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Spybot Hangs

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scranch

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14 January 2006
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Spybot has started to "freeze" on my computer.
It was alright until I did the search for updates and downloaded it.

Now it gets to 5997/56396:CoolWWWSearch,then goes no further.
I have searched for CoolWWWSearch on the Spybot site but couldn't find any thing there,or on yahoo search.Did a web search for coolsearch,found some sites but as I was opening one up Nortons told me it had detected a virus and was deleting it,so I got out and decided to check here to see if anyone else had a problem.
PS;I uninstalled then reinstalled,it worked alright until I checked for updates,there was a whole string of them.When I did the upgrade I was back where I started.
Brian
 
Mate, sounds like a virus. I had something similar that kept sending me to "Spyfalcon".

Try using ad-aware through lavasoft.

It's free and very good.
 
Thanks,have done an upgrade in adaware and run that,run a scan with Nortons,nothing changed.Just frustrating,used to run spybot together with adaware a couple of times a week.Had the grandkids here over the holidays,maybe they got into something that was unsafe.
Brian.
 
Good spot Dukey. Scranch, keen to find out how you went cleaning this off.
 
I am not a PC buff but I have a program called CWshredder from Trendmicro and I think it searches for and removes what you have.

I have had it for a year or so, it works fine and I have had no problems and it is free

Nortons doesn't like the freebies, it shows a lot of them as a virus, not many PC guys still use Nortons, Symantec programmers are not Peter Norton
 
Thanks for the help guys,I ran CWshredder and it came up with a message to say my system is completely clean.
Looked at a few sites,one guy reckoned because it froze on the coolwwwsearch in the spybot dialogue bar at the bottom ,spybot was looking for it,and it was not in his system,was going to uninstall spybot.
Only problem with that,when I did a search for it in threats S.B fixes.CoolWWWSearch came up as unknown.
Not too keen on googling and using an unknown quantity.A few years ago with another computer I found something called Adware,did a free scan but you had to pay for removal.Thinking it was Adaware (I was pretty dumb at the time)I was going to pay for it to fix the problem,but found out in time it planted its own spyware while supposedly fixing things up.Spybot came along and fixed that problem for free.Ironically I think it was a browser hijacker called just Coolsearch,without the WWW.
Brian
 
Dukey,
Ran that utility from the link you gave,said CoolWWWSearch isn't on my system,may be a glitch with S.B.Will have to try and keep an eye on things and see if there is something to take the place of S.B.
Once again thanks for the help.
Brian
 
Try uninstalling and restart PC - Than reinstall and re download updates to see if scan finishes correctly. I have encountered numerous errors with Spybot and this always seems to fix. If it keeps happening re download the program as you may have a corrupted .exe file.
 
Try AVG anti spyware...it's free and way better than spybot or even adaware, but I use all 3 anyway, and the best virus protection is by 'NOD 32'....way better than norton and is crackable too...at cracker.com I think.

adaware protests against 15000 threats
spybot 100,000 threats
AVG 500,000 threats.....do the math

And keep away from pr0n sites kiddies...that's where most of it comes from.
 
Thanks Noobs and Pacer,I have uninstalled and reinstalled a couple of times.On installation it goes through just fine,but as soon as the latest upgrades are downloaded it freezes at the same place.
Have downloaded AVG antispyware,went through like clock work,found heaps of stuff that adaware didn't.Can notice a difference in my computer speed.
Was going to swap over to NOD32 in May when my Nortons sub. runs out anyway.On cable TV on the how to do it channel there is a show called Call for Help based on computer and tech stuff,the guy running it swears by NOD32,reckons it's the best anti-virus one.
Brian.
 
If NOD32 or AVG picked up a whole bunch of mal/spyware/viruses then the best thing you can do is rebuilt your PC, run Windows Update to get all the latest security patches applied, run a personal firewall (Windows XP sp2 is sufficient), don't go to pr0n or warez sites, run a pop-up blocker, only allow pop-ups that you're expecting, and don't click any pop-up that are suspect.

Also, as you mentioned earlier, don't download and run software from untrusted sources.

Run Firefox or Opera, not IE. You're a skinnier target the moment you run Firefox or Opera and drop IE.
 
Gorilla,

Are you sure you a'int talking out of your ars@? Their is no need for him to do a rebuild and the SP2 (Windows included firewall) is not sufficient these days no matter what you do on the net. I agree he needs to get rid of the bugs but a complete rebuild is definetly not required!

Scranch, If you can't get rid of the bugs through AVG or NOD, turn off system restore from within the control panel, restart the computer into safe mode (On startup keep tapping F9) and run the scans in safe mode and you should be able to get rid of them from there.
 
To fix it try this, uninstall Spybot and make sure when you re-install it you choose a DIFFERENT installation directory.
So change it to 'C:\Program Files\Spybot' instead of default 'C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy'

Brendon
 
I'm a computer technician by day and I remove viruses, trojans, malware etc. daily. If his computer is seriously infected and not able to function properly in normal mode than yes a rebuild may be the best option. At this stage he has many other paths to take (eg Scanning in safe mode with sys restore turned off) b4 thinking about a complete rebuild. I agree with your comments in regards to the interent browser although IE7 is much more secure now days.
 
Okay, so you understand IT security concepts. If something has compromised/infected your system then two things have occured:

1. you were vulnerable
2. your system can no longer be trusted unless restored to a pre-infection state.

Window firewall IS sufficient to prevent "they-come-to-us" virus infection. In fact a hardware firewall on an SOHO router is sufficient for this task (unless you run wireless, in which case you still need a personal firewall to be sure).

To prevent "you-go-to-them" attacks which take advantage of naive users clicking "OK" in pop-ups, or browsing to websites that contain code that exploit vulnerabilities your need to be:

1. windows patched to the highest degree possible
2. application patched to the highest degree possible
3. educated enough to know where not to surf and what not to click/download/run.
 
Agree with everything you have stated but you are presuming that he won't be able to get the computer back to secure state - without a rebuild. Thats what I don't agree with (yet). AS for the windows firewall - in my experience it by itself is not sufficient unless you know what you are doing. From what Scranch has said I don;t believe this will provide a appropriate level of protection fo him/her. Why not download Zone Alarm's free firewall as this has much more security features built into it:

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

Anyway enough said my apologies for thinking you were talking out your you know what! Enjoy the long weekend and rage on Australia Day whilst listenting to the JJJ's hottest 100 with a BBQ!
 


It's a philosophical discussion. Whilst not impossible to return a system to an uninfected state, it is impossible to be sure that you have been successful simply by running an AV tool. Malware is too sophisticated these days. Consider the SpamThru Trojan Analysis detailed here:

http://www.secureworks.com/research/threats/view.html?threat=spamthru

While we're sharing interesting links, ASF users might like to use the Secunia "Sofware Inspector" (from Denmark!) which does a reasonably good job at identifying vulnerable applications on your system:

http://secunia.com/software_inspector/

Indeed, enjoy Australia Day and the long weekend. BBQ, beach cricket, game on!
 
The free stuff is a gimmick from what I have experienced.Do a scan and lots of problems appear.These are the fleas.If your dog has ticks then no use in a flea collar.
I knew I had a trojan (I.E. diverted,slow site loading,mouse pointer sticking etc.) and tried the freebies....anti-virus grisoft (AVG),Ad-Aware SE Personal,Spybot,Kapensky and no detection.

I paid $50 for Spyware Doctor by PC Tools and to remove the trojan I had to oped my computer in safe mode to do the removal.

Has many extra features to customise your settings and for saved time it can`t be beat.
 
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