Recently, my family computer got infected by the Btcar.com hijacker. When I clicked on search results in Yahoo, it redirected me to btcar.com, instead of the to website I want.
After some searching, I found BleepingComputer.com, a computer forum which deals with helping the average computer user with their computer security problems.
First, I followed the steps in this tutorial. Side note: Steps 3 to 8 are actually quite useful if you think you have a spyware/malware problem. If you follow those steps and the problem still exists, you might want to join the forum and follow all the steps in the tutorial, as I did.
So, I started a thread and posted the log of a programme which shows what’s really happening behind the scenes in your computer. If you see the thread and you don’t understand what I’ve posted, don’t worry. I don’t understand it either.
But the Bleeping Computer guys do, and one of them went through the problem with me. David (aka D-Trojanator) was really helpful, and his instructions were crystal clear. I just followed his instructions. I felt that he was always one step ahead, almost knowing what issue I was going to face with each step that I took.
So, if you think you’ve got a spyware problem, perform the steps listed in the tutorial I mentioned earlier. Failing which, the good people at BleepingComputer are on hand to provide fast and friendly assistance. I was going to say ‘free’ - and it is free - but they accept donations. I’m seriously thinking about donating.
P.S. Yes, yes, I know. Get a Mac, and you won’t have to deal with these kind of problems.
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Kenneth - Better still, get one of the flavours of Linux OS. They are freely downloadable from the web because they are open source software. They have most programs which MS Windows has - browsers, word processing, wireless, etc. and they are all free. Best of all, they are less susceptible to virus, spyware and hacking. I’ve used Linux before but not for accessing the web.
Oh dear, what am I saying? I am sure you know about all these more than I do.
Thanks a lot for the kind comments, you are most welcome for the help.
I too have just benefitted from the wisdom and kindnss of the guys at Bleeping Computer. Charles was my knight in shining armour. I was terrified at having to abandon my laptop in a support centre for however long and I didn’t like the idea that when it was “fixed” I wouldn’t know what had been done to it, or how I could prevent the same thing from happening again.
I made a donation straight away so the purpose of this post is to say if you didn’t end up making yours, here is a nudge to your conscience. We all need guys like these guys, so flip them a few coins, go on.