Slashdot Mirror

I couldn't find active links for one or two of them myself, but here's an updated list -- in some cases these aren't the original sites, which have disappeared, so obviously it's worth being extra careful with antivirus software... apologies for the mess of links; the filter doesn't like short lines...

1by1 (play MP3s), AriskKey (recover passwords), AutoRuns (enumerate startup tasks), BurnCDCC (burn ISO images), CD (basic CD player), CDex (rip CDs + convert MP3/WAV), Copier [0X Copy Machine] (scan + print), CWShredder (clean spyware), DComBob (tame DCOM), DirLister (make quick file lists), Discover (force windows onscreen), DupeLocater (find and clean), FileRecovery [PC Inspector] (undelete), Folder2ISO (use with BurnCDCC), FoxitReader (read PDFs), GUIPDFTK (split/join PDFs), HijackThis (find spyware), HJSplit (split/join files), Identify_Boards (identify hardware), KatMouse installer (due to MS drivers), LCISOCreator (make ISO image from CD), Leaktest (test firewall), Microsoft keygen (people lose things), MultiRes (change res + force refresh), Multi Timer (stopwatch), NoteTab Light (text editor), NTest (test monitor setup), OnTop (pin windows to foreground), Process Explorer (task manager), ProduKey (recover passwords), Registry Commander (virus cleanup), ResHacker (examine executables), Rootkit Revealer (just in case) ShootTheMessenger (turn service off), Shred by AnalogX (simple filer shredder), TedNPad (unicode text editor), TFT (dead pixel locator), UNPnP (tame SSDP), UPX (compress executables), UnitConverter (what it says), utorrent (basic torrent app), VCdControlTool (mount ISO images),

Also useful are BHODemon http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm and CWShredder http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_do wnload.html And run the AdAware and Spybot scans from safe mode. Also, switch Spybot to advanced mode and look at tools->system startup. Scrutinize every item there. If its spyware delete it, if you're not sure its safe uncheck it.

This is *the* spyware program right now. It used to be Gator (as that was included with Kazaa and many other popular programs) but CoolWebSearch has, at last glance (I no longer do tech support for a living), vastly surpassed it for number of infected PCs.

If you happen to be in the unfortunate majority infected by it, download CWShredder (free) to get rid of it, then get something like Ad-Aware to get rid of anything else you might have gotten along with it (as spyware often gets installed in packs, so to speak).

By the by, if you'd like to slashdot these people a bit, here's the CoolWebSearch website, though I obviously don't condone anything like that. ;^)

With another piece of crapware.

Got rid of it with a combination of SpySubtract and system restore under XP. I don't know if SpySubtract will work, but its free for 30 days and worth a shot.

Incidentally, did you google for some help?

Did you check this program out ? CWShredder, now being developed by InterMute (the original author just couldn't keep up with the new CWS variants).

Here's my list of spyware/adware free apps, in no particular order:

Crap Cleaner - Cleans temp files, cookies, etc
P2P + Codec Packs - Kazaa Lite Resurrection, K-Lite Codec Packs, QuickTime Alternative, Real Alternative
Gmail Notifier - System tray icon that checks your google mail
Winamp - Media Player
Open Office - Office Suite
AbiWord - Word Processing
GIMP - Image Editor
Paint.Net - Image Editor
AVG Antivirus - Decent free antivirus
Everest Home - System diagnostics and benchmarking solution
Daemon Tools - CD/DVD emulator
Zone Alarm - The free version is a decent firewall
CWShredder - Removes CoolWeb adware

However, once I learned what it was, I downloaded CWShredder (here and here), which got rid of the nuisance quickly and painlessly. And it took less time than a reinstall.

Not really true. Some CWS variants are really really hard to remove (in extreme cases, using the oxymoronically-named HackerDefender rootkit to disguise itself, plus hide and shut down CWShredder, AdAware, Spybot S&D et al when you try to install them), but everything is possible.

Basically, if CWShredder, Spybot and AdAware don't work for you, and you can't see anything on your HijackThis! log, first step is to search on the now slightly outdated CWS Chronicles and then on many of the excellent anti-spyware forums out there, all of which have encountered more variants of CWS than you could ever imagine. If you can't find someone else with the same problem, then post your HJT logs and other stuff and someone should be able to help you.

These parasites (it's not all spyware anymore) are now really, really, really out of hand - the CWS people, especially, but there's even worse people out there - and something needs to be done to stop them. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen anytime soon - since the companies that make most of these are "legitimate businesses", as opposed to idiot teenagers with Visual Basic. Shame.

I fight this daily, but wasn't/isn't Lycos the same company that distributes Lycos Sidesearch, a BHO/toolbar recognized by most spyware fighting organizations as spyware?

http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx? id=453078521
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/researchcente r/Sidesearch.html
http://xforce.iss.net/xforce/xfdb/14405

Would I be out of place calling hypocrisy here?

It's not open source... but it's cheap. And it does block cookies. When I try the test page, all I get is "Cookie blocked by InterMute".

I'm not 100% fond of the company... they have discontinued all versions except Windows. But if you're stuck using Windows -- I'm currently contracting for a Big Name PC manufacturer where non-MS OS'es are prohibited by company policy -- the control InterMute gives you is indispensible.

Hey, while you're at their site, ask them (nicely) to reinstate the UNIX and Mac versions. (The product is written in Java, so supporting these platforms should not be rocket science.)

It's not open source... but it's cheap. And it does block cookies. When I try the test page, all I get is "Cookie blocked by InterMute".

I'm not 100% fond of the company... they have discontinued all versions except Windows. But if you're stuck using Windows -- I'm currently contracting for a Big Name PC manufacturer where non-MS OS'es are prohibited by company policy -- the control InterMute gives you is indispensible.

Hey, while you're at their site, ask them (nicely) to reinstate the UNIX and Mac versions. (The product is written in Java, so supporting these platforms should not be rocket science.)

--

It's not as thorough as Freedom is, but another option is a personal proxy server. I'm currently using a product called InterMute. It's a nice package. It's unfortunately not free, but there are similar GPL'd products out there. As I'm browsing slashdot and elsewhere, I have site-by-site control of ads, cookies, Javascript, and Java.
This is a facility that browsers should have had years ago (well, okay, everything but the ads...), and would have if they were GPL from the start. The current granularity of everything/warn/nothing just doesn't cut it. I like Lynx's model of allowing "always from this domain" and "never from this domain". Itermute gives you a good approximation of this (it's not interactive, but you can get the same results). You setup what's allowed by default, and you can apply by-site or by-domain overrides. You can filter both inbound AND outbound cookies, javascript, java, popup windows, etc.
Now, on my.yahoo.com, I like to cache my login. So I let it send cookies. But for the most part I block everything. I have to turn it off to buy things, but that's okay. In addition to enhancing privacy, it reclaims screen space wasted by banner ads.
It has its downside. No cookies means I'm an anoymous coward, but I like it that way... Such is the price of privacy. (I could allow cookies to SlashDot, but I see no reason to...) Also, as a web developer for a firm who's revenue model depends on banner ads, I have to worry a bit about these tools. But as the original poster said, Grandma will not even understand why I use these tools, much let bother to figure out how to use them... That's what we have to change. Make it simple and figure out how to install it by default with new machines. Maybe a new "Privacy Shield" option that ships for free on Dell, Gateway, etc...?

1. AdBuster [Win32/Linux I think] Filters Ads
2. Intermute [Java for Win32] Filters Ads, Sites, Cookies, Javascript
3. JunkBuster [Win32/Unices] Filters Ads, etc