Title: A Short Parable about Spyware
Author: Nancy Roberts
Date: 6/21/04
I was peacefully working on my computer a few days ago, offending no one, doing nothing I haven't done a hundred or more times. Suddenly, every time I move from one webpage to another, I was plagued by popup ads.
"Time to run Ad-Aware," thought I, and I did it. Since I had been somewhat lax in running it recently, the spyware detection and removal software located about 15 spyware components, and I deleted them all.
Continuing to work, I was horrified to discover that I was still getting popups! Not just one or two from time to time, but a plague of popups, a plethora of popups - a pain-in-the-youknowwhat of popups.
What had I done to deserve such a problem?? Ah, yes, I recalled – it was that bubble burst game I played recently! I visited an unknown website to play a truly mind-numbing game in which the player simply bursts groups of three like colored bubbles. (Ok, I admit it, it's addictive.)
I ran AdAware again. It found a small handful of spyware.
Then I remembered that it had been a while since I updated the reference file for AdAware. This is the file that identifies known spyware so that it can be eliminated. I got the latest update (it's within the controls for AdAware), and then ran the program again. Aha! 87 different files, registry keys, and folders. I eliminated these, but in the course of the quarantine, I got a notice that one of the selected elements could not be removed. Would I like AdAware to remove it on startup? Yes.
I rebooted my machine. The software ran, presumably without a problem - and this time I got a notice that the dll "bridge.dll" was missing.
I knew from before that bridge.dll was a component of spyware - but the request for it was a legacy of its having been removed from my system.
Now what? Everytime I boot up I have to see an error message?
A little searching on the Internet turned up some surprisingly simple instructions: open Notepad, and enter the following:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"RunDLL"=-
Close the file (save it to your desktop for easy relocation), then double click on the file. The computer will interpret your "open" command as instructions to run the little applet in the file, and will ask you if you wish to save the update. You select yes, and voila – your problem is gone!
I rebooted with a little trepidation, but my computer rebooted just fine, no error message, and my Internet surfing has been relatively popup-less.
The moral?
1. Run spyware zapping software – often.
2. 2. Update this software. Weekly, if possible.
3. Realize that certain activities and websites are going to result in more popups, and more adware. (Generally speaking, many if not most sites that offer things "free," aren't.) If you visit such sites, run your spyware zapper immediately.
I wonder if there is another site that offers Bubble Burst without the spyware…
Author: Nancy Roberts
Date: 6/21/04
I was peacefully working on my computer a few days ago, offending no one, doing nothing I haven't done a hundred or more times. Suddenly, every time I move from one webpage to another, I was plagued by popup ads.
"Time to run Ad-Aware," thought I, and I did it. Since I had been somewhat lax in running it recently, the spyware detection and removal software located about 15 spyware components, and I deleted them all.
Continuing to work, I was horrified to discover that I was still getting popups! Not just one or two from time to time, but a plague of popups, a plethora of popups - a pain-in-the-youknowwhat of popups.
What had I done to deserve such a problem?? Ah, yes, I recalled – it was that bubble burst game I played recently! I visited an unknown website to play a truly mind-numbing game in which the player simply bursts groups of three like colored bubbles. (Ok, I admit it, it's addictive.)
I ran AdAware again. It found a small handful of spyware.
Then I remembered that it had been a while since I updated the reference file for AdAware. This is the file that identifies known spyware so that it can be eliminated. I got the latest update (it's within the controls for AdAware), and then ran the program again. Aha! 87 different files, registry keys, and folders. I eliminated these, but in the course of the quarantine, I got a notice that one of the selected elements could not be removed. Would I like AdAware to remove it on startup? Yes.
I rebooted my machine. The software ran, presumably without a problem - and this time I got a notice that the dll "bridge.dll" was missing.
I knew from before that bridge.dll was a component of spyware - but the request for it was a legacy of its having been removed from my system.
Now what? Everytime I boot up I have to see an error message?
A little searching on the Internet turned up some surprisingly simple instructions: open Notepad, and enter the following:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"RunDLL"=-
Close the file (save it to your desktop for easy relocation), then double click on the file. The computer will interpret your "open" command as instructions to run the little applet in the file, and will ask you if you wish to save the update. You select yes, and voila – your problem is gone!
I rebooted with a little trepidation, but my computer rebooted just fine, no error message, and my Internet surfing has been relatively popup-less.
The moral?
1. Run spyware zapping software – often.
2. 2. Update this software. Weekly, if possible.
3. Realize that certain activities and websites are going to result in more popups, and more adware. (Generally speaking, many if not most sites that offer things "free," aren't.) If you visit such sites, run your spyware zapper immediately.
I wonder if there is another site that offers Bubble Burst without the spyware…
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