Adware/Spyware etc advice needed.... • Non-Gaming • PC Hardware • Eurogamer.net

Dougs 24 Jan 2005 10:13:25 100,414 posts
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I'm currently trying to resurrect my gf's PC, which seemingly became infested with tons of crap after her brother decided to look at lots of ladies boobies. With that and the fact that she had a 5 year old AV package, I'm not surprised the system was a mess.

I've ran the latest Norton, Spybot and Adaware through it and I think its got rid of the majority of crap. However Norton still finds 4 adware files (2 f3setup1.exe files, and 2 Ezula executables), but for some reason cannot or willnot delete them.

I've tried deleting them manually but can't find the directories they are supposedly in. Are they anything to worry about, or should I just ignore them?

Deleted user 24 January 2005 10:14:38

Dougs wrote:
I'm currently trying to resurrect my gf's PC, which seemingly became infested with tons of crap after her brother decided to look at lots of ladies boobies. With that and the fact that she had a 5 year old AV package, I'm not surprised the system was a mess.

I've ran the latest Norton, Spybot and Adaware through it and I think its got rid of the majority of crap. However Norton still finds 4 adware files (2 f3setup1.exe files, and 2 Ezula executables), but for some reason cannot or willnot delete them.

I've tried deleting them manually but can't find the directories they are supposedly in. Are they anything to worry about, or should I just ignore them?

Have you upgraded the ad aware to the latest version? (Version 6)

Mike_Hunt 24 Jan 2005 10:17:16 23,524 posts
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If they're execuitables I'd try my best to get rid of them as they could be hogging up system resources.

Try googling for the naughty file names as you might find instructions for manual removal.

Alternatively, you could give Microsoft's own Ad-aware a shot. It's in beta at the moment but is apparently very good.

Here

[MH]

Chris_C 24 Jan 2005 10:19:23 458 posts
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Also worth it to download Microsoft's Anti-spyware tool - basically it's just the rebranded Giant anti-spyware tool which has been quite effective at removing spywares.

Usually to delete those files you have to enable showing Hidden Files. It's under Tools -> Folder Options for most computer. Also worth it to untick Hide Protected Operating System Files. Now you should be able to find the files. Deleting them may require you to go into safe mode but I doubt that's the case going by the names of the file you have provided.

Hope that's of some help.

Mike_Hunt 24 Jan 2005 10:20:02 23,524 posts
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Two seconds ahead of you Chrissy boy!

[MH]

Dougs 24 Jan 2005 10:32:30 100,414 posts
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Cheers all - I think Adaware is the latest version as I only downloaded it the other day, and I let it update automatically. Interestingly, Adaware doesn't pick these files up - only Norton does, but they seem to be fairly old pieces of Spyware.

I'll give the MS product a go, and also enable the hidden files and try and find them manually. 2 of the files are in the C: Recycled folder (I have at least emptyed the recycled bin) - can I still get rid of them completely?

Sorry, I'm a real PC f*ckwit!

mentat 24 Jan 2005 11:12:26 5,613 posts
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try running spybot again, and there's an option to have it run at next boot - you'll probably find those rogue files are in use by windows, and can't be deleted.

If you do the run at boot thing, the files shouldn't be loaded and they should be removable.

Dougs 24 Jan 2005 11:19:35 100,414 posts
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Ta Mentat, I'll do that too. It doesn't seem like they are too much of a threat as nothing else seems to have got through since I swept it clean. You never know though I guess!