Clearing Adware with Norton?

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 1 Jul 2004 7:43 pm

My Norton has identified 20 Adware programs and files on my computer but does not seem to be able to delete or quarantine them. It says I should click on the name of each file for more info. but when I do that it says the file is too large for AOL to display, despite that fact that I never TOLD it to use AOL to look at it. But it doesn't seem to give me a choice to tell it to open whatever it is with a different program (Word, Notepad, etc). How do I get rid of these "threats" as Norton calls them? I've even tried searching for them and deleting them manually but that doesn't seem to work and in a few cases it says that I can NOT delete them! Halp!

Jim Peters · Post by **Jim Peters** » 1 Jul 2004 9:05 pm

Jim, get spybot search and destroy. It's free and works great. Use it with ad aware. JP

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 2 Jul 2004 2:14 am

Jim I did use Spybot S&D and I thought it took care of these files, but Norton still has found them. What do you mean by "use it with AdAware? Isn't AdAware supposed to do the same thing, and by itself?

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 2 Jul 2004 9:17 am

We've found (me and the two techies I work with) that no one program finds all of the offensive spyware/adware. Spybot will find some, and AdAware will find more. My one tech associate advocates "Spy Sweeper" from webroot.com. You can download a one time use of it or pay $29 for a year subscription. I haven't tried it yet, so I can't relay personal experience, but the techie says SpySweeper is the best he's seen yet.

Just another suggestion/alternative.

Johnny Baldwin · Post by **Johnny Baldwin** » 2 Jul 2004 9:20 am

Jim:
Go to http://www.lavasoft.de/
and download the free version of "Ad Aware" 6.0. It is a great program that will find those pesky files and quarantine or delete them. It is a safe program which I run on my computer weekly.

Johnny Baldwin · Post by **Johnny Baldwin** » 2 Jul 2004 9:31 am

I have "Spy Sweeper". Its a great little application that will find offensive cookies and some adware. I use it with Lava Soft's "Ad-Aware" (which does more than spy sweeper and the strip down version costs nothing). I also suggest a good firewall to keep those bugs out of your computer. Zone Labs (www.zonelabs.com)has some great applications, one of which is a free download and is very efficient.

Miguel e Smith · Post by **Miguel e Smith** » 2 Jul 2004 2:19 pm

Hey Jim,

I've had trouble getting rid of some things too. Even if I remove them manually in the Registry, these things sometimes cycle back into place every 15-seconds or so.

I've found two things that do a fairly good job (both free). I use Hijack This first (although it will list some things you won't want to delete) and then I use Ad Aware to clean-up the rest. Sometimes I run both of these several times.

Mike

Garth Highsmith · Post by **Garth Highsmith** » 2 Jul 2004 6:07 pm

.[This message was edited by Garth Highsmith on 06 January 2006 at 08:09 AM.]

Bill Bosler · Post by **Bill Bosler** » 2 Jul 2004 6:36 pm

My experiences with Norton software is it's mostly a lot of graphics eyewash, takes up a lot of hard drive space and never seems to do anything really well. It does have a hard drive copy ulility called Ghost that works well.

Ken Lang · Post by **Ken Lang** » 2 Jul 2004 7:29 pm

I have a program called pest patrol. It's not a heavy hitter like some others, but it has found several hidden things that are in files that do not belong there. Perhaps more knowledgeable folks might have comments on this software.

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 3 Jul 2004 2:11 am

Man , that "cool web " CWS, is a real pain to get rid of.
Hook

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HookMoore.com

Charles French · Post by **Charles French** » 3 Jul 2004 4:05 am

Here's a site you might want to bookmark. These MajorGeeks love disecting files for ya.

Info on Highjack This http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

Geeks Forum http://www.majorgeeks.com/vb/

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 3 Jul 2004 4:22 pm

thanks Charles..
Hook

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HookMoore.com

Les Pierce · Post by **Les Pierce** » 6 Jul 2004 8:48 pm

SpyBot creates a restore file that has all the "fixes" in it. When you run another anti-spyware program, it finds this file, and thinks that they are still active.

If after removing the spyware, everything is running OK, open Spybot, choose the Recovery tab, select all and remove them.

Les

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Strat,Tele
Dekley S-10

Donna Dodd · Post by **Donna Dodd** » 7 Jul 2004 12:51 am

I've been using SpyBot S&D for some time now. However, my IT guy said others are more powerful, and using a combination is the way to go. As someone said, ad aware is a great one. My guy also added web Root (link below). All my "known" problems were taken care of after the second re-boot. Both FREE!
http://www.ada-ware.com/ http://www.webroot.com
[This message was edited by Donna Dodd on 07 July 2004 at 02:31 PM.]

