Can you explain spyware to me?

vivaladiva

Today I've had difficulties with some sites that I use regularly. So much so that I actually phoned my ISP as I thought they might be causing the problem. They couldn't help on the spot and just as a last resort I ran Ad-Aware removed some didgy files and my problems disappeared. Half an hour later they were back again (the problems I mean). So I ran Ad-Aware again and picked up 10 files (there were 8 before) they are all Data Miners and in IE cache? What should I do and how worried should I be?

Browntoa

we have a full removal guide here, posts 1 to 4

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=133269

what these have a habit of doing is making themselves a protected part of windows, or hiding themselves in the restore points...running the removal software in "safe mode" as in that thread above allow these nasties to be easily removed as only a minimal version of windows is loaded.

if you get problems still afterwards then at the end of post 4 it tells you how to produce a hijackthis log, just copy that back here in the thread

Browntoa

this is actually a fuller and more in depth description

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware

the above guy is just spamming his web site all over the forum

Alfonso_Skinarelli

Can you explain spyware to me?

Hopefully these links will provide a little more explanation than our resident IT ADMINISTRATOR's link:


Basic Security Concepts for Beginners

Basic Definitions of Malware

How Can i Protect Myself on the Internet


Disclaimer: The author of these tutorials is NOT an IT Administrator.


:beer:

sho_me_da_money

Gotta admit, i got bollocked then but admittedly i found the last link VERY useful.

I can be self critical and props to you for putting me in my place.

The one i posted, i actually used on a TIME laptop today and got it back to its normal state. But the above guides can also do that...i like em.

On a small note though, the apps mentoned in your links are great but some are very system hogging.

Cheers