Spyware is a computer program which collects information about the user such as habits on the Internet and transmits that information to an external entity on the Internet without user knowledge or consent.

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209 views

What is the difference between a Virus and Spyware?

Is the distinction largely semantic? (I.e., Spyware collects information and incidentally slow your computer down, Viruses are designed to malicious?
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1answer
443 views

Which File Did Microsoft Safety Scanner Fix?

Microsoft Safety Scanner says it partially fixed a file. How do I find out which file it fixed?
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7answers
5k views

My webcam just came on “out of the blue”

I have a Microsoft LifeCam HD sitting atop my monitor. Today, completely out of the blue, its light came on -- I was simply browsing the web (in Chrome) when it happened. After about 5 minutes the ...
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1answer
862 views

Difference Between Microsoft's Safety Scanner and Software Removal Tool

What's the difference between the MSS and MSRT?
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1answer
154 views

Tracing adware - Mysterious ads being opened in Chrome

[EDIT] I found the piece of adware - turns out it was made in some automation software and was designed too simply to be detected by Spybot et al. I'll mark the best answer below, but it didn't ...
0
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1answer
292 views

Windows Defender found “Backdoor.Win32/IRCbot.gen!M” what to do next?

The History of Windows-Defender on a vista home premium lists 3 times this software. The fist time "sucessfully" and two times "ignored". There is no button for any action, like remove, delete or ...
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1answer
239 views

updates.micrsoft.com blocked on laptop

I'm trying to repair a family member's laptop. It had some spyware on it called "whitesmoke" that I've removed. Everything seems to be working fine and a full scan with Microsoft Security Essentials ...
3
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1answer
11k views

How can I safely close this window and forever avoid seeing similar pop-ups from Mackeeper Zeobit's malware and spyware?

The attached image shows a window that just popped up and the only button available is the OK button. I could Force quit Safari, but I've got several sites open right now and don't want to try and ...
0
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1answer
129 views

Is there a Firefox or Chrome plugin, or a standalone program, for monitoring site usage and search queries?

I'm running some research on how people search the web for specific types of information. I'd like to be able to set them up with a laptop and browser and then record a history of what they search ...
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4answers
606 views

what is this file: ctapi_out_gr.txt

Anybody has an idea what is this file? ctapi_out_gr.txt I found this on my C:\ and it has 0b size. Not sure what it is, as it was been created last 6.1.2011 Is this spyware?
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2answers
482 views

Should I remove “Adware.HBHelper.BHO”?

XP SP3. Yesterday I downloaded and installed SUPERAntiSpyware free. I ran the program and get a hit on " Adware.HBHelper.BHO". The program suggests that I remove this. Can removal of this stop ...
0
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3answers
466 views

How to find spyware dll launched using svchost.exe

This weekend I found my PC was possibly infected by some virus or spyware. There is one "svchost.exe -k netsvcs" in my task manager, and it is running under my user name, rather than SYSTEM accounts. ...
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1answer
2k views

Updating Symantec Enpoint Protection's Proactive Threat Protection Without an Internet Connection

I have a computer that is not connected to the Internet. I update Symantec Endpoint Protection's Antivirus and Antispyware Protection manually. The Proactive Threat Protection always says "Waiting ...
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1answer
704 views

Pando Media Booster

Has anyone ran across a program "PMB.exe" labeled Pando Media Booster? According to their website it is supposedly here to help me stream HD content. I am trying to figure out if it is legit or not. ...
2
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5answers
4k views

How do I find out if my employer has installed spyware on my computer?

In my office yesterday, we had a power blip and all of our computers restarted. Upon restarting, I had a dialog box that an application was installed and my computer required a restart. I mentioned ...
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2answers
210 views

OpenDNS says I have spyware, but which of my computers has it?

I very rarely log into OpenDNS. Last time I logged in, it informed me that it had blocked attempts to visit a spyware domain, but as I have the free version of OpenDNS and the log was too old, I ...
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2answers
100 views

Post-compromise security scan; anything else?

