so a few weeks ago i got some kind of a virus/spyware etc. one where it disables icons on your desktop etc. i ran my avg, ad-aware, spybot and got rid of most of it. the computer is running pretty fast and its pretty good. i reinstalled IE7, firefox, AIM etc and everything is good except when i am looking at a webpage, when i click to another page, open a window or something lik that, a full-page pop-up comes almost everytime. my spybot said the one thing i had that it couldnt remove was ‘Smitfraud’. well i got the smitfraud remove tool and supposed got rid of that. just for good measure, i got the vundo remove tool and ran it and it said i didnt have it. so anyways, here i am and i have done all this scanning and i still get this pop-up during a refesh or a new page. what can i do to fix it, im getting super frustrated.
So, http://siri.urz.free.fr/Fix/SmitfraudFix.exe
Didn’t work?
If you got Vundo…have fun getting rid of it…i’ve worked on a few machines that had it and the removal tool DIDN’T find it…yet countless ad-removal programs would find it…vundo has a habit of enbedding itself into vital system processes that are ran even in safemode…which means…you can’t get rid of it without deleting those files…but upon deleting them your system won’t boot…so i hope you have recovery console installed or have your xp disk. If your vital files “like winlogon.exe” are infected the only way to delete them is through a DOS disk or linux…because they run on windows even when started in safe mode…run hijackthis,and Spybot S&D…see what it comes back with…the fact that the windows are still popping up means your still infected.
i hate spyware like that. good luck.
i’ve been lucky and haven’t gotten any bad ones lately.
I am finding it easier and faster to save important files, format, and reinstall windows. Tracking down spyware is BS.
well i may do that, but i was hoping there was another solution. im getting closer to doing this, unless someone knows something else that can help. its annoying tho, thats for sure
2 hrs to back up/format > 6 hrs of cleaning spyware.
I use a MAC. What is spyware? 
x 300,000
Never had a problem once.
cool, ill try that
Well said…i agreed
psh…try reformatting a 500+ gb drive…that alone takes 2 hours lol
if your vital files are infected…screw it…backup non-exe files…like your music…pron…pictures…and reinstall…i pushed all of my important files into a big zip file…sent it to the storage whore computer downstairs…and reformatted my main one last time i had an incident
You also paid a premium for a garbage machine, just because it was trendy.
Plus, the whole Spyware thing’ll only last so long.
Listen… you computer fags can say what you want on specs, blah blah blah… all I know is one thing…
My Windows PC = breaks & acts up
My Mac = owned 2 of them in the last 4 years, not ONE problem at all…
I couldnt tell you how many times I re-loaded windows, etc… pain in the ass.
If your a simple user - MAC > Windows… now maybe if you have some huge network or whatever, then Windows im assuming will be better.
Look how Vista copied soooo much off of OSX
vista is the most user-unfriendly OS in the world.
I didn’t mean they copied the user-friendly part
You also paid a premium for a garbage machine, just because it was trendy.
Plus, the whole Spyware thing’ll only last so long.
We’ll assume that ‘garbage’ is subjective, and then look at the other parts individually.
I switched to a mac, my initial purchase was a whopping $600, (admitedly i used my own peripherals) Mac Mini.
I would not call a company that has been around for as long as apple trendy, but well say for the sake of conversation that is subjective too.
The spy ware issue may indeed catch up with me, but even with their recent publicity the market share makes it unlikely to happen anytime soon.
I will add that i am in agreement that if you are and end user, (don’t care how it works, but that it does work) Myself falling in that category then mac is superior. I would say that is justification for the increase in cost, but just mho. If you are a person that must administer machines to many people then windows i would guess is superior based on the number of companies that use windows systems. ( I am again, not a person that has any knowledge to that application, just basing it on outside factors).
I couldn’t agree more.
Look how much Vista sucks. 
There’s been quite a bit of boom in the Mac side of things recently. It’s becoming more and more profitable for it to be exploited.
I never said it copied the user friendly side of OSX… they copied looks mostly.
I never even played with Vista, maybe 2 times I think… I try and stay away from winblows machines. Unless Apple changes things drastically, ill be a customer for life.
and the biggest peice of shit…had nothing but problems with the vista machine my mom bought…hell it wouldn’t even find the windows share drives on the network out of the box…now wtf is that…linux dual boot…i’m only partial to spyware lol