Startpage

InCreator · Mon 19/07/2004 15:53:56

I'm having this startpage virus for few months now, and I'm pretty tired of it. (The one which changes my IE homepage always to search-for-you.com)

What should I do? I've been through internet seeking for something that removes it, but best results are some progs which won't run under win XP.

AVG antivirus that i use behaves like it's eyes are tied, "no infections found". Yeah, right. I'm not a program and I clearly see a virus, but no, not the almighty AVG.

What should I do? There's no capital to buy some expensive antivirus prog, though I want to get this crap outta my machine.

There's another pretty weird thing happening -- my mouse cursor - the "link under cursor" one (usually a hand with finger pointed at link) changes to a "move" cursor (the one with 4 arrow pointing at each direction). Really weird. I can get normal cursors back to reapply my cursors at control panel, but after awhile, it changes again.

Evil · Mon 19/07/2004 15:57:54

Ad-Aware might clean that up. Maybe Norton. If all else fails update IE.

Barbarian · Mon 19/07/2004 16:07:24

By your description, I think you have some SpyWare that has Hijacked your browser.
SpyWare, even though it can have some "virus like behavior", it's not quite considered a "virus" as such by many of the anti-virus programs, so you'll need to get some utility that can clean your system of Spyware and help protect against future SpyWare attacks.

You can get Ad-Aware, it's a good free utility for scanning for and removing most known SpyWare (Ad-Ware is the regular free version. Works great):
http://www.lavasoft.de/

After d-loading and installing, upon running remember to check for updates (so your have the most current definitions) before scanning your system.

Ã,Â Ã,Â Another free utility for scanning for and remeoving Spyware is Spybot's Search and Destroy (though I find it's not as user-friendly as Ad-Aware):
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

A nice free utility that will prevent most known Spyware from ever being installed on your computer in the first place, is Spyware Blaster:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Also check out thier Spyware Guard which helps to prevent Browser Hijackers (such as I think is what happened to your computer):
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html

Ã,Â Ã,Â Good luck.
*PS: It's always good to make a System Restore checkpoint and/or make a backup of your registry settings before installing and running new programs that might make changes to your registry. That being said, I've used all of the above-mentioned programs with good success and no problems.

Andail · Mon 19/07/2004 16:33:58

You can also try Bazooka spyware center. If nothing works, install a new browser, such as Mozilla.

Tiki · Mon 19/07/2004 17:13:39

I had the same problem a little while ago. I tried Adaware, which I still do recommend, but I didn't get rid of it all. Eventually, things got so out of hand that I reinstalled windows....everything was normal again, including some shutdown problems, etc. I'm not sure you need to something that extreme yet, however...

- Tiki

Isegrim · Mon 19/07/2004 17:22:39

Try googling for "CWS Shredder", too. It's designed specially for that kind of Hijacker and may remove of the deeper roots of the problem, which the others can maybe not:

LGM · Mon 19/07/2004 17:38:34

This is a tried and true method I posted (edited for your needs) for another person in another thread, pay close attention:

You'll need to go on and grab a program called RegScrubXP Run this program once or twice (It's pretty self explanitory] It cleans all the gunk out of your registry. Makes your computer noticably faster most of the time. It might solve that cursor dealie.

Now for some Spyware detection. Get Ad Aware, if you haven't already.. Make sure it's updated all the way.. Then run that. Get rid of all your spyware and crapware.

Then, if you feel like being extra safe, get Spybot: Search & Destroy and run this a few times.. And you can hit the immunize button and prevent that shit from coming back.

Now would be a good time to restart.

Once things boot up again, you shouldn't have to close those programs anymore.

Then you'll want to get a nice little Gem called TuneXP Just follow the manual that comes with this and you can tweak the hell out of your system and make it run tons faster and shtuff. One of the cool features is re-organizing your boot files to make bootup time 3-5 times faster. It's great stuff. (This won't do anything with your startpage, but it's something more people need to try out)

If you wanna clean up the registry further, you can get EasyCleaner and use that. Again, self explanitory.

And for good measure, run RegScrubXP again.

