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Archiver > CARIBBEAN > 2003-05 > 1051916343


From: "Di Coghlan" <>
Subject: Re: WARNING!! Browser Hijacking......
Date: Sat, 3 May 2003 08:59:18 +1000
References: <01c801c310eb$2c0219c0$7eb22b18@hnsn.phub.net.cable.rogers.com>


Heather
Thank you for sharing this information and the resources to combat the
problems that we are all experiencing. I am a teacher of IT in adult
education and will pass on your warnings, experiences and the resource sites
to students and friends. I have downloaded and run AdAware which found 6
"infections", mainly in the Cookies folder, but one in the registry.
Previously I have taken to reloading Windows about every 6 months to
overcome this problem, so I will be interested to see how effective AdAware
is.
Thanks again for your advice.
Regards
Di
----- Original Message -----
From: "Heather Figueroa" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2003 6:34 AM
Subject: WARNING!! Browser Hijacking......


> Hi All......
>
> I am sure a lot of you know that my other passion is security and
> viruses. But spyware and browser hijacking are relatively new and I
> doubt that most of you are aware of this rising phenomenom......but you
> should be.
>
> I had clicked on an old link in Genealogy.com for Patsy's site as she
> described and after 8 popups and a nasty spyware program called GATOR
> trying to download, I got the heck out of there......but the damage had
> been done.
>
> The next day my home page was changed to "Find the Website You Need" and
> among other things, I couldn't update my computer at Windows Update
> because it interfered with that as well.
>
> There are two good programs out there for spyware (and spyware can be
> 'benign' or 'malignant' to use medical terms.....this one was a bad one.
> AdAware 6 is a bit more user friendly.....I happen to use Spybot Search
> and Destroy, which is not. It scares me at times (G).
>
> It found 3 entries hidden in my Registry for this hijacker and I deleted
> them. I am now in the process of running a specialized program for
> hijacking and it is being evaluated by the experts!! So this is not
> something that is minor. This is majorly serious. And if any of you
> ever have your home page hijacked, write me immediately.
>
> DO NOT GO TO MAX PAGES!! As far as I can see, that is where I picked up
> this sneaky hijacker. That site showed up as the first line in the
> specialized Hijack analyzer....so I don't doubt this. Some *%&^ has
> taken over the page and will cause you nothing but grief!!
>
> Patsy had nothing to do with this......it was done behind her back and I
> wrote her this morning when I had enough information and the cleanup
> process almost completed.
>
> I will give you the links for AdAware and Spybot, but suggest you use
> the first one.......it is more user-friendly. I run it every day to
> take out the spyware cookies that land on here. Usually 3 or 4 per day.
> I happened to have it off temporarily for a reason and that is how I got
> hijacked.
>
> http://www.lsfileserv.com/index.html - this is the one for the new
> version 6 of AdAware......read the first page, click on the free one and
> download it.
>
> http://security.kolla.de/ - this is the Spybot Search and Destroy and
> for the 'everyday user', it is a little complicated, so stick with
> AdAware.
>
> I hope I have covered everything.......but it seems no matter what
> defence mechanisms the experts come up with, the 'black hats' invent
> newer ones. If you want to write me off-List........no problem.
>
> If there is anything further I will post it......but because this was
> Pat Jackson's old website that was involved, I felt that you all needed
> a warning and an explanation. And check your Favourites and delete any
> "Max Pages" sites you might have......
>
> Now......think I will go have a drink!! (G) And it won't be just
> Pepsi!!
>
> Cheers.....Heather
>
>
> ==== CARIBBEAN Mailing List ====
> For information on individual islands, research aids, island bulletin
boards or history please visit the CaribbeanGenWeb project at
> http://www.rootsweb.com/~caribgw/
>

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