answer me this

[eilsoe]

I have a website open in the background, and I'm writing my gf on icq, all of a sudden, my website is selected and it opens some www.collegeloan.com site (or something like that), and my icq message doesn't contain half of what I wrote! (?????)

it's done this a few times today, it's hella annoying!!

[mdipi]

hmm, run spybot search and destroy. i bet its spyware

[eilsoe]

I have S&D installed yes, I ran a search yesterday! grr.. how does this wpyware get in? All I do is browse this forum... mostly... icq maybe?

[mdipi]

e-mail? i donno, i am *almost* the same. but my e-mail is litterally flooded w/spam everyday i didnt check for a week and something like 800 spams were in my inbox!

[eilsoe]

yeah, me 2... I've made a habit of deleting spam mail :P

[mdipi]

i tried to filter it but it just was to much

[prstudio]

if icq has partner software with it, then it could be looking for internet explorer, if its already open it could be using the active window...but if its college loan ads, i think its spyware, whether it came with icq or not; that college loan ad is usually generated in such a matter

[Kel - 420]

Originally posted by eilsoe
I have a website open in the background, and I'm writing my gf on icq, all of a sudden, my website is selected and it opens some www.collegeloan.com site (or something like that), and my icq message doesn't contain half of what I wrote! (?????)

it's done this a few times today, it's hella annoying!!


I had the same problem. It stopped after I turned off cookies.

[senocular]

I stopped using ICQ because of crazy stuff like that :)

[thoriphes]

i never liked ICQ :-\.

[mdipi]

i liked it, but no one around here uses it :/

[Kel - 420]

I use it all the time. Did you know ICQ stands for I seek you

[morse]

icq??

[senocular]

yes, get it? eye, seak, ewe ... I, C, Q
:beam:

[Kel - 420]

lol

[Iammontoya]

use Trillian and your problems will go away.

http://www.trillian.cc

[prstudio]

trillian is buggy on some machines though

[eilsoe]

yep, I've been using icq for several years now, and I've never had any trouble with it... except now.. if it IS icq that's wrecking my com.

I tried trillian once, now THAT screwed my com...

[morse]

trillian is cool except you cant change your profile :-\ - other than that trillian rules.

[teet]

i'm sure you already know about most of these, but a lot of people don't. the following are a few ways i keep my machine running like butter (and 99% spyware/adware free!).

if you're on a windows machine (not windows 2000-->you have to edit the registry to do this trick), go to start-->run and then type "msconfig" and then take out all the bad things in the startup menu and in the services menu...as a good rule of thumb, i take out anything i don't recognize...don't worry, if you accidentally take out something that you want to be in startup, you can always add it back in later. note: nothing is actually needed in the startup for windows to run correctly...take it all out if you wish!

next, go into your add/remove programs and uninstall anything that you don't recognize (especially new.net, bonzi buddy, gator, etc).

then, run a full system scan with norton's antivirus or a free web scanner (like http://housecall.antivirus.com ) IN SAFEMODE. i feel that it does a better job scanning while in safemode.

finally, download Adware from cnet.com, run a full system scan of it in safemode also, and delete anything that it finds.

that's it! after doing these things my machine always runs great and i don't have to worry about any spyware/adware.

one last thing...i found this nifty little program for Windows XP Pro machines (sorry, it won't work on XP Home)...go to start-->run and then type "gpedit.msc" there's a motherload of stuff to tweak in there! hope this helps!

-teet