My girlfriend checked her Gmail yesterday morning, and then found, later on in the day, that it would no longer accept her password. She also found that this happened to her Hotmail and Yahoo! ...
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2answers
2k views

Can't access any Microsoft Website :( Others are fine

I have tried all the websites - microsoft.com, windows.com, live.com, even bing.com won't open. All other websites are opening. What is the problem? Google Chrome just gives the error that the website ...
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4answers
196 views

How do I make Internet Explorer stop from popping up every 10 minutes?

I don't even use IE, but it keeps popping up webpages every 10 minutes. I killed it in task manager, but it reopens itself 10 minutes later. I tried to uninstall IE completely, but it doesn't really ...
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5answers
110 views

where do spyware commonly reside [closed]

where do spyware commonly stay on your computer. what locations
3
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1answer
512 views

How can I configure Adobe Help so it doesn't chatter so much with Adobe's domain?

Adobe Help that came with Creative Suite 5 and/or Flash Builder Pro is constantly creating network traffic with an Adobe site, www.wip4.adobe.com In the Adobe Help application Preferences, I find ...
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2answers
325 views

What is Anitspyware Soft? How do you remove it?

I think my PC has been infected by something! IE does not work: "Internet Explorer Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!" Pop-ups are pointing me to ...
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1answer
616 views

Does killing a process helps avoids spyware

I'm downloading something from mediafire which really has many sponsor sites that are not good: ad.xtendmedia.com and mdinfo.com. And possibly the cause of some spyware and adware in my system. Does ...
3
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7answers
3k views

Does reformatting the drive really removes spywares and viruses

I've recently read that the data that you deleted in windows using shift+del doesn't actually get deleted it is just made to be overwritable by other data that will soon be stored in your hard drive. ...
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2answers
3k views

How does the “Steam” platform work? Is it DRM? Can I trust “Steam”-powered software? [closed]

UPDATE: This question lives on at gaming.stackexchange.com. So – I just bought the new game Supreme Commander 2. This question is not about the game, but about the online software ...
2
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1answer
171 views

Open dns still detects malware activity after having scanned and removed malware

I'm using open dns to block unwanted sites. Everytime I go to the dashboard I always see this malware activity in all of the networks that I have in open dns. What do I do?I'm using avast free, ...
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1answer
156 views

is spyware blaster not useful when using a portable browser?

I'm using portable google chrome and portable firefox. Is there anyway that spyware blaster could detect my browser in order to protect it if im using a portable app.
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5answers
377 views

How to rid my computer of spyware and adware

I have a bit of a spyware problem. I tried using How to Clean up a Windows Spyware Infestation to help get rid of the spyware/adware on my computer. I have autoruns and process explorer and got rid ...
2
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6answers
575 views

some strange services in task manager and in msconfig/startup that I cannot close

I was trying to fix a friend's computer because it was really slow, it was working but after some 20 minutes it was starting go really slow or just freeze and I've formatted the hard drive, installed ...
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1answer
216 views

Google Chrome Hijacking to www1 Antivirus downloading website

Every so often, spontaneously without warning, my Google Chrome has been redirecting to this type of website WARNING SPYWARE LINK* ...
2
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5answers
728 views

Can I trust these programs? Are they safe? What are they really?

I found a couple programs on the desktop of my computer after another person used it. I have done some googling, but have no idea who or what I can and cannot trust. The programs in question are ...
3
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3answers
15k views

my.freeze.com netassistant

Does anyone knows how to get rid of my.freeze.com netassistant? I tried one million things, but this annoying spyware just won't go way....
0
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2answers
1k views

what is oscex-en.url.trendmicro.com

I installed fiddler web proxy to debug my webapp and found that something in my computer is constantly connecting to that host. What does it mean?
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3answers
613 views

Does Messenger Plus! contain any spyware?