Jeff Agnew · Post by **Jeff Agnew** » 7 Jul 2004 3:48 am

Donna,

Your first link doesn't lead to the real Ad-Aware site, but to a similarly named product. The deservedly popular Ad-Aware program is developed by Lavasoft and can be found at http://www.lavasoftusa.com.

It's becoming common for companies in the anti-spyware/anti-virus industry to trade on a competitor's good name by constructing misleading web domains. I don't know if that's the case here but it's suspicious.

However, my IT guy said others are more powerful, and using a combination is the way to go.

It's not that some are more powerful, per se. Some have different strengths. But other than a few specific utilities designed to remove a single pest, the best combination is Spybot S&D and Lavasoft's Ad-Aware.

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 7 Jul 2004 5:52 am

I can confirm that LavaSoft is indeed the correct source. Somebody should send a bag of rattlesnakes to that adaware counterfeit.

Donna Dodd · Post by **Donna Dodd** » 7 Jul 2004 1:29 pm

Jeff, you are absolutely right - and LavaSoft IS what our IT guy loaded. I did a quick search before I posted (to get the exact url), and accidently picked up the wrong address. Sorry, I didn't mean to be misleading.
Thanks for your expertise!!

Donna

Gene H. Brown · Post by **Gene H. Brown** » 12 Jul 2004 9:57 pm

There is a really good program made by Zone Labs called Zone Alarm which works pretty darn good, but like they say, not one program by itself will do the job anymore with all the trash going through the lines.
Gene

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If You Keep Pickin That Thing, It'll Never Heal!

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 17 Jul 2004 11:10 am

Here's what I have for protection, and it seems to work very well. 'Course, I don't sit for hours anymore on the web.

ZoneAlarm [free]
AdAware [free]
SpyBot [free]
AVG [free]
KillAd [free]
MailWatcher [free][This message was edited by CHIP FOSSA on 17 July 2004 at 12:13 PM.]

Les Green · Post by **Les Green** » 17 Jul 2004 6:17 pm

I got rid of Norton and use the following:

AntiVir XP
Adaware
Spybot
12 ghosts pop-up killer (all free)

Run Adaware and Spybot once a week.

Les Green

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 17 Jul 2004 6:52 pm

I just checked out Zone Alarm, and it looks to me like the free download version is just a Firewall, not Spyware or Adware Removal.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 18 Jul 2004 5:23 am

Another peculiar thing:

Every night when Norton runs, it finds about 10 "at risk" files on my computer. This is AFTER I have run AdAware and SpyBotS&D. So, I tell Norton to delete those files, and it always comes out: "Delete Failed"! It says to click on the title of the file for "more information", but when I do that it says that the file (presumably the info. file) is too large to open in AOL and I should try to open it with another program. Well! I don't even know the name of the info. file or where it's located, how the heck am I supposed to use "another program" to "open" it!? So these "at-risk" files just stay on my computer! Thanks a bunch "Nawton"!

Doug Garrick · Post by **Doug Garrick** » 18 Jul 2004 9:29 am

Jim, Like Garth mentioned, nearly all of the spyware problems you're experiencing originate with Internet Explorer.

There is a very good article (Spyware 3.0) by Alex St. John in July '04 CPU magazine regarding Spyware removal.

My opinion is that the best cure is prevention.
Get Firefox.
Doug Garrick[This message was edited by Doug Garrick on 18 July 2004 at 10:29 AM.]

John Hawkins · Post by **John Hawkins** » 18 Jul 2004 3:12 pm

Jim ,
I have been seeing the same as you ! My Norton (Version 6) during it's regular Friday scan, has shown only two adware threats thus far . I can delete only one of them when it prompts me to do so but the other one keeps showing up on each scan .

I went into Norton help after highlighting the adware that always says the "deletion failed" and found out what I needed to do to delete it . What I found out was too scary for me ! It suggested going into the registry and find certain named files and delete same . I did not try this until my computer savy Son from Louisiana was here for a visit recently . He went into the registry , asked it to "find " the numbered file /s that Norton had outlined there and after "find" ran , it was unable to find any such numbers . We (my Son) concluded therefore, that the file /s Norton showed in the registry was not there after all . Later-- when I read a lot of the help topics in Norton's Help, I found a statment that if Norton would not allow a threat to be deleted then it was because that particular threat was associated with or a part, of an operating windows program and could possibly damage or stop that program from running . It directed me to click on "EXCLUDE" after the scan is done and shows this threat .

For your info the file was shown on Windows
C DRIVE compressed host dll file .That is the one I could not get deleted .It always failed . I run a Windows 98 O/S and Web Root Spy Sweeper program. It sweeps the registry but has never found this particular adware threat there before or since .

I am a computer dummy so do not take my word for anything here but I thought what my Son and I found might help someone who knows a lot more about a computer than I do, to get more info. and therefore, help you further.

Sorry for the "book" .

John