Over time web surfing really tends to clog up your registry and sets all kinds of data mining and tracking files. I had this registry problem that was causing explorer to crash and I did some hunting and found a great FREE program that I want to reccomend to anyone who surfs the net much. It is called ad-aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

you can download here free if you want it:

http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button

With its ability to scan your RAM, Registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data mining, advertising, and tracking components, Ad-aware can easily rid your system of these tracking components, allowing you to maintain a higher degree of privacy while you surf the Web.

I have to say after using it my machine seems much snapier, doesn't error-out anymore and appears less encombered. (I had hundreds of tracking files on there that it cleard out)

just thought I would pass this along.

I run Adaware all the time, great FREE program. You'll be suprised how much ad crap is in your pc everytime you surf the net. Make sure you check for updates often too.

Aluria's Spyware Eliminator is what i use... There is a price to pay for everything... nothing is really free...

do your self's a favor and find Hijack this.... you'll laugh and probably cry at all the tracking software still running on your maching...

I use Hijack this to tell me that something is still running on my machine... I don't use HiJack This to UNINSTALL anything as it's as raw as delete and does not have any bells and whistles..

I used to be in the tech market and i had to be ontop of the game at all times.. Aluria was and in my opinion still is the best today... Nothing is really free in the ad-removal world today...

Links:
Aluria
http://www.aluriasoftware.com/index.php


HiJack This:
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/

Excellent Read:
http://www.computercops.biz/postt7736.html

Great advice Sandman.
Just down loaded and ran adaware.
I had 47 hidden programs, even with my firewall.

That CNET downlaod site is and excellent resource.

Thanks for this link, Pop-ups are killing me, I had a message about a parasite the Norton couldn't get and when I tried live update Norton developed a problem I'm still working on. What a pain just trying to get to S-B.com and spending 10 minutes trying to unload the pop-ups.
I wonder if any of you also know of any firewall software for my PC, as I understand Optimum On-line's security may still let ousiders access my home pc.

http://blackice.iss.net/product_pc_protection.php


You might want to get rid of that parasite first.

Which one is it?

If norton is having issues goto

www.mcafee.com
or
http://www.pandasoftware.com/

grab one of their repair utilities...

Thanks. What is a parasite, anyway?

A computer parasite is a program that infects certain programs like netscape and internet explorer. These parasites allow a 3rd party to infiltrate your life, by sending you pop-ups.. gathering information from cookies on what sites you've visited and even as far as peeking into your wallet or recording what your doing on secure websites. Remember just because the website your ordering from is secure doesn't mean that your computer is secure... A nasty parasite can cause havoc on people with dial up access.. especially if you leave your computer unattended... it will execute code that will dial a pay for use telephone # and after 5 minutes it will hang up... and this can go unnoticed because the program can shut off your modem speaker and hide the modem icon. another thing about parasites is that they can hide and enter a entry into your system registry so when you do delete it and reboot the registry will point to the archive of the parasite and reinstall it in your system again... Parasites can be found in jpg's, gif's, mpg's, mp3's, avi's, bmp's,...
99% of all spyware/parasites are embeded in so called 'freeware'.
nothing is really ever free especially when a large company offers it and has a pay version aswell.

Volume 3 #4 of PC MAGAZINE March 2, 2004 has a special report on spyware and identity theft.. they also include a guide t protecting you and your privacy.

Hey, I downloaded that AdAware program last night. The download went fine and when I rebooted it came up with a list of data mining files, everything looked great, but then I decided to reboot and make sure everything worked. When I did, Explorer had an exception error and Norton AntiVirus came up with an error. These were the same errors I got and had to call Dell to help me fix, having been diagnosed as "Winsock Errors" Anyway, being a Dell I was able to do the F8 and restore to a previous configuration which set everything back the way it was. I'm not sure if AdAware has a problem with Windows ME (I was told ME has Winsock problems) or maybe that I didn't disable and unload some of the probrams that automatically start on bootup.
The Ad program looks good, just wondered if anyone else had a similar experience and learned any best practice for loading it? I'm convinced those datamining programs are what's slowing things down and want the security of knowing somethng's getting rid of them.

Hmmm, did you run ad-aware or just download it? (there should be no reason to re-boot) Anyway, If you did run it and do the deep scan, did it find any files? Did you delete them?

I doubt this program casued any problem like you suggested. I know several network guru's who work at TimeWarner/AOL that use the at home and at work. I use it pretty regularly now and I am convinced it gets rid of all the nasty hijacking and ad tracking programs.

Anyway, I think something else is causing your problem.

This is not a viruse scanner or filter that runs all the time in the background. You need to execute and do a deep scan. I would first have it check for updates (the update file changes frequently), then do the deep scan. You will be amazed what it finds. (If you right click on the listed files it tells you what each does)

Good luck.

I use adaware and it is a good tool but it doesn't get everything. It also does not prevent malware, nor does Norton all of the time

Jimbo - as for Win ME, that might be the worst operating system of the past 10 years. Not stable - even for a MS product.

Even better than simply using a software firewall is to get a firewall / nat router / switch to seperate your home machine(s) from your cable modem. They really are pretty cheap and when combined with a SW firewall or even a tweked version of what Win2K/XP come with. Or you could by a Mac and not have many viurs issues (but not get as much done either)

I'll try it again tonight, and it did pick up around 40 things it deleted after the deep scan. Of course then in doing the restore I probably brought it all back. I think tonight after I do the download, I'll close out Explorer and any other programs that are running in the background or otherwise, and then run the deep scan again. I usually only reboot after a new program is installed to make sure my wife's work access still works, not because of something that AdAware directed me to do.

After you install Adaware - you need to check for updates frequently

When I initially ran adaware, it found 47 files. Then I had to reboot becouse adaware said some of them could be in my ram. Had no problem with explorer or norton after the reboot. Maybee it is becouse I am using XP? dunno.

Today Norton internet security alerted me that I had a recent attack from a subseven trojan program on my computer. Ran adaware again and it found four more data mining programs on my system. It's wild how frequent you get attacked by webpages.
:confused:

i came to the puter thread to find out about spyware, cause i have suspect that something evil is running in the background. norton hasn't picked anything up but occasionally explorer won't load, and utilities is saying 75% of my memory resourses are being used when i really don't have much running.
installed and ran adware man........found like 105 things that it isolated.
don't know yet if it helped cause i just did it....worse case i'll wipe the hardrive and start over....again


thing is does adware also pick up spyware????

i also agree that ME sucks, about ready to go back to 98

Puttin around with ad-aware.
Decided to run my own scientific investigation.
Ran ad-aware after each web site page I visited.

Intersting results:
stripe-bass was clean :)
cnn was clean. :)
The projo redsox page was clean. :)
The boston.com redsox page would sneek one program on. :af:
The espn baseball page would throw two programs on. :af: