squareCircleZ

Dreaded spyware search toolbars were seen on this new computer from the very first day (before I could put any firewalls up). It was most probably because of a mis-typed “google.com” which can result in landing somewhere like “googke.com” and this is where this rubbish is waiting for you…

This one is at top (click on the image to enlarge it):

And this one is at the bottom of your screen:

There are no names on the toolbar (surprise, surprise) but it does give you an “uninstall” option on right-click. However, it just says “you can uninstall in Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs” but it is not listed in there.

This is what I have done:

• Installed ZoneAlarm firewall
• Installed SpyBot Search and Destroy and updated it (1.3 with detection dated 8Apr2005) – which didn’t find anything during its scan except a bunch of cookies – not the resident software which is causing all this hassle. “Immunize” setting enabled.
• Installed Ad-Aware and updated it (SE1R42 28.04.2005 – yesterday!) – which also didn’t find anything beyond cookies.
• Installed a 30-day version of SpySubtract (2.6 with definitions file 25Apr2005) – which also didn’t find anything beyond cookies. This now includes CWShredder, which I also updated
• Installed and run HiJack This!

So, how?

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