intrusive, unwanted searchco.com

Searchco.com now comes up whenever I go online.

It is an intrusive search engine FILLED with ad after ad. Also, it cuts off whatever I'm doing when I'm online, shutting out whatever I was working on.

I don't know how it "found" me. I need to know how to get rid of it. I downloaded Ad-aware, which is supposed to police these unwanted things, but so far it hasn't done anything, and it's supposed to get rid of such unwanted things automatically.

Help!

Thanks.
Brenda

 

You might want to try:

Spybot


Go to internet options and first try deleting all you temporary internet files check the box that says "delete all offline content" as well. Also delete any cookies associated with this program
that may not have been removed by adaware.

Can't really find much on searchco.com - only a link that takes you to the site.

 

Did you sign up for a "pay for click" program? If so, look in your control panel, add/remove programs, and get rid of it..

 

The free AdAware finds spyware files if you manually run the program. It does nothing automatically. The paid version does. Is that the one you have?

Spybots, & browser highjackers, aren't quite the same thing.

Download, install, update & then run: Spybot S&D. See if it can help you any. It's for removing Spybots. http://spybot.safer-networking.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download

If it does not help. I am sure someone else can give you links to things for getting rid of browser highjackers, which sounds like what that thing is.

Do you have a Pop-Up stopper? Getting one of those can help too. Pop-Up Stopper: http://www.panicware.com/popupstopper.html

For Prevention of Spyware, & Spybot installation I hear this program is good. Spyware Blaster: http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html

Another thing. Go into Control Panel, Internet Options, Advanced Tab, & uncheck the "Enable Install On Demand." If it is checked. Click Apply, then OK. Unchecking that helps prevent web sites from putting stuff on your computer without your permission, or knowledge.

 

Spyware/Hijacked
The above link has a file that will prevent it from happening.

 

hi deloris

that's a great tip! i've now unchecked it in my ie settings. thanks for passing it along.

any idea of what other impact there will be from having de-selected this "feature "? have you (or anyone else) been running with this setting unchecked?

maybe i won't know for sure until i've operated normally for a few days, or tried downloading some things.



mark

 

awesome link, mark. thank you. i need to bookmark that baby and keep the info close at hand.

i'm reading lots of good things about Hijack This. a bunch of folks seem to be using it to extricate themselves from the clutches of these hijackers.



mark

 

Mark,

I've been running mine with that unchecked for a long time, & it don't seem to have any adverse affects on my computer what-so-ever. My downloads that I initiate go off without a hitch.

I read that tip somewhere in one of my computer type newsletters I get about ways to prevent stuff from sneakily getting put on your computer. If I remember correctly, the newsletter said that unchecking it is supposed to make the web site have to ask permission to install something.

Of course we know that lots of different tactics have to be employed to try & stop the implementation of all the sneaky tricks that are out there.

 

hi deloris

most definitely. this tip is but one more viable addition to the mutli-layered defense we all hear so much about these days. security, they say, is not a program (or a single tip!), it's a process.



mark

 

mr.mark:

The following MS Knowledge Base article describes the Install on Demand feature in greater length;

Description of the "Install on Demand" and "Automatically Check for Updates" Features

HTH

 

hi rod

maybe it's brain fog, maybe it's microsoft... but i read that entire article and i end up with more unanswered questions about "install on demand" than i had before i read it, and i can't even ascertain whether or not disabling it does anything at all to thwart spyware.

microsoft bulletins have a way of doing that to me.

i thank you for pointing it out to me, however!



mark

 

mr. mark:

They do have a tendency at times to talk in circles, don't they? But, I think that basically what the article is saying is that Install on Demand, if selected, will inform you, though the use of a pop-up box, if a component needs to be installed to view a web-page properly. Clicking Yes on the pop-up box authorizes the downloading and installation of the component.

It would appear from my reading of the article that enabling or disabling this option has no impact on spyware, as the end user still has control over whether or not to download and install the needed component.

I have this option selected and as a matter of fact while doing a Google search earlier today I clicked on a page link and an Install on Demand window popped up and told me that I needed to download a Japanese Language set to view the page correctly. I selected No and went on to look for other links.

One thing I did note of interest in reading the MS article is that it stated:

It does in mine! Go Figure.

Rod