runawayhorses

Yeah, some folks are a little touchy in the language department.lol Do you still have that Kill AOL program? I would run it just to be sure all of AOL's crap has been trashed. I think I got it all, but it wouldn't hurt to run it just to make sure. So you designed the program? Wow, I wouldn't know where to begin doing something like that.

I'm considering downloading the AVG Anti-Rootkit program, and I was curious if the drivers loaded at startup, and also, if it could be incorporated into my already existing AVG Anti-Spyware Program. Here is the email I received from AVG support: "According to your description, we would like to inform you that AVG Anti-Rootkit Free is a standalone rootkit removal tool and cannot be incorporated in any other program. Anyway, it is not necessary to load it on startup. It should be used very rare, only in situations that you notice something strange in the computer's behavior, but other security software did not detect anything. Additionally, it can be used when you have some malicious code, which reproduces itself every time when you detect and remove it. Please, be informed, that AVG Anti-Rootkit Free has no drivers left loaded in the system after exiting the program. This tool is used by starting, scanning and closing it, with no on-access scanning functions or any real time protection. Please, do not hesitate to contact us about any further questions you may have." ------------- Sounds pretty good. I think I'll download this one.

AOL was the first ISP I had too, and I was glad to get rid of it, which wasn't an easy task. After uninstalling it of course, it left behind files scattered all over the place which I had to manually remove. AOL is a big commercially over-rated pile of crap. They could have a better uninstaller, but they choose not to. I think they actually 'enjoy' leaving behind components as their way of saying screw you and goodbye. I have roadrunner high-speed cable now, and it's been great. Pages load in seconds no matter what the size. It's brute strength and lightning speed makes it a joy to surf. Someone should come out with an AOL junk remover, hell, I'd have bought one.

Pink Floyd is a great band, I think David Gilmour is a great guitarist too. I didn't think 'The Wall' movie was the greatest, but nothing against the band. All their albums have been good ones, of course, the wall was probably their greatest success. What can you say about Cream except..groooovy baby

Thanks Hazelnut, I just educated myself this morning about the immunizing feature. I don't know how I missed it, the feature is right there on the front page.lol I really just wanted to know how to activate it in case someday I decide to use it. I don't intend on using right now though, as I've been doing pretty good with just AVG. I don't like to do too much to IE since it's working better than ever right now. As the saying goes, 'the more you rearrange the pluming, the easier it is to stop up the drain! What's the other one? oh, "If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I should have used the word 'nag screen', it would have been a more accurate term as opposed to pop-up. What it would do is ask (via nag screen) if you wanted to purchase the pro version or something to that effect. It was very difficult to look at the stats of a particular site that it would object to without clicking the nag screen and having it take you to mcafee's website. After having the adviser for a short period of time, I realized it was pointless for me to have it, because it served no purpose as far as my style of browsing goes. I don't want something 'warning' me left and right about which sites I'm accessing, and as a result, making me click something to proceed. That's the whole REASON I have a anti-virus, spyware, and a firewall program for Christ sake! If I happen to get something i.e. spyware, doesn't matter because it will soon be removed anyway. So perhaps I'm taking chances with other virus risks, OK, wouldn't be the first time, and I'm convinced it won't be the last. The point is, I like the 'freedom' to choose my own path and deal with the results myself, without a damn cuckoo clock going off every five minutes.

How do you turn on Spybots immunize function? I looked in the settings section but couldn't find which feature to activate. What I did when I first installed it was unchecked the protect IE box. So now if I decide I want the protection how do I turn it on, short of reinstalling it?

Post your favorite pics and let's see who likes what. It's hard to choose, but I'd say my favorite album would be RUSH 2112. Here's my favorite female singer Belinda Carlisle. I've seen her in concert at Clearwater Beach Florida, close to where I live. This next picture is Belinda Carlisle's Runaway Horses album. Yep, that's where my name came from. This picture is Belinda Carlisle's first solo album after breaking up with the all female band 'The Go-Go's.

