I can't remove some stubborn adware/spyware

[SupremeRuler99]

Recently I discovered that my laptop was infected with spyware. I do not know how, I am protected by two hardware firewalls, Zone Alarm, Avast anti virus, and AdAware.

However, that is beside the point. Having run all the software I mentioned above I am unable to remove it. Whenever I run IE, it comes up with the homepage here: http://updatescenter.com/.

Also, just now, an icon in the notification area popped up to say that I am infected with Spyware and to click it to fix the issue. Upon doing so, it takes me to a spyware software company.

How can I cleanse my system of whatever it is. And if I can't, can Zone Alarm succesfully stop it from accessing the net and vice versa?

 

[Trotter]

First-
MSCONFIG (when used with the RUN command) opens up the System Configuration Utility. Most of the stuff in there you don't want to mess with unless you know what you are doing or have detailed instructions.

Click the STARTUP tab. The list that it pulls up is everything that you can choose to start up when Windows does.

Why is all of this stuff in the list? Because every program designer thinks his 'creation' is so indispensible that no one could possibly want it to NOT start up with their computer (yeah, right), so they set it into the list and have it to do just that.


Once you're at the list, look it over and see what all has a check mark. Every program that does starts up when Windows loads... EVERYTIME!

If something is checked, but you don't know what it is, Google it and find out.

Once you have seen what is there, uncheck everything that you don't need or want. Keep your firewall, antivirus, broadband drivers, graphics drivers, whatever you absolutely have to have, but uncheck everythign else.

Once you are done, click APPLY, OK, then reboot.

When your computer starts up, you'll get a grey box about the System Configuration Utility. Check the box about 'Don't run on startup' then OK.

If you had a lot of stuff checked, then your comp ought to start up faster and run more stable.

Second-
Download and run AdAware, Spybot, and possibly Microsoft AntiSpyware.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Ad-Aware_SE_Personal_d506.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/SpyBot-Search_&_Destroy_d2471.html
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en
(All are free. Be sure to have each one update itself before you scan.)

Third-
Uninstall any unused or unnedded programs you have on your hard drive.

Fourth-
Download and run TweakNow to clean up your computer's registry.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/TweakNow_RegCleaner_d4134.html

Fifth-
Run Disk Defragmenter START- ALL PROGRAMS- ACCESSORIES- SYSTEM TOOLS- DISK DEFRAGMENTER).

This is something I have posted several times. It ought to help.

AdAware is good, but it ain't perfect. By using all three, you have a better chance of cleaning your system out good.

Also, once you are done, go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ and use the free online Spyware Scanner. Once you're done, Google anything that is still there, and try to find out how to manually remove it.

You might also want to run the free online virus scan, after you're done... just to be sure.

Also, just now, an icon in the notification area popped up to say that I am infected with Spyware and to click it to fix the issue. Upon doing so, it takes me to a spyware software company.

If the MSCONFIG doesn't stop this, try booting into safe mode and following the steps.

 

[SupremeRuler99]

Thank you very much for your help. I suppose you get annoyed with everyone doing silly things on the net and getting spyware, etc?

None of the spyware applications managed to detect it, which is odd. But I used Google and processlibrary.com to find two spyware applications which I then manually deleted.

 

[Trotter]

Glad to hear it.