Recently my computer has got infected with something. I use fire fox since day one, but I think some randomly download program infected something. Currently I'm having FireFox windows randomly opening (every few clicks or so) with ads and some to an IP address (looking at the address bar, looks like it's sending form content to a sever). I've ran Ad-Aware, Windows Defender, and a few others in safe mode. They found a few things, some look serious, however nothing has fixed it.

I was wondering if anyone had/fixed something like this before, or had good luck with some app that could remove it.

Thanks to anyone that can help....

MyYz400

Tried Spybot yet?

I would also recommend Spybot Search and Destroy.
You might also want to go to a few free online virus scanning sites (Trend Micro HouseCall, Panda ActiveScan, Norton Security Scan), as no single virus scanner will remove 100 percent of viruses.

If you ever see a popup window using Firefox or IE that says your computer is infected with a virus and suggests you download their recommended virus scanner, guess what - it's probably Malware. Once installed, it'll infect your computer and you'll get those popups.

If none of the above works, you'll want to back up any important files and then do a recover of your Windows install - or reformat and reinstall from scratch.

I've seen several guides lately on getting rid of the junk that acts like it's an anti-spyware/virus program but really just annoys you to no end. They all seem to point to malwarebytes anti-malware. you can check it out at http://www.malwarebytes.org

I've used it for a couple people who got the aforementioned issue and it worked both times.

Spybot will not remove many things. Spybot might go through the motions of removing but those things will return.

Malwarebytes is good.

You best option is simply get security software. Etrust ezarmor is the best in my opinion.

Contact your internet provider and ask if they have any free software. My internet provide has an agreement with Etrust, so I got Etrust security suite for free.

Try Highjackthis run a scan log, then manually remove what ever is there.


What is the particular issue? If you run Highjackthis post the scan log.

Well, like frankenstein said, you may get reinfected depending . . .

No program is perfect but I've had good luck with Spybot.

Great suggestions to post a scan log and invest in a highly rated security package. Just avoiding one episode pays for the protection if you ask me. I've been there. And I don't want to ever go back!!!

Hijack this! is your best bet. Its a bit of a learning curve, but there are plenty of people who are willing to help. Chances are you got an infected gif file in your cache and it hijacked your wininet.dll. Chances are it's also a randomization piece that changes it's name and location with each boot.

Like Frank said. Post your hijack log and we'll look with our tech specs on....

Well after trying them all, including buying a copy of Norton, I broke down and did a nuke.

I open my system up by using Puppy Linux Live, and copying everything over to a remote drive. Then did a complete reformat and started from scratch. It sucks but it was worth knowing that I now have a fresh system again.

Thanks for the insight LL'ers

Now. Get a nice updated fresh system in there. Set it up the way you like, and then...

BACK THAT SUCKER UP TO DISC!


Easy restore!

I use Firefox exclusively as well due to the many security plugins available. I also use Spybot Search and Destroy and have very good luck with it however, to completely clean your cache and registry I use CCleaner from Piriform. It can be downloaded from filehippo.com. It's freeware and a very slick utility. This product will also remove virii and spyware that you don't even know you have.

As for anti-virus software, I use AVG, but hate running that thing full time. It runs four very CPU intensive processes even when you're not scanning, so I keep it disabled by using msconfig and only enable it when I think I need a scan.

This could turn into a book, so I'll stop here.

Good Luck
Hal

Try IObit Advanced System Care its a free program that does just about everything including the issues youre having

I do everything that you do on my windows computer except with regard to anti-virus software. I use nod32 and I keep it running in the background all the time. It is very small and fast.