility called Ad-Aware from German firm Lavasoft. Ad-Aware is a relatively small Windows application that scans your memory, registry and file system looking for known spyware. It is fast, easy to use and free." That link was unavailable, so I went to the current address: http://www.lavasoftusa.com Here I downloaded and ran the recommended program. It was REALLY quick, and checked everything in a matter of seconds. Amazingly, it found 177 Spyware components on my hard drive (including the dangerous msbb.exe file, mentioned in the earlier webpage writeup, which I could not locate using my normal "Find File" option!)
Anyway, I decided to delete all these components (using the program's Config option). The result is that I haven't had the inital problem for more than a week now; however, because KAZAA (freeware music download program) includes an embedded Spyware component, a screen message appears when I try to load Kazaa, sayiing that a needed component is missing. This means that if I want to continue using KAZAA, I would need to reinstall the whole thing again - which would also (presumably) reload another spyware component.
Well, the bottom line is that this Spyware sounds to be as dangerous as any computer virus. You should be aware that with this program running on your PC, someone out there is logging every web page you go to. If this isn't a gross invasion of your privacy, then I don't know what is.
I'd be very interested in getting feedback from other members - to know if they are experiencing any similar problems, and what the results were from downloading and running the recommended lavasoft anti-spyware program, and post any comments about whether they perceive this as a major problem. Thanks for reading!
Over the last few months, when I've been typing a a new post or when replying, the S2000online screen has suddenly been replaced by another web page, which has an address http://bis.180solution.com/ad..... The screen is basically blank (white), but most often has a varying number of lines of software code. This page swap was happening about 30% of the time, and after doing a page back, my partially typed message was always completely blank (erased). (BTW. This has only been happening with the S2000online posting page displayed.
)After doing an internet search for 180solutions, I found this site:
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2001/10...01gearhead.html Even if you don't completely understand it, read what it's saying It turns out, the article was talking about the exact problem I was having!
The next step I took was to go to the link (at the bottom) called "Getting rid of Spyware". (On the new page here, you can also browse to the "List of Known Spyware Infested Software" link.) Now, in the middle of this page it says:
"To find out what spyware might be on your systems, download a free utility called Ad-Aware from German firm Lavasoft. Ad-Aware is a relatively small Windows application that scans your memory, registry and file system looking for known spyware. It is fast, easy to use and free." That link was unavailable, so I went to the current address: http://www.lavasoftusa.com Here I downloaded and ran the recommended program. It was REALLY quick, and checked everything in a matter of seconds. Amazingly, it found 177 Spyware components on my hard drive (including the dangerous msbb.exe file, mentioned in the earlier webpage writeup, which I could not locate using my normal "Find File" option!)
Anyway, I decided to delete all these components (using the program's Config option). The result is that I haven't had the inital problem for more than a week now; however, because KAZAA (freeware music download program) includes an embedded Spyware component, a screen message appears when I try to load Kazaa, sayiing that a needed component is missing. This means that if I want to continue using KAZAA, I would need to reinstall the whole thing again - which would also (presumably) reload another spyware component.
Well, the bottom line is that this Spyware sounds to be as dangerous as any computer virus. You should be aware that with this program running on your PC, someone out there is logging every web page you go to. If this isn't a gross invasion of your privacy, then I don't know what is.
I'd be very interested in getting feedback from other members - to know if they are experiencing any similar problems, and what the results were from downloading and running the recommended lavasoft anti-spyware program, and post any comments about whether they perceive this as a major problem. Thanks for reading!
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,772
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From: Signal Hill, SoCal
Here is a very interesting read on the same stuff
http://www.infoanarchy.org/?op=displaystor...9/16/34639/2874
Bottom line is dump KaZaa and use Morpheus. same software with no spyware
http://www.infoanarchy.org/?op=displaystor...9/16/34639/2874
Bottom line is dump KaZaa and use Morpheus. same software with no spyware
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 65,827
Likes: 2
From: FCUK
This may be a stupid question....
How do we know that Lavasoft is safe? How do you know that they are not deleting everyone elses spyware software, and then adding their own? I would much rather see someone like Symantec or the like coming up with something similar....
How do we know that Lavasoft is safe? How do you know that they are not deleting everyone elses spyware software, and then adding their own? I would much rather see someone like Symantec or the like coming up with something similar....
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 8,079
Likes: 0
From: Irvine
[QUOTE]Originally posted by TrojanHorse
[B]Here is a very interesting read on the same stuff
http://www.infoanarchy.org/?op=displaystor...9/16/34639/2874
Bottom line is dump KaZaa and use Morpheus.
[B]Here is a very interesting read on the same stuff
http://www.infoanarchy.org/?op=displaystor...9/16/34639/2874
Bottom line is dump KaZaa and use Morpheus.
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 63
Likes: 0
From: Grants Pass
just downloaded Ad-Aware are ran the scan and found 36 spyware programs on my puter, I don't think i like the idea that companies can do this. they can't tap our phones so why should they aloud to scan our computers. 
