Serious Spyware Problem, Need Help

Yeah, my computer got hit with some serious spyware problems and I need some help with it. I've had to use IE for the last few weeks just to view some sections of the forums because Mozilla was hit with the problem. A few key words are linked (Chat, for example), and if there are other words in the link (Serious Chat, Random Chat), the whole link will be affected. It got worse when a program called Security iGuard magically got itself onto the computer, but is useless because you have to pay for it in order to use it. I've deleted it about 7 or 8 times, but it reinstalls itself onto the computer. Now, I'm getting pop-ups and a random MS-DOS program pops up every once in a while.

Also, some shoddy search engine called DAO Search (also the site that the random words are linked to) automatically sets the homepage for IE to its main search page, even after changing it. I've had spyware problems in the past, but nowhere near this bad.

 

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Download AdAware Personal

 

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/s...re/default.mspx

I highly recommend this.

 

Yep, Adaware is great, as is Spybot Search and Destroy, I usually use both of those when encountering spyware. More agreesive ones may require more aggressive techniques (ie. programs specific to the particular spyware, or manual removal via registry/manual deletion/safe mode etc. First things first though, run update adaware and spybot, and scan, see what you can get rid of that way.

 

Ah yeah. SSD is also an awesome program.
Although I found that MSAS caught some stuff that Adaware and SSD didn't. *looks at neighbour's computer*

 

Hm, worked different for me.
*shrug*

 

Just so you know, SDD and AdAware did not solve the problem.

 

Try MSAS.

 

Try googling the names of the programs you want to remove. That sometimes works.

 

If SDD and AdAware not work then I use :

Spyware Doctor

 

Then you have a more serious spyware problem, and its likely that no automated program will fix it, as I said above. The next step is to get the program HijackThis, run a scan, and look for suspicious entries that it finds. 'Suspicious' can be hard to define without experience, generally people save the log of HijackThis, and post it on a tech support forum to get help on what to remove.

HijackThis

 

Trend Micro has the best online virus scanner on the net. You might want to try it.

housecall.trendmicro.com/

 

Yeah, I've used Trend Micro before, but the last time I used it, IE froze up on me. Well, it's worth another try.

 

It could be a virus for all you know, not spyware..

 

Yeah, I'm exploring that possibility as well.

*looks at Trend Micro Virus Scan*

Yup, 9 infected files so far.

 

Don't forget to try AVG.

 

Oh shit, it just jumped up to 25 files!

 

Yep. It's a virus.

If the virus scan doesn't help, post a HijackThis log.

 

I was able to get rid of 23 of the infected files. Security iGuard hasn't popped up since I got rid of it, so I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore. DAO Search is still there, so I guess I'll see if Spyware Doctor will get rid of the last two problems.

EDIT: OMFG. Found another 546+ infections.

Second Edit: Thank you to everyone who has helped. The problem is gone and I am now once again able to use Mozilla.