It's probably Windows Messenger (not the IM client by the same or similar name). This thread contains information that will help you stop the problem.
Ad Aware is great, no problems. Good chance it will recognize and delete the spyware. You will still get spyware even if you disable file downloads. Upgrading not necessary, but it does give some extra's not sure if you need them.
I'm running a free anti virus software called AVG, I had a couple of bugs and it identified and isolated them quickly. the website is called www.grisoft.com go with the free version if it's what you want. pcpitstop is a really good website, best of luck. trudd
It is important to understand that Ad-aware and Spybot Search and Destroy are entirely different programs and dedicated to separate functions. Both should be used to keep your system clean. Spybot will identify problems that Ad-aware will not, and Ad-aware will find things Spybot will not. Both programs are FREE and do a very good job as remove tools... I do not think either will prevent your system from downloading cookies and the like.
My g*d man, I don't format until I change operating systems, once every 5 years. The notion of formatting and starting from scratch on a Monthly basis is repugnant. Not to mention a gross waste of time. Do you tear down your house every month, instead of washing the floor and cleaning the windows (no pun). :eek:
I partly disagree with this. OK admitted, reformatting once a month is a bit yappy. But any active long-term windoze user knows that this OS needs to be completely re-installed every 3-6 months, depending on your degree of usage. I use XP Pro, and still nothing much has changed. Yes, I tear down my win-house every few months. And I treat the remaining ashes with gamma radiation to make sure nothing has survived. The thing with Win (any MS shit) is that it's extremely badly programmed, extremely bugged, extremely prone to malfunction and extