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lierdumoaAm in a very, very good mood right now. I got rid of it! The EVAL program that hijacked my computer last month. Remember I was bitching about it earlier?
Something associated with mysearch.com. I don't know how the hell it got on my computer, but it renamed itself as my google toolbar and gave my google toolbar some random misnomer, tracked all the webpages I visited, and made a million popups come up every time I went to a new website. It routed all my searches though it's own search engine. It also put crap icons on my desktop and crap links in my Favorites. Thanks mysearch.com, but I don't gamble, and I can find all the porn I want without your help.
So I decided to do a search on my computer for any files that had been created on the 26th through 28th (I couldn't remember the exact date it had appeared, but I knew the first time I mentioned it in my livejournal was the 28th, so it was either then or a little before then). I didn't find anything useful.
So I tried something else. I adjusted my computer settings to show hidden files. My computer automatically hides files and folders that are vital to it's ability to run. Once I had done this, it wasn't hard to find the file folder containing the program in question. I clicked on the uninstall icon, but of course the uninstall function wasn't working. I tried to just drag the folder into the recycle bin. It told me that I couldn't delete it because it was a system file whateverthefuck and therefore vital to the running of the computer.
Yeah, okay, so it wasn't even on my computer until after I'd been using the damn thing for five months. And yet here my computer was telling me the program was *vital* and I could not delete it.
Well fuck me. I had to get rid of it somehow. It was seriously pissing me off. I went to a few help webpages for people complaining about this same problem. I downloaded Spybot, which *supposedly* deleted it, only it was still there afterwards. I went back to the help webpages and was referred to a program called HijackThis. Funny -- most programs you get to remove spyware take, like, fifteen minutes to scan you're computer (especially when you have a harddrive the size of mine). This one took about half a second. Of course, it wasn't as meticulous as others. All the files showed up, but also files that had not necessairily been harmful.
So I looked at the file list that had come up and deleted anything that looked suspicious ( I think the files were associated with the name apropos or something like that). I also deleted anything that seemed associated with the google toolbar. I figured if I accidentally deleted my google toolbar I could just download it again. But since this thing was calling itself my google toolbar it would be safest to just get rid of everything.
So it's gone. My google toolbar remains intact. Only now, when I go into my web browser to select toolbars, I find it actually doesn't have a name at all. It's just a toolbar called *blank.* Which is fine with me, really. As long as it keeps on working as it should.
Fuckin' spyware.
*sighs heavily in relief*
And all you mac users have nothing to worry about. Apparently this shit only affects Windows.
I feel just like I do after I clean my room. *pets computer*
"La, la. La, la. La. The boys are waiting."
~ Kelis
Something associated with mysearch.com. I don't know how the hell it got on my computer, but it renamed itself as my google toolbar and gave my google toolbar some random misnomer, tracked all the webpages I visited, and made a million popups come up every time I went to a new website. It routed all my searches though it's own search engine. It also put crap icons on my desktop and crap links in my Favorites. Thanks mysearch.com, but I don't gamble, and I can find all the porn I want without your help.
So I decided to do a search on my computer for any files that had been created on the 26th through 28th (I couldn't remember the exact date it had appeared, but I knew the first time I mentioned it in my livejournal was the 28th, so it was either then or a little before then). I didn't find anything useful.
So I tried something else. I adjusted my computer settings to show hidden files. My computer automatically hides files and folders that are vital to it's ability to run. Once I had done this, it wasn't hard to find the file folder containing the program in question. I clicked on the uninstall icon, but of course the uninstall function wasn't working. I tried to just drag the folder into the recycle bin. It told me that I couldn't delete it because it was a system file whateverthefuck and therefore vital to the running of the computer.
Yeah, okay, so it wasn't even on my computer until after I'd been using the damn thing for five months. And yet here my computer was telling me the program was *vital* and I could not delete it.
Well fuck me. I had to get rid of it somehow. It was seriously pissing me off. I went to a few help webpages for people complaining about this same problem. I downloaded Spybot, which *supposedly* deleted it, only it was still there afterwards. I went back to the help webpages and was referred to a program called HijackThis. Funny -- most programs you get to remove spyware take, like, fifteen minutes to scan you're computer (especially when you have a harddrive the size of mine). This one took about half a second. Of course, it wasn't as meticulous as others. All the files showed up, but also files that had not necessairily been harmful.
So I looked at the file list that had come up and deleted anything that looked suspicious ( I think the files were associated with the name apropos or something like that). I also deleted anything that seemed associated with the google toolbar. I figured if I accidentally deleted my google toolbar I could just download it again. But since this thing was calling itself my google toolbar it would be safest to just get rid of everything.
So it's gone. My google toolbar remains intact. Only now, when I go into my web browser to select toolbars, I find it actually doesn't have a name at all. It's just a toolbar called *blank.* Which is fine with me, really. As long as it keeps on working as it should.
Fuckin' spyware.
*sighs heavily in relief*
And all you mac users have nothing to worry about. Apparently this shit only affects Windows.
I feel just like I do after I clean my room. *pets computer*
"La, la. La, la. La. The boys are waiting."
~ Kelis
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no subject
no subject
Date: 2004-02-24 09:50 am (UTC)And I started way too many paragraphs with the word 'so.'
And hey -- get on AIM sometime. We don't talk enough.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-24 11:08 am (UTC)And we definitely don't talk enough. There's actually a reason behind my lack of AIMing recently, but that's something I'll tell you about next time I'm on AIM ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-02-24 10:31 pm (UTC)Wanna go watch wiggling-boob-paper-manipulating-girls again this fri? Or is the lack of man too much for you? (That's what Anime club's showing) Let me know :)
no subject
Date: 2004-02-25 08:14 am (UTC)Congrats on exorcising your computer, lol.
Hee! Yeah -- it was a challenging endeavor.
As to the anime -- sounds like a plan. I think I can stand the lack of man. I'll just go back to my room afterwards and watch some QaF episodes to balance things out.
;o)