Does anyone know if Messenger Plus contains any spyware? Is it relatively safe to install at work? EDIT: For those people that are telling me to ask the IT department: I am the IT department. ...
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5answers
335 views

How do I remove Cyber Security THE Rogue Anti-Spyware

I am not sure how many of you have heard of Cyber Security (no link, a rogue anti-spyware doesn't deserve a link). Basically, it's a virus and a rogue masquerading as anti-spyware. You can read about ...
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4answers
4k views

Spyware used my gmail account to send thousands of spam e-mails to all my trusted contacts, what should I do?

I just logged in to my gmail and was shocked by the amount of automatic responses I got in my inbox. I then looked at my sent messages folder and noticed that apparently, thousands of spam e-mails ...
0
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3answers
124 views

Any ideas on which is better? MS One Care or Spyware Doctor?

Does anyone know if the new Microsoft Malware solution is better or worse than Spyware Doctor? My gut tells me that Spyware Doctor would be better just because they aren't a jack-of-all-trades like ...
3
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5answers
2k views

Is GMABooster real? Is it spyware?

I just found out about GMABooster for OSX which supposedly boosts performance for the Intel GMA 950 in my mac mini. As anyone used this? Is it spyware? The site seems real but at the same time ...
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3answers
210 views

On a Mac, how are connections (possibly by spyware) made to outside internet addresses during initial startup?

I am trying to secure a Mac after discovering that network links are being established to some unwanted internet sites. Using 'lsof -i' (list open 'files', internet) I have seen that launchd, ntpd, ...
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3answers
592 views

How to completely remove Personal Guard 2009?

I have become infected with the Personal Guard 2009 malware. How do I get rid of this pest?
17
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11answers
671 views

What are some things to avoid if you want to keep your computer adware/spyware free?

I recently reinstalled the OS (XP Home) on a friend's heavily spyware/adware infected machine. It appears as though his kids (7 and 11 years I believe) were visiting sites that offered downloads for ...
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3answers
390 views

Why is teatimer constantly running registry operations?

Whenever I have procmon running the number one activity seems to be teatimer. I believe this is part of the spybot search and destroy program. Why is its activity level so high?
2
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2answers
941 views

Curly braces in a URL

Often I have came across URLS like the following: http://www.isthisahacker.com/{7B643FB915-845C-4A76-A071-677D62157FE07D}.htm Do the curly braces in the URL above indicate some kind of attempt ...
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7answers
404 views

Spyware Removal - Total Security

I got wacked with the spyware "Total Security" which shows fake scans etc. What legit remover-tool can I use to get this out? All AV scanners refuse to remove it.
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4answers
215 views

TrustNinja Antispyware - I know its fake but how do I get rid of it?

So I cant find anything online about this piece of "software." Its on one of my user's computer and I cant get rid of it. Ive tried lavasoft's adaware, malware bytes antimalware, and spybot. I am ...
4
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7answers
2k views

How to clean a computer with multiple accounts infected with spyware, viruses? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: What to do if my computer is infected by a virus or a malware? What's the best way to clean a computer with multiple accounts infected with spyware, viruses and malware? ...
0
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1answer
215 views

RealVNC just appeared after restart

Just restarted my machine and noticed VNC server icon in my systray. I definitely didn't do it, unless I had an out of body experience and did it in my sleep. I also don't remember doing anything that ...
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3answers
2k views

How do you uninstall VersalSoft?

a collegue somehow managed to get some crazy applciation instaleld on their computer called VersalSoft Inc Internet Download 3.0.22. Is this spyware? How do I uninstall it? I removed it from ...
4
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18answers
762 views

Is free security software as good as paid security software? [closed]

I mostly use free security solutions to protect my home PC, but I wonder if I would get better protection from a paid solution. I prefer the free software, since I can have multiple applications ...
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3answers
1k views

Mac “spsecure” wants to connet to external IP

Anybody know what this "spsecure" program is that's installed on my mac? Location /usr/local/sps/spsecure Is it a legitimate program, or is it spyware? Would this question be better asked at ...