The 5th Planet?

Well not exactly - it's Xupiter!!. Can someone explain to me where this insistant annoying program comes from? Just about once a month my "AT&T/Comcast Broadband" homepage dissappears and up comes "Xupiter" with my main page gone (like I can't get it back again) without going through a lot of misery. I eventually get into MS Holygrail - The "Registery" - and start deleting all references to Xupiter (while biting my fingernails), including the file folder.
I've tried AdAware and for some reason this likes to crash my computer (AdAware can't figure out why either) so I've defaulted to the manual uninstall.
Are there certain sites that "promote" Xupiter that I (OK my kids) that should be avoided or at least scrutinize?
I usually know when Xupiter is around when my modem activity light flashes insistently. Don't seem to have this problem with the AOL account just with my Broadband.

Thanks
Dwight.........

 

Hi, Dwight ~

These have no bearing whatosever on Xupiter.

Xupiter, very aggressive and extremely hated, typically ends up on your unit via a method called 'drive-by downloads': they are surreptitiously loaded by simply visiting a page or by mousing over a particular link, usually hidden, without having to click on it. You will usually not be aware of its presence until it is too late.

What to do about it? First thing you should do is install a firewall such as the great free version of Zone Alarm (bottom of page) if you don't have one. This will alert you to programs trying to sneak info out of your 'puter and from stealing valuable bandwidth.

Next thing you should do is this:

• Internet Explorer > 'Tools' > 'Internet Options...'
• Click on 'Security' tab > click on 'Restricted sites' logo > click 'sites' button
• In the 'Add this Web site to the zone:' box, enter http://www.xupiter.com
• Click 'Add' button > 'OK' > 'Apply' > 'OK'

This will prevent the domain being accessed if it does sneak on to your unit.

Finally, install SpyBot v1.2 You will need to download the latest updates and then run it regularly. This new version of SpyBot as it is faster, cleaner and free. There have been many new variants of Xupiter released and now only SpyBot is up-to-date enough to target Xupiter. It also has a built in homepage hijack database and alerts you to any illegitmate registry changes and IE exploits. Again, it is very important to download the latest updates run it regularly.

The only way to find the offending site is to run a scan and get clean, visit the usual suspects, then get offline and run it again. Do this for the sites in question one at a time and boycott the malefactor.

Summary: Install a firewall, update restricted sites, install SpyBot, take a proactive stance at scrutinizing suspicious sites with vigilence. Good Luck!

 

Spyware/Hijacked
Go to the above link and get the IE-Spyad download. It will put a number of sites known to do this into your Restricted Sites Zone of IE. AOL shares some settings with IE and this is one of them. Follow the instructions in the ReadMe included in the file and Disable or set to High everything, Prompt for Password, in the Restricted Zone Settings.

After configuring the Zone and the file is Merged into the Registry, if you ever get the message ActiveX is disabled and this page will not display properly, you'll know that it is working. As one of those sites are trying to access something you do not want it to, and is denied.
Note: a site you go to may have one of these sites referenced in the page code, it will not affect what is coming from the legitimate site. It will say Mixed in the bottom right of IE. If the site is one of the Restricted, it will have Restricted in the bottom right. If normal, it will say Internet.

 

Also in internet tools > security > custom level at least prompt for activeX. A lot of these kinds of malware use activeX to download.

Regards - Charles

 

Thanks Guys for the reply. gave me quite a bit of info. I got a feeling that I might have to re-do my computer or at least upgrade it. FOr some unknown reason I (the computer) doesn't like "anti-spy" ware programs - keeps locking up until I uninstall them. Also thinking of getting a hardware firewall.
Again - Thanks to All

Dwight........

 

The IEspyads file is not a program that you run. You just double click the file once, and the list of sites are inserted into the IE Restricted Zone, which is stored in the registry.

 

Hi, Dewey ~

Those programs have absolutely nothing to do with your system freezing up. The fact that this is happening is indicative of a much bigger issue perhaps worthy of another thread.

Don't think about it any further. If you are online then you should without a doubt have a firewall installed. This, infact, may well be the source in part if not all of your problems. The link to a great free program, ZoneAlarm, has been conveniently handed to you above.

The issue you brought to the table is Xupiter: the first thing you need to do is install and run SpyBot - no ifs, ands, or buts.