It should be in the add/remove programs. I had it for about 30 mins one day till I decided I had enough. The free version is a real pain with pop-ups asking you to purchase their software.

Well, the thing is, I don't want to run 2 spyware programs together at the same time for protection. AVG Anti-Spyware and AVG Anti-Virus, and of course the windows firewall are the only programs runnng. I have several other scanner & removers that I use on a schedule every night while I'm sleeping. They are: AVG -anti virus AVG -anti spyware RegCure -registry cleaner SUPERAntiSpyware XoftSpySE- anti spyware Then I wake up to clean computer

Thanks guys. I decided not download the Spyware Blaster since it doesn't have a scanner & remover. However, I just downloaded the Spybot SD and it found a few things that it removed and deleted. I used to have Spybot years ago, and they certainly have improved through the years. I even changed the skins on the program with the skin options menu! Thumbs up for Spybot! I'm just going use it for scanning and removing spyware, so I disabled the real-time protection. I use AVG for real-time.

Is Spyware Blaster both a Scanner & Remover, or is it just real-time protection?

Windows Firewall. One day I took a look at my Security Center, and much to my surprise I discovered that I had Windows Firewall Installed.

AVG 7.5 Anti-Virus. I also use AVG-Anti-Spyware Plus for real-time protection. I have several other anti-spyware scanner/remover programs that I run on a daily basis. They are: Super Anti-spyware XoftSpySE ParetoLogic SpyHunter

Yeah, come to think of it you're right. What about UnderDog, does that count?? LOL

That falls gonna leave a red mark! LOL

Yeah, that a good idea. Isn't this the screenshot you made of your homepage on IE? It shows your homepage as 'About Blank'.

Good, that's how I intended it. Seems too many people are not seeing the images around here, so I posted it via link. Guess I could have uploaded it to Piriform too.

Is that what you did Andavari?

Here it is: craigathus.gif

Pretty funky CeeCee, I like it! Evil Dead 2 was good movie too.

I see it Nice Homepage by the way!

Oh OK rridgely, you know more about this than I do, it's just that I've experenced this before, and finally got rid of it. When I open a new tab now it reads "Blank Page" and if I change my homepage to a blank page it reads "Blank Page" and not "About Blank" anymore. It was my understanding that "About Blank" should never appear in any scenario. I think the thing that made About Blank such a sucessfull infection was that if a person used a blank page as there homepage, it could change to "About Blank" without them realizing it because it would hardly be noticeable. Most people would look at it and think that's how it's always been. I use to use a blank Page that called itself About Blank for a long time, I thoiught this was normal, and one day I decided I wanted to change it to something else, and I did. But, soon after I logged off and rebooted and started IE again it went back to About Blank. I did this several times and each time it went back to About Blank. Then I googled 'About Blank' and found out about it being a form of spyware infection. Well, to make a long story short, I found a program that removed About Blank and haven't had the problem since. Aparently it's very difficult to get rid of, and the average spyware program doesn't remove About Blank. I'm using IE7 and all the new tabs that I open all say 'Blank Page' now. If I change my homepage to a blank page it reads 'Blank Page' and not 'About Blank' anymore. I think if people use a blank page for there homepage and it reads "About Blank" the only way to know for sure you don't have the infection is to try changing your homepage to something else, reboot the pc, and see if IE takes you to the homepage you set it to, or if it goes to About Blank. But like I said before, you certainly know more about this stuff than I do, and I'm just sharing what I've experienced in the past and my observations. Sorry if I upset anyone, it wasn't my intention.

There is no reason why you wouldn't get the same result. Just go look it up and find out for yourself. I'm not making this up man! Edit: Run a test if you don't believe it, Try setting your homepage to something else, then reboot your pc, and see if it goes to the page you set it to, or if it goes to About Blank. Edit: Please Read This:About Blank Google it also

Well, regardless of how often you use IE, it still doesn't change the fact that it's highjacked. I'm only trying to help ya . You just need the right program to get rid of it, that's all.