That's how they draw people to their porn sites where they can get info to download spyware, viruses, etc to your computer. I have spent several days getting my hubby's computer back to normal after he got zapped. The spyware, adware and malware is harder to get rid of than the viruses sometimes. Norton identified the virus files, even though I had to manually delete a couple of the files. My spyware remover wasn't the latest version (I finally figured that out) so it wasn't getting rid of the malicious files and registry items. Once I upgraded and reran it the bad files were all gone and I was finally able to get his settings back.
The software I used:
Ad-Aware (have had excellent success with this)
Spy Doctor (decided to try it since it has high ratings)
Spybot (I like the others better so use this rarely now)
Hijack This (read warnings before deleting browser attempts, most are legit programs on your computer)
Win Patrol (runs live and has many good options)
Norton Antivirus (make sure live updates are turned on)
If you don't use a spyware removal tool you are leaving your computer wide open for attack. All of the above except Norton have free versions that you can use indefinitely or for a small fee you can upgrade for more options and protection. They can be downloaded at
www.download.com.
The virus attack that hit him hit instantly when I plugged him into the DSL modem. It totally removed any access to the XP firewall and uninstalled SP2. It was from a company called helpyoursearch.com. I got that from the properties, not because I was stupid enough to click on their link. It overrode all of the monitor settings and replaced them with a screen saying his computer had been infected with spyware and to click on their link to remove it. The files kept reinstalling until I booted to safe mode and deleted them that way. It still took me updating to the new version of Ad-aware to get rid of the registry entries and get the monitor settings back. I know it seems like I run a lot of different ones, but each one finds things the others don't. Winpatrol is the only one that runs live in the free version and has prevented numerous browser hijacks for me.
We all learn from experience. I try to keep my computer squeeky clean and never click on banners or popups (don't have many popups with XP's blocker. Unfortunately he isn't as careful and the other person that uses his computer tends to turn off warnings without reading them because "it irritates him and they are unnecessary." And they wonder why he is always having trouble with his computer...
Kathy
