Help me find out what the hell caused me to get adware!! !

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It's been over 3 years now that I've had adware on my computer. My guesses are that the programs that caused me to get adware on my computer are either AIM (although I used a patch to remove the adware) Yahoo Messenger or Skype. These are the last few programs I have installed since last scanning for adware and nothing showing up. Does anybody here know if the programs I listed install adware on your computer? I know that AIM does but I used the patch for it.

Here are the quarantined items that it found:

Have you tried Spybot yet, heres the url
its free and it actually works
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

AVG Anti-Spyware is pretty decent, as well. Started using it when someone put keylogging software on my computer (and consequently hacked into many of my accounts). No problems since then.

I use avg and would recommend it as well. Plus its free!

On the subject of bad chat programs I'm against yahoo. Skype is encrypted so theres hardly a way I know of for you to get it from there.

Yahoo is not encrypted, and I know alot of people get viruses from there.

I use Ad-Aware for adware, never installed AIM or Yahoo, and use mozilla Firefox as a browser, and Avast for anti-virusware. All these are free, and on the web.

Anything that connects to the Internet may have a security vulnerability that lets you get infected. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. I use Sandboxie to prevent infections in the first place.

If you want to be really thorough, use a heuristic tool like HijackThis and post the output on one of their forums. They'll be able to tell if there's anything to worry about, and they probably know a lot more about this stuff than we do!

It could be nearly anything. I use Firefox and have Adblock, Blocksite, CS Lite(Cookie blocker), Flashkiller, and WOT(Web of Trust) installed as add-ons. WOT will warn you of sites that are known for having threats on them. Adblock and Flashkiller may keep possible threats away through blocking ads. CS Lite blocks potentially malicious cookies.

I don't use any instant messenger programs, haven't had good experiences with any and they tend to be an open door for malware.

I also use Avast antivirus, Spybot, Counterspy, Malwarebytes' Anti Malware, and HiJackThis. And CCleaner. They seem to keep my PC nice and clean.

lots of good info here.


except on firefox. i'm noticing more and more that there is an increasing frequency of spyware that'll target firefox. it's the cost of something becoming more popular...you get noticed by the wrong people.

the problem with firefox is all the add on plugins, some of which tend to bugger a great browser, I only use adblock plus, and try not to have so many other spyware programs as they tend to give false spy ware detections, I have been using Avast for 2 years now and have no complaints with it, it has never failed me

(I'd always be careful of "patches". These are often Trojans.)I'd assume they were safe(ish).Barring an odd service glitch last year, that was their own fault, I don't think they've ever been compromised. No adware that I've ever seen, except for themselves!As I suggest, this sounds the most probable entry point for a Trojan. Wherever the patch came from may be compromised, or the patch may introduce a vulnerability.Best to Google for them, and see if that gives you any hints. A glance at Backdoor.Darkmoon tells me that there's no way you can know when that got on your machine, as it is quite capable of letting a root kit in. That could have been in your machine from any time back. It could be that Adaware has only just found a way of seeing that Backdoor.Darkmoon was there.

Avg works wonderfully for me (and its low system reuqirements makes it a good program to run on some older barebones systems i have.)

Ad-aware is good for those higher-intensity scans when something is entrenched (alongside a trend micro free online scan)

PS: Spybot is spyware... never use it.

Where do you get that weird idea from?

Dump Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, AOL Instant Messenger, and other such nonsense and replace it with Truth:

• Mozilla Firefox (aka "zOMG teh F0x of fire!! !!" as fanoiz call it)
• Pidgin IM
• The GIMP

Because when I used it, I went from spyware to more spyware?



Definitlely agree on firefox and gimp, but since everybody I know and their cousin uses aim, that can hardly be avoided (I use the old 5.9 version of aim though since the network at my college has issues running anything later...)

Also, gmail is a good mail client, and my personal favorite (not for security reasons, but for its simplicity and ease of use compared to running everything through outlook, which for all intents and purposes should be avoided)

I'm sorry, but if you get yourself spyware, why is that an indictment of Spybot?
Between Adaware's pretty and quick scans (what was that about "higher-intensity scans"? It doesn't do anything much) and Spybot's proper, but different, scan, the pair get rid of most spyware.

However, Spybot has so many other useful parts to it, it's indispensable.

I wonder... when Spybot was young... there were a few people who patched a false front-end on it, and tried to sell it - either as itself, or as various similar-named products. Maybe you remember those days?

Pidgin handles AIM accounts.
Agree about Outlook. Can't see a use for gmail. I prefer to manage my own mail, not let Google keep it.

Firefox - Been using it for over 3 years or so now
Pidgin - I have it installed but I hardly use it because I mainly use MSN. (MSN's file transfers go slow on Pidgin)
The Gimp - I actually just downloaded this a couple weeks ago and I like it so far. It makes way more sense to use this than to buy Photoshop for $1000.



If you guys want some good software recommendations these are essential:

Openoffice - Free office suite. It makes more sense to use this than Microsoft Word.
Foobar2000 - Awesome music player. It's especially good if you have a large collection of lossless music. It is also good for converting music formats.