Introduction

Who would think I was capable of such revengeful thoughts about the parties responsible for inflicting my poor computer with spyware? Well, after the trauma of having gone through such an experience for the first time, I was sorely tempted by the occult section of curses and witchcraft at my local bookstore. Growl!

Basically, I am a normal person using a home computer to perform simple normal tasks such as word processing, writing emails, internet banking, and surfing the Internet for useful information. Ok, I also have a weakness for looking for bargains on good old eBay (sheepish grin) and Paypal is quite a handy option for easy purchasing.

Problem:

Great dismay and panic hit when my pc started popping up strange windows or messages. With my limited IT knowledge, I ran a Norton virus scan which obviously revealed a number of problems. But the Symantec removal tool did not remove the spyware and I could not even log onto a couple of password protected sites. My beloved pc was infected with some malware or adware or trojan, among which, I believe was WinFixer and a Trojan Vundo. I did not know how to get rid of Vundo or how to remove WinFixer. (Or perhaps they were the one and same thing?). But at that point, I did not know any better, so began the laborious task of searching for information on how to get rid of the spyware.

Research:

From my search, I found out that the Trojan Vundo is a trojan horse that causes popups advertising rogue antispyware programs. For example, the program called Sysprotect is advertised in many of the popup windows as seen from the screenshot below. Vundo infects a computer by creating a DLL file in the Windows system directory and writes registry entries causing Windows to inject the file into winlogon.exe.

WinFixer, on the other hand, has siblings as it is identical to WinAntiVirus and ErrorSafe. And these programs all claim to repair problems within your computer system. By installing the program on your computer, you will likely end up receiving false information about your computer. Naturally, this will confuse you into believing your PC is infected with viruses, spyware and/or other forms of malware.

The popups and forced downloads apparently mirror “marketing” strategies of many spyware programs. And at times, infected computers will reduce in their level of speed and performance. Well, this all explained what was probably happening to my pc, and I knew I had to figure out how to get rid of WinFixer and Vundo before they drove me mad.

Research and solution:

In my initial panic, I reacted by downloading some recommended antispyware programs, namely CounterSpy by Sunbelt Software, XoftSpy by ParetoLogic and Spy Sweeper by Webroot Software Inc. I came to my senses by the third program and stopped myself from paying for another popular program, Spyware Doctor. But hey, all these programs did receive pretty good reviews from the experts at PCWorld, PCMag, CNet, Tucows and AdwareReport. So at the time, I did not feel that I had gone too much overboard

Now, there are many sites listing all sorts of free and paid antispyware programs with a variety of reviews and user opinions on how to remove WinFixer and how to get rid of Vundo. Many of the commercial antispyware program homepages also list very detailed features of their products plus the latest research findings about current spyware threats. Have a look at this webpage that lists some of these reliable programs. www.consumerstyle.com/antispyware

Anyway, an opinion and recommendation I had read when researching for the reliable antispyware programs made heaps sense in that software you pay for is more likely to offer benefits over freeware, i.e., better support, more frequent updates and better pro-active protection measures. One just has to be careful when selecting the programs. According to the comments in the forums and review articles I read, many recommend using at least two programs to be able to catch the latest spyware that either program might miss (that was when I stopped myself from my downloading frenzy). I have learnt much more about my pc now and wish to share and perhaps amuse you my muddled but finally effective measures to cleaning up my pc and removing the spyware.

My actions:

My initial Norton antivirus scan found but was not able to delete Vundo, even after rebooting. The Symantec removal tool did not help at all. I had disconnected from the Internet, disabled system restore, and ran the removal tool, regularly and in safe mode. After numerous startups, varying with safe mode, and disabling antivirus, I even tried to figure out how to remove Vundo manually without messing with the registry, etc. Please note that some people had success with the Symantec removal tools, and some others, like me, did not. Apart from the Trojan Vundo, I was getting quite frustrated at not being able to remove WinFixer for the many windows continually popping up started to slow my computer down, and even freeze it at times.

So I first tried Xoftspy, which was the fastest when scanning my computer. I was pleased to have fewer pop ups, was able to remove WinFixer, and ended with a much faster internet connection.

Then with my next program, Spy Sweeper, I ran it twice and then did a full system scan. Lo and behold, Vundo was gone, no more popups and adware annoyances. I guess this might not work for everyone but it is worth a shot to download Spy Sweeper.

Being still paranoid about the health of my pc, I finally ran the the free two-week trial version of CounterSpy, for extra assurance. Now I was quite impressed as it also included a scheduler, secure file shredder, and a history cleaner that made it simple to set up weekly scans. And there are frequent definition file updates for CounterSpy’s publisher. The company seems to run a well-staffed spyware research department. After a scan, CounterSpy can delete, quarantine, or remove spyware. I was advised not to install Microsoft AntiSpyware alongside older versions of CounterSpy (version 1.5 and below). And it is recommended to get CounterSpy to check for online updates of definitions and program files manually.

