your privacy guard

sunflower_2

hi
myself, hubby and 10-year-old son share this laptop which we bought new a few months ago

as our last pc died from a nasty virus after using free anti-virus software, we decided to buy norton internet security and thought we would be safe:rolleyes:

anyway our home pages are constantly being re-directed, and we are getting annoying messages saying we are going to get into trouble with our boss/partner for viewing adult sites!!!
it then redirects to "yourprivacyguard" webpage and tries to download something?

i have ran several scans through norton and it says nothing is detected?

i am pretty useless with technical stuff.
does anyone know what this is?

foreversomeday

Just out of interest, what free antivirus software was it you were using before? In my experience some of the free ones work better than, for example, Norton.

The software you mention is spyware, not a virus, which is why it won't be detected. A lot of people make this mistake, thinking that the term "virus" encompasses all bad things which can infect a computer. Unfortunately due to marketing by antivirus software manufacturers the myth prevails!

If Norton Internet Security has a spyware detector try running that, if not (or if it doesn't work,) I'd take it to a local PC shop, unless you really know what you're downloading if you try to remove it yourself. Installing other antivirus/spyware products at the same time as Norton can damage the computer.

Browntoa

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic17258.html

Download SmitfraudFix.exe from here and save it to your desktop:

SmitFraudFix.exe

Confirm that the file SmitfraudFix.exe now resides on your desktop, but do not double-click on the icon as of yet. We will use it in later steps. The icon will look like the one below:

Browntoa

1. Next, please reboot your computer into Safe Mode by doing the following:
2. Restart your computer
3. After hearing your computer beep once during startup, but before the Windows icon appears, press F8.
4. Instead of Windows loading as normal, a menu should appear
5. Select the first option, to run Windows in Safe Mode.
6. When you are at the logon prompt, log in as the same user which you had done the previous steps.
7. When your computer has started in safe mode and you see the desktop.
8. Close all open Windows.
9. Now, double-click on the SmitFraudfix icon that should be residing on your desktop.The icon will look like the one below:
   
   
10. When the tool first starts you will see a credits screen. Simply press any key on your keyboard to get to the next screen.
11. You will now see a menu as shown in the image below. Press the number 2 on your keyboard and the press the enter key to choose the option Clean (safe mode recommended).
    
    
    

1. The program will start cleaning your computer and go through a series of cleanup processes. When it is done, it will automatically start the Disk Cleanup program as shown by the image below.
   
   
   
   
   
   This program will remove all Temp, Temporary internet Files, and other files that may be leftover files from this infection. This process can take up to a few hours depending on your computer, so please be patient. When it is complete, it will close automatically and you will should continue with step 11.
2. When Disk Cleanup is finished, you will be presented with an option asking Do you want to clean the registry ? (y/n). At this screen you should press the Y button on your keyboard and then press the enter key.
3. When this last routine is finished, you will be presented with a red screen stating Computer will reboot now. Close all applications. You should now press the spacebar on your computer. A counter will appear stating that the computer will reboot in 15 seconds. Do not cancel this countdown and allow your computer to reboot.
4. Once the computer has rebooted, you will be presented with a Notepad screen containing a log of all the files removed from your computer. Select all the text in that log , copy it and paste it in your reply.

BillScarab

I'd read the spyware sticky in this forum and follow that. If you've got Norton Internet Security I would expect it to have some sort of spyware program so try that, if it hasn't download ad-aware and spybot search and destroy. Run those and they will get rid of most spyware.

But have a read of the sticky first, it gives step by step instructions.

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

EDIT: Or just ignore the above and do what Browntoa says!

Note to self, must type faster.

Browntoa

and then follow the malware sticky

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

as posted above.... lol

to finish off cleaning the PC

sunflower_2

thanks for replies.
i am going to have a go now, fingers crossed.

the norton is internet security and is meant to detect adware?

Browntoa

the 2008 version says

Features

• Detects and eliminates spyware
• Removes viruses and Internet worms automatically
• Protects email and instant messaging from viruses
• Protects against hackers

one of the reasons I don't like Norton ..... live antispyware should stop it, not attempt to remove it after the event !!

or in this case not detect it at all

molezak

Browntoa wrote: »

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic17258.html

Download SmitfraudFix.exe from here and save it to your desktop:

SmitFraudFix.exe

Confirm that the file SmitfraudFix.exe now resides on your desktop, but do not double-click on the icon as of yet. We will use it in later steps. The icon will look like the one below:

fao Browntoa - would you suggest this would be a good option for a download and burn to disk for a virus riddled Dell? I am trying to help my brother out at mo and tried to download/burn Avast Recovery Disk but I must have done something wrong as I couldn't open the disk on my PC. (Brother cannot even open IE due to the virus).

Thanks, Kate

DatabaseError

I'm not browntoa(d) (but I always want to add (st)), but i'll answer anyway!
a good download in that situation would be ulktimate boot cdget it here. Perhaps an addition would be Hiren's boot cd, which contains lots more utilities to check/repair disks.