1. CoolWebSearch: This piece of spyware appeared in 2004. It is capable of changing the user's browser home page and showing pop-up ads to sites including pornographic ones.
2. Internet Optimizer: This spyware program redirects users, who by mistake types in a wrong URL, to a page full of advertisements.
3. Zango: Currently, this spyware program has a lot of promoters who get paid for making people install it into their systems. It collects the data regarding websites people visit, in order to display targeted ads. It also redirects users to affiliate tracking URLs to bag commissions from their purchases.
4. Popcorn.net: This piece of spyware was distributed by an online movie download service; it shows pop-up ads on user systems. It caused a lot of complaints at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
Showing posts with label antispyware removal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label antispyware removal. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
How To Remove Microsoft .NET Spyware Extension
Back around the end of January there was a Microsoft Windows Update (KB951466847) that installed the SpyWare (done without user consent/knowledge and can not be removed easily) Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 1.0 extension into Firefox. Note: If you have not install Windows Update KB951847 OR not using Windows Update this extension will not be installed.
Notice how the ‘Uninstall’ button is greyed out? I learned about this from a post )Microsoft Infiltrates Firefox) at GoFirefox! However, because I am using Shirhd7etoko 3.1b3pre and the add-on was not compatible with this build it never fully installed. I was able to remove the add-on following these directions:
1. Close Firefox
2. In Windows Explorer go to this location:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation Foundation\DotNetAssistantExtension
3. This folder should contain 2 sub-folder and 2 files. Just in case for some odd reason you might need these files, create a zip or rar file containing these items and place it somewhere else.
4. Delete everything in this folder, but leave the folder
5. Restart Firefox and go to your add-ons list. The add-on should no longer be listed.
6. In the address bar type about:config
7. In the Filter field type general.useragent
8. Look for an entry called general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet
9. Right -click on the entry and select ‘reset’
Now, for the most part these steps worked for me. However, as I had mentioned earlier it never fully installed since it was not compatible with Shiretoko 3.1b3pre. In this case I completed Steps 1-5 but noticed the add-on was still there and still disabled. Next, I had to close Firefox again, go to my profile folder and remove the files: extensions.cache, extensions.ini and extensions.rdf. This forces Firefox to rebuild the extensions list, however when I did this step, the Night Tester Tools add-on broke. Not good, now about half my extensions that I had “forced” to work, weren’t working now. So I had to uninstall the Night Tester Tools extension, restart Firefox, re-install the extension, restart Firefox, over-ride compatibility on the currently disabled add-ons and restart Firefox once again. Since the ad-on never fully installed, I did not have an about:config entry for general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet.
Notice how the ‘Uninstall’ button is greyed out? I learned about this from a post )Microsoft Infiltrates Firefox) at GoFirefox! However, because I am using Shirhd7etoko 3.1b3pre and the add-on was not compatible with this build it never fully installed. I was able to remove the add-on following these directions:
1. Close Firefox
2. In Windows Explorer go to this location:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation Foundation\DotNetAssistantExtension
3. This folder should contain 2 sub-folder and 2 files. Just in case for some odd reason you might need these files, create a zip or rar file containing these items and place it somewhere else.
4. Delete everything in this folder, but leave the folder
5. Restart Firefox and go to your add-ons list. The add-on should no longer be listed.
6. In the address bar type about:config
7. In the Filter field type general.useragent
8. Look for an entry called general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet
9. Right -click on the entry and select ‘reset’
Now, for the most part these steps worked for me. However, as I had mentioned earlier it never fully installed since it was not compatible with Shiretoko 3.1b3pre. In this case I completed Steps 1-5 but noticed the add-on was still there and still disabled. Next, I had to close Firefox again, go to my profile folder and remove the files: extensions.cache, extensions.ini and extensions.rdf. This forces Firefox to rebuild the extensions list, however when I did this step, the Night Tester Tools add-on broke. Not good, now about half my extensions that I had “forced” to work, weren’t working now. So I had to uninstall the Night Tester Tools extension, restart Firefox, re-install the extension, restart Firefox, over-ride compatibility on the currently disabled add-ons and restart Firefox once again. Since the ad-on never fully installed, I did not have an about:config entry for general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet.
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