Adware--spyware? how do I get rid of this?

[John Prophet]

A customer has somehow gotten some adware or spyware on her comp. It continually makes a porn site her homepage. **Deleted**

I have tried all the conventional things such as changing the homepage to blank, in "tools, internet options". I found some registry settings which showed the offending url as home page, search etc..so I changed them all to google.com. I have deleted all cookies and all offline content.

Any other suggestions?

Its IE6. She uses an ISP called PMTnet. So her explorer pages say "Microsoft Int expl provided by PMTNet"

Is there any free type of online scan to show if you have spyware-adware?
Thanks, JP

Quote from FAQ:

You will not use profane, vulgar, or obscene language nor post content that is vulgar, obscene, profane, sexually oriented or sexually suggestive, nor will you link to sites or pages with related content. Said language or content will be removed without notice.

Sorry man, cant link stuff like that here. Doesnt seem important to the topic at hand anyways. Looks like your got your answer anyways. Ad-aware is the way to get rid of spyware if any of it has decided to put up shop on a computer. Hope that fixes everything.

- AuraEdge
TechIMO Moderator

[Mead]

Download Ad-aware. That should find and help you get rid of any spyware programs.

[fatal xception]

Here's a great free one:

Ad-aware

[fatal xception]

Doh! Beat me. Note to self - learn to type.

[fatal xception]

Second thought - I didn't see that you had tried this. In Internet Options on the programs you can try the [Reset Web Settings...] button.

[Mead]

yeah, but you linked it. So you win

[storm2k]

definately... get the latest version with the latest reffile... and just delete everything it finds... should solve the problem.

JP, if it's one of those programs that you remove in the add/remove panel and it keeps coming back, you may need to just manually hunt it down with the search function and delete it.
It may also take a couple reboots to find it all...

[crazyray]

Don't forget to download Ref Update 1.3 from Lavasoft when you get AdAware 5.8. Use Ref Update to make sure Adaware does its best possible job; it is kind of like updating your anti-virus program.

Also check here for more info:

http://www.cexx.org/adware.htm

[amdkt7]

Better remove that link to the porn site. I'm sure the mod's will remove it soon. I know you put it up for information, but it's really not needed for solving the problem.

I'ts not permited to post links to porn sites and what not.

Yes Adware should get rid of it nicely.