Restart your big beast of a computer, and all should be 230823 times faster and better..

If not, consider reformatting.

(Note, all these programs are freeware. No pirating will be necessary. Of course, if you're one of those crackpots that think software you pay for is alwats better, than this HOWTO isn't for you.)

mätzyboy · Mon 19/07/2004 17:55:29

Isegrims tip,CWShredder, did it for me aswell once. After you get rid of the startpage hijacker make sure to install the java runtime environment from sun and use their Java Virtual Machine it instead of microsofts. Microsofts VM has security holes and is the reason for hijacking to work in the first place...

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html << CWShredder

www.java.com << Sun JRE (press "Get it now!")

Hollister Man · Mon 19/07/2004 17:56:22

Yes, I have a problem very similar, and I just decided to use Firefox. Its a really nice tab browser, with popup stoppers and image blocking available. I can't get the Java extention to work, but that's probably just me.

InCreator · Mon 19/07/2004 18:15:10

Ha! CWShredder did the trick in 20 seconds!
Thank you X <insert some astronomical number here>!

Barbarian · Mon 19/07/2004 18:32:56

That's great. Good to know ya got rid of it.
Some of those SpyWare can be very nasty and hard to get rid of.
You should still try some of the other suggestions posted in this thread to further clean and protect your system.

mätzyboy · Mon 19/07/2004 19:12:38

Glad to hear it! Still consider installing Suns Java VM to be safe from malicious code...

Isegrim · Mon 19/07/2004 19:34:29

And stop using M$ Internet Explorer! That's still the best method against Hijackers...
(And there's advice for all of you: Stop visiting porn-sites

)

viktor · Mon 19/07/2004 20:09:26

it's not the porn. You can get it even by downloading a game. Let that be a leason for you. Never again use MS IE. Start using mozilla or mozilla firefox.

InCreator · Tue 20/07/2004 00:16:42

porn... porn. I have PestPatrol cookiepatrol some time and it scares the shit out of me. There's gazillion of spyware everywhere, just open yahoo.com and see what cookiepatrol catches just by opening the yahoo main page! Every ad, every banner opens now with "extra" that shits your hard drive. Like a curse.

Internet has became a minefield - it's easier to turn all anti-viruses and adawares off -- it saves some nerves. Of course, until you one day decide to see what you have got in your cpu by the time...

DOOOSSS! I want back to golden days.

auhsor · Tue 20/07/2004 06:42:28

I had the same problem when i first installed everything on my new computer. Well I hadn't installed everything yet cos I was missing my Anti Virus program and windows updates and my brother decided to go on the net and play some Flash games. Quite a bad idea. I tried most of the stuff here like AdAware, Spybot and different anti virus programs, but none of them worked. I figured hey, I'll just reformat, again as I only had done it a few days ago anyways. So moral of the story - Don't let anyone use your new computer until everything is secure.

Good to see that you got it fixed. I wish I knew about that program before.

Kinoko · Tue 20/07/2004 14:25:01

While we're on the subject of viruses...

Lately, (only once a week or so) after a short while of this computer being on, all the text (80% of it anyway, a few labels and things that use non-generic fonts stay fine) on screen will turn multi-coloured, faint and become sort of "shattered" with most parts missing, making it impossible to read. I can't remedy the problem and always have to restart the computer (after which everything returns to normal). Has anyone heard of something like this?

Barbarian · Tue 20/07/2004 14:38:39

Kinoko, that may not be a virus, but it could be a possible problem with the graphic adaptor. Try updating the drivers for your graphic adaptor/card.Ã,Â Well, it could be caused by any number of problems, but try updating your drivers first and see if it helps.
Of course doing a full system scan for viruses & spyware on a regular basis is always a good idea anyways.

PS: What version of Windows you running, and how much onboard RAM does your motherboard have? And what type of graphics adator/card you have and with how much memory? If your computer is low on memory memory, and if the cache is filling up and not being properly emptied, this may also cause similar problems such as you described.
You might also consider a "memory manager" that you can set to automatically try and free up memory if it get's too low. A good free one I use is FreeRam which you can find over at:
http://www.yourwaresolutions.com/