HIT: TECH: Removing Parasiteware, Spy ware and pop-ups)

[Peter Milbury <pmilbury@ERICIR.SYR.EDU>]

Dear LM_NET Colleagues,

Original request:  We need some help getting rid of a piece of
"parasiteware" called "Free Scratch Cards". It causes an endless stream of
pop-up ads to appear on the computer monitor. If you have successfully
been able to get rid of it, please share your solution with me.

A hearty "Thank you" to all who sent in your advice and recommendationsI

Here is a summary of the responses:

Several folks suggested Ad-aware from Lavasoft. It checks for and removes
pop-ups. It runs on all Windows systems but I'm not sure if they have a
Mac version.  There are several versions including a free-ware edition.
See: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/


There were some suggestions of sites that explain how to get rid of this
type.
One said to see this site, that actually scans your computer (if you are
using MS Explorer as a browser)
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/FreeScratchAndWin.html

Another site was recommended with various solutions:
http://www.spywareguide.com/product_show.php?id=478

Another downloaded a freeware program (recommended by the internet
provider) called "Spy Bot" and said they have had no trouble since then.
See http://security.kolla.de/

Another said "I have an AWESOME registry cleanup program at home that I
found from another list of computer techies. I used it to get rid of lots
of junk from Kazaa, and other sites that don't let you truly delete their
programs unless you delete their registry keys.
See http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/jv16powertools.shtml

After all that, I removed the "Free Scratch Cards" by going to the "Free
Scratch Cards" Web page and using their removal tool. I then went to the
Lavasots site and downloaded the free version of Ad-Aware, and we are in
the process of installing it on all our library computers. We will use the
MS Task Scheduler to have it automatically run each morning before school.

Peter Milbury, LM_NET Co-Moderator
School Librarian/CA TeleMentor, Chico HS, Chico, CA
............................................................
LM_NET: The Voice of the Library Media Community Since 1992
http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/      PMilbury@ericir.syr.edu
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