Hijacked by MyWebSearch

[slnorth]

I've read some posts on spyware/adware and have since downloaded Adaware and found lots of references to Hunter, Hi-Wire, Gator, CoolSavings, Alexa and of course Windows and a ton of tracking cookies. Is it safe just to remove all these?

I got started on this when I was tired of seeing pop up ads and some stated I had spyware. I found MyWebSearch was a big culprit and learned that Adaware and some other spyware programs don't recognize it. MyWebSearch is also related to Fun Web Products & My Way Speedbar.

Can I delete the registry keys related to these and all the files WinXp finds? I used the Myweb undelete wizard and it gave a questionnaire that would rebuttal the answers and then put out an error msg.

Inside the uninstall INF file I found this:
[version]
Signature="$Chicago$"
AdvancedINF=2.0

[Uninstall]
DelReg=mySrchAs.Del.Reg,DelUninstallKey

[DelUninstallKey]
HKLM, SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstal l\MyWebSearchSearchAssistant

[mySrchAs.Del.Reg]
HKCR,"MyWebSearchSearchAssistant.Auxiliary.1"
HKCR,"MyWebSearchSearchAssistant.Auxiliary"
HKCR,"CLSID\{00A6FAF1-072E-44cf-8957-5838F569A31D}"
HKCR,"CLSID\{00A6FAF4-072E-44cf-8957-5838F569A31D}"
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex plorer\Browser Helper Objects\{00A6FAF1-072E-44cf-8957-5838F569A31D}"
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\MyWebSearch\SearchAssistant",LastCo nfigRequest
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\MyWebSearch\SearchAssistant",NextCo nfigRequest

I'll stop here and hope I can get this all resolved.

Thank You

[maestro5050]

I would allow Adaware to delete all the files that it finds. You can also use Spybot to check for spyware and whatnot. I tend to use both as sometimes one will find something the other didn't.

Those two softwares are pretty trustworthy, so you can pretty safely remove the files with it, unless you use any of the Gator or otherwise identified applications. I would remove the stuff via the software but avoid doing manual registry key extractions unless you are very familiar with the registry.

[Cobra]

Is Ad-Aware up-to-date? I had a searchbar and Ad-Aware had no trouble removing it. I think it was the same as yours.

Spyware should be considered as a virus, in my opinion.

CobraDMX

[hech54]

Happened to me too.....check this thread:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=196683&highlight=crap


Spybot (make sure you download the updates) and
CWShredder worked for me.

Also get the Google toolbar....ALL of these are free.

[slnorth]

Thanks for the help everyone.

I loaded up Spybot and CWshredder. CW didn't find anything.

I then started getting a new pop up that said "New Software Upgrade Found" I think this is what started all my problems in the first place. It had the "!" inside a yellow triangle and went on to state that I could web search multiple engines and find results twice as fast. I made sure I hit no and ran spybot and adaware.

I was very concerned about deleting all those files but in the end I finally let the two programs do their deleting.


After rebooting, AdAware popped up automatically and finally found MyWebSearch and I let it del it as well.

We'll see how things run from here now.

[hech54]

I had CRAP all over my system.....Ad Aware was by far the least effective in MY case however.

[KiNgSiZe323]

try using spybot 1.2 it is much more thorough than adaware. you can search/download it at www.download.com

hope this helps

[pharlap]

spybot adaware are the two most crappiest programs ever written if you want to really clean use Pestpatrol free versions are available

[KiNgSiZe323]

I once used pestpatrol....it made me reformat my hard drive. It had spyware with it yet it was a spyware remover. . . .I had to use spybot to fix it

[hech54]

I once used pestpatrol....it made me reformat my hard drive. It had spyware with it yet it was a spyware remover. . . .I had to use spybot to fix it

Same here...Pestpatrol IS spyware and quite a few versions of Ad Aware have viruses....even one I got from Cnet.