Spyware

See my comment on response #2. Ian "Gizmo" Richards, editor of TechSupportAlert, says, "Don't get infected." Some process-injecting Trojans are very difficult to remove, and Ewido (AVG Anti-Spyware) is one of the only tools that can extract one of those without crashing Windows (if it can find it). Just so you know, criminals have been targeting legitimate Web sites more than ever since the success of McAfee SiteAdvisor. And you don't always have to be surfing in order to get infected. September 2006 was a nightmare that a lot of people weren't prepared for. As long as you were connected to the Internet, you could get hit every 12-15 minutes. On the news, they said to download antivirus, antispyware, and firewall; keep them and Microsoft updates current, and disconnect from the Internet if you weren't surfing. The Web isn't safe. Paranoia pays on the Internet: http://invincible-windows.blogspot.com/

I'm a computer science graduate and with a couple of tools like avg anti spyware , regCleaner and the good old task manager window I managed to get rid of a few of them myself. I don't know if you should believe those people: I personally think it's possible to get infected if you have an averagely good firewall and you don't download anything. Computer majors are always trying to spread paranoia to make people buy their antivirus.

edit:I meant *impossible* of course :D

No antispyware catches them all, just like no antivirus catches them all, and no firewall blocks them all. Most of today's nasties are Trojans, and a lot of them now use rootkits so your antivirus/antispyware can't see them. You might want to run BlackLight and Panda, and see what you find. You may not be infected, but lots of people are when they think they're not. It'll take 5 minutes of your time: ftp://ftp.f-secure.com/anti-virus/tools/fsbl.exe http://www.download.com/Panda-Anti-Rootkit/3000-2239_4-10717196.html?part=dl-PandaAnti&subj=dl&tag=button

Are you talking about AVG AntiVirus, or Anti-Spyware (I'm assuming the latter)? Before its acquisition by Grisoft, AVG Anti-Spyware was called Ewido. It started life as a dedicated anti-Trojan scanner. It's classified as antispyware now, and does quite well here, but it remains one of the best at removing Trojans. You don't have to pay for Panda's anti-rootkit tool. What I linked you to are standalone tools, and free. :)

I have heard of Panda, but not of Blacklight. I know, I had a nasty trojan and malware. I hate them...they took over my desktop and I had this freakish looking red background saying my privacy is at risk...scared the $hit out of me! I found that AVG works well...does anyone know of that one? It catches ones that my other programs won't. You have to pay for Panda don't you? I got so paranoid I run three different programs right now.

Aaargh...I hate popups! I didn't think anything of any of this b/c we have McAfee and Norton that came with the computer....how naive! I got bombarded!!! So many pop-ups that it was hard to go anywhere to download a program! They even took over my desktop!!!! I heard about AVG from a friend and it has helped me wonders!!!! Found ones that the other 2 didn't! I had a trojan AND malware....they are so nasty!!!!!!! Seriously, how can people be so cruel?

deepfreez? Never heard of it? what is it about? where do you find info on it?