Conclusion:

To sum it all, XoftSpy was able to delete WinFixer as the program was able to uninstall WinFixer within fifteen minutes requiring a couple of restarts. As for Spy Sweeper, it managed to remove Vundo with ease. And I have no doubt that CounterSpy has done a great job of keeping my pc free of spyware. I cannot say that I have taken the best approach to solving my problems, but my pc is now running faster than ever and I have been free of WinFixer and Vundo ever since. I just have to remember to be more careful and scan my pc regularly.

One thing is for sure, there are many reliable and popular antispyware programs out there, and many helpful forum chat folk who can lend a hand with plenty of technical advice. You just have to sort out what advice and which steps to take by increasing your own awareness and understanding of your pc and the nasty world of spyware lurking around these days.

Jess Ong

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Chances are that if you have been browsing the internet lately, or even at all, you have probably had a run in with a computer virus or some other type of malicious program that is harmful to your PC. If you haven’t, well you are one of the lucky ones.

Spyware and viruses can infiltrate your computer a few ways. You could have visited a website where malicious programs were lurking and downloaded a file that contained spyware or a virus. These are generally referred to as Trojans because the malicious program hides in a seemingly harmless file that you download. Once you open the file or install the application, the spyware or virus secretly plants itself in your computer and starts doing damage. Emails and email attachments are another way you can pick up a malicious program such as a virus on your computer. Always know who is sending you the email, and if you are still not sure if the attachment or email is legitimate, give the person that sent you the email a call, if you know him or her, to verify that the email is harmless.

Panda Security offers an online virus scan for your computer. What you do is go to their website, or you can do a search for panda virus online scan and click on the first result, or one of the url’s that has Panda security in it. You will need to download a plug in for your web browser in order to complete the search.

Although the search is free, the removal of the virus and or malware is not.
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Has your Computer been infected with a deadly Trojan Virus? Are you concerned about the safety of your pc and personal details? Do you wish to learn how to remove the Trojan virus as soon as possible? Well you are not alone; millions around the world have been infected by this virus and are asking the very same questions, so in this article I am going to show you how to remove a Trojan virus very easily within minutes.

If you wish to fully remove a Trojan Virus and to ensure your remain protected from future threats I would suggest you simply run your existing anti-virus and anti spyware programs and perform a full system scan. They should be able to locate and remove the virus fairly easily, if you have any troubles make sure that your software’s are fully updated so they can recognize the latest viruses. If you don’t have any sort of anti-virus or anti-spyware program installed on your computer then I’m afraid you are simply asking to be infected and you really should grab a decent program asap. That is only if you wish to protect your computer from these deadly viruses and also prevent yourself from being infected in the future.

Now manual methods of deletion do exist, however I must warn you they are only recommended for advanced computer users. They are not as effective at fully removing the virus and obviously manually deleting anything isn’t going to protect you from future threats. Nonetheless you can manually remove a Trojan virus and if you wish to give a try just simply search for “how to remove a Trojan virus” using registry and you should find a bunch of tutorials that will guide you through the entire process. You should know that if use the registry incorrectly you could cause irreversible damage and you may have to re-install your whole operating system again, so attempt it with extreme caution.

Just so you know A Trojan Horse Virus is also usually capable of stealing important information from the user’s computer. It infects the user’s computer by enticing them to open a file that appears valuable and beneficial; once they open the file the virus springs into to action and infects the PC. It will then gather private and important about you and your online behavior and then report this back to a designated server which is run by the Virus developer.

So if you use the internet to enter in credit card details or conduct internet banking ,then your info could be at serious risk of being viewed by a third party if you have been infected by a Trojan virus. Hence if you wish to remain protected from these deadly viruses and keep your private info secure then go ahead and download a good anti-spyware program if you haven’t already done so. You see there are always new viruses and malwares being released by these thieves and hackers on a daily basis, so the only way to remain protected is to be equipped with a good anti spyware program. I should also quickly state that you shouldn’t go out and download free anti spyware tools from torrent sites in order to remove the Trojan virus. This is because these free tools are the main targets for Trojan virus developers, they see it as easy bait, and if you go down his road you will probably be infected with even more viruses if you’re not careful. Take it from someone who has learned from experience.

A good anti-spyware will constantly offer you new updates as they are specifically designed to hunt down and remove even the latest hidden spyware such as Trojans, worms, malware, zlobs , virtumonde etc. They will remove the Trojan virus quickly and efficiently and ensure that your computer remains protected in the future as they provide real time protection. Personally I use the Xoftspyse Software to keep my computer protected from these nasty viruses; it eliminates and protects your computer from over 250,000 potentially harmful applications, viruses and spyware.

Therefore if you wish to remove a Trojan virus from your computer and avoid furthering damaging your computer, then grab a good anti-spyware program. Most of them offer a free trial download anyways, so you can test out the software for free and get rid of your Trojan Virus at no cost.

So if you have been infected with a Trojan Horse Virus, then don’t panic ! With the Right Tools you can easily have it removed and have your computer functioning normally again. I personally had great success with the XoftSpySE Software, not only does it remove Trojans but also other nasty Spywares, Adware, Malware, Hijackers, Spybot Viruses, and more. They also offer A Free Download and Scan so Check it Out!!

Vikram Singh
http://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/how-to-remove-a-trojan-virus-from-your-computer-708027.html

Look at all the viruses in their there is also one more I got but I forgot to record it.Spread the word!

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