BeeHive Consulting

 

We have been just about overwhelmed with the amount of Spyware, Malware, Crapware, Viruses, what ever you want to call it infecting computers around us.  Sure, our current clients are protected in many ways (we'd love to think so anyways), but we get new clients calling us all the time about this stuff.  We get at least 1 call per day on this topic and it's sad that the internet is full of CRAPWARE.  Some of the people writting this software are great coders.  But they must have this notion that in tricking someone to click on a link that they will somehow making a ton of money off of it.  Internet money.  And maybe there are a few out there that are making some money, hence the reason they are all still writting Crapware to infect your computer.  I happen to believe this stuff is more written by hackers as a test to see how many PCs they can infect, a hacker quest. 

 

So lets discuss Spyware and how to remove it.  Viruses are not covered under this discussion, as they are more complex, and usually require an onsite tech to remove (better hope it ain't a rootkit either!)

 

 

Here's a video on how Zwinky and MyWebSearch infect your PC - it's sad.  You may be browsing an innocent website.  Maybe one you've used in the past or one you visit often.  Maybe it's a website from a reputable source.  And you may see a pop-up like this one randomly come up on your screen:

 

 

Or this one:

 

 

Or you see an "Active X Control" bar on the top of the Internet Explorer browser window, and it asks if you want this website to install something on your computer.  You, trusting the website source, think "WHY NOT"? Right????........ Right. 

 

Next thing you know you see toolbars in IE you've never seen before, you have pop ups coming up for ads, and eventually your network card stops working and you can't even get online any more.  Sound familiar? 

 

 

There are a few simple steps you can take yourself to remove spyware.... some of these tools you will need to download on your computer.  Our techs have all of these tools on a USB drive ready to go.  And when we show up to a client's computer, we just put that USB drive in and let the hacker fight begin!  If your computer can't get online, use a secondary computer or your buddies computer to download these tools to USB. 

 

Step #1 - Install SuperAntiSpyware and run the SAS updater to apply the latest definitions without needing to download them. 

 

Step #2 - Install SpyBot Search and Destroy and run the SD updater to apply the latest definitions. 

 

Step #3 - Run SuperAntiSpyware on the C: (and any other hard drive attached to the PC) and run a Quick Scan - reboot if necessary after the clean. 

 

Step #4 - Run SpyBotSD on the C: and run a System Scan - reboot if necessary after the clean. 

 

YOU CAN STOP HERE IF YOU AREN'T a TECHIE TYPE - our techs will do more steps because we trust they know what is needed and what isn't.  From this point on you take the risk of removing something needed by your computer to function properly. 

 

Step #5 - Go through Add/Remove Programs and remove any gu left over.   

 

Step #6 - Go through Task Manager and check for any more gu.