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Ding dong, the malware's dead

  • May. 8th, 2005 at 8:07 PM
adult
banazir
The malware is gone! Ahh, sweet silence.

Over the last three weeks, I've had a severe infestation of the pop-up hijacker ISTbar (the XXXToolbar variant) and the "data miner" spyware AproposMedia (aka CxtPls, the PeopleOnPage variant).
Thanks to some RTFM (reading of the fine manual) and the spyware detector and remover XoftSpy v4.13, I finally got rid of them.

For reference, here are the entries on the two spyware programs.


"Use Firefox", I know, but as you probably also know, not running IE is not as cut-and-dried for Windows XP users as all that. Windows Media Player and other applications kick into it for various functions. Also, I maintain multiple whole sets of GMail, MSN Hotmail, Yahoo, and AOL accounts, and I'm not sure how to factor my cookies into two completely disparate sets of tabs. Is Opera any more stable since the disastrous version 7? If it's relatively more resistant to spyware, I'm thinking about running it instead.

--
Banazir
  • Current Mood: jubilant jubilant
  • Current Music:Usagi Yojimbo Dojo - Escape From The Ninja Bats!

Comments

( 9 comments — Leave a comment )
yodge
May. 10th, 2005 04:26 pm (UTC)
You just used that icon to get my attention.

I see through your little schemes!
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banazir
May. 10th, 2005 04:36 pm (UTC)
Scheming? SCHEMING?!
You just used that icon to get my attention.
I can neither confirm nor deny that allegation, miss.
(I just made that icon. Wlel, the text design, nazwaz.)

I see through your little schemes!
/me loonks innosent.

--
Banazir
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lilfrankel
May. 10th, 2005 04:36 pm (UTC)
Yes, but didn't you have to pay for XoftSpy? I downloaded it recently, but the idea of paying for protection makes my blood boil...
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banazir
May. 12th, 2005 03:46 am (UTC)
The spyware-fighting "racket"
XoftSpy costs $40 for a single user license. (Don't ask me what that guy in the home license pic is doing.)

I agree that it's a nuisance, but it isn't as if XoftSpy is producing the necessity for the protection. (Some companies apparently are, which makes me want to blacklist them something fierce.)

--
Banazir
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andrewwyld
May. 10th, 2005 05:24 pm (UTC)
Additionally some pages block non-IE browsers, and I've discovered that when the RAM is getting full Firefox exhibits a moby drawing bug.  Glad you cleaned it out, anyway.

By the way, have you any knowledge to impart concering the Commodore 64?  Specifically, I am wondering how it manages to address 64kB of memory and ROMs.  Unfortunately I can't find anything about either this or opcodes to work on the 6510 IO pins on google (which was my first bet) and, frankly, I am stumped.  You strike me as either likely to know or connected to someone likely to know ... please help!
| Reply | Thread
borgseawolf
May. 10th, 2005 07:55 pm (UTC)
Don't use Windows Media Player. Uninstall IE from Windows XP using one of the service packs. Use Opera 8.
ANYTHING is more resistant to spyware than IE! Gah. I've been doing tests, on an unprotected (no firewall, no antivir) system, single launching of a random page in IE results in 10-20 new spywares detectable by AdAware. Since I've been using Opera, I only need to run AdAware once a few months to clean up things that got in by accident.
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banazir
May. 10th, 2005 08:32 pm (UTC)
Stability, Stability, Stability
Don't use Windows Media Player.
Easier said than done - I have yet to see really good plug-in integration and full codec support with any other MP3/MPG player. Not to mention .WMA...

Uninstall IE from Windows XP using one of the service packs.
I would if I had a way to either get separate cookiespaces using Firefox or Firefox and another browser.

Use Opera 8.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 8 being Opera 6, 7 being IE, 5 being Firefox 1.0, and 2 being Opera 7.11, how stable would you say Opera 8 is?
(For reference, WinXP Pro and MacOS 8.6 & 9 are about a 4 for me, Win98 about a 6, and Win2000 and MacOS X about an 8. BSD and Linux are about a 9.5, though recovery is pretty iffy.)

ANYTHING is more resistant to spyware than IE! Gah. I've been doing tests, on an unprotected (no firewall, no antivir) system, single launching of a random page in IE results in 10-20 new spywares detectable by AdAware.
That I can easily believe.

Since I've been using Opera, I only need to run AdAware once a few months to clean up things that got in by accident.
Do you use SpyBot Search and Destroy, too?
Anything else in the software firewall genre (ZoneAlarm, etc.)?
How about XoftSpy and the like?

--
Banazir
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borgseawolf
May. 10th, 2005 08:52 pm (UTC)
Re: Stability, Stability, Stability
I haven't seen anything I wasn't able to play using mplayer classic and a good set of codecs...
Opera 8 is more stable than IE, if you don't count the memory leak issue that happens sometimes, though it may be my computer acting up.
For a while I haven't been using even any antivirus, now I use avast and NetPeeker trial version, that's about it. I run AdAware from time to time just to check, but I haven't had any real malware installed for a loooong time.
Really, using IE is a straigh way to computer hell. I'm constantly surprised _anyone_ is still using that thing...
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banazir
May. 11th, 2005 02:28 am (UTC)
Re: Stability, Stability, Stability
I haven't seen anything I wasn't able to play using mplayer classic and a good set of codecs...
I'll give it a try.

Opera 8 is more stable than IE, if you don't count the memory leak issue that happens sometimes, though it may be my computer acting up.
Hm. Well, memory leaks affect me more than most, because of the way I use Windows PCs, so I'll have to try it carefully under realistic conditions.

For a while I haven't been using even any antivirus, now I use avast and NetPeeker trial version, that's about it. I run AdAware from time to time just to check, but I haven't had any real malware installed for a loooong time.
OK.

Really, using IE is a straigh way to computer hell.
I'm constantly surprised _anyone_ is still using that thing...
People are lazy. IE is a default; Mozila Firefox, Opera, etc. require downloading and installing things. Most people don't install things, and when they do, old habits die hard. Even I still use IE along with Firefox because of the cookiespace thing.

--
Banazir
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( 9 comments — Leave a comment )

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banazir
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