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nothing will. This is from an email from LavaSoft:
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"As if this isn’t enough yet, for a little over a month now, a new style of infection is flying around from CoolWebSearch. With its latest series of variants, it installs multiple files on a system, but one file, the center of the infection, is hidden. Not just hidden by the file attribute, but hidden where special software is required to even find it. I’ll admit, I had to dig for a little bit through my “bag of trusty tools” to find the hidden file from the two variants I’ve seen so far, but while some effort is needed in part from the user to allow Ad-Aware 6 Build 181to remove this pesky file, Ad-Aware SE will have things covered.
And now for the ultimate disaster: the series of VX2 variants that remain a monstrosity in the anti spyware community to remove, right up until our plug-in hit the scene. This awful series of variants perform the worst I’ve seen. They lock into a Windows process such that their removal is practically impossible. This style of infection only works on the Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP Operating Systems, since they’re the only two that really carry the vehicle it uses to latch itself in as it does. The Microsoft Windows NT Operating System does, also, but it’s different enough that the method used to latch in is ineffective. The Microsoft Windows 98 and Millennium Edition Operating Systems don’t have it at all, but a different method, although not quite as sophisticated, is used to prevent removal. Unlike the other topics I discussed, I have no tips on how to take care of this, other than to suggest not getting it in the first place. It all comes back to Safe Computing Practices, which I’ve mentioned in the past. While Ad-Watch does monitor for known installers of this beast, all it takes is a new variant, and that short period of time between its release and our updated definitions, to have it install on a system. Keep definitions updated, and use caution concerning what you download and run."
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So, run SpywareBlaster, Ad-Aware (with the plugin), SpyBot, and anything else around. And hope for the best.
Although much of this stuff uses Active-X in IE, Opera and Mozilla/Firefox are NOT immune to some of it. Both of them have known security holes, and I have a firewall, an anti-virus, and WinPatrol running constantly to help keep the nasties out. Using Opera and Eudora, with the highest security levels, I still get a few data miners and other wierdness showing up.
Even when using another browser, Windows insists on caching web pages and setting up temp files. Digging through them is a pain, but deleting everything in the Windows>TEMP folders is necessary every so often. There is also a Windows>Temporary Internet Files folder tht should be deleted. There's a Windows>Installer folder that looks scary, too.
Update the definition files in the protection software DAILY. AVG antivirus can be set to update automatically, but some of the others, like AdAware, you should choose to update before running them.
Some stuff is more or less normal. Installing a new printer, scanner, or keyboard now comes with a bazillion "call home" programs that may or may not be useful. Even without hackers, trojans, viruses and spyware, the registry can become overwhelmed and slow the machine down. Fixing the registry is not to be taken lightly, but there are programs out there that can do it safely.
There are process viewers that do more than pressing ctrl-alt-del. Many of them, like PrcView, show you EVERYTHING that's running, and give a short description, or allow you to look them up online. Others allow you to see what's in the windows startup and let you stop background programs from starting.
It is an incredible pain in the ass, but there are a lot of people out there who just want to mess with your computer to steal something, snoop on you, or just because they are miserable pricks.
ASndWindows doesn't make our job any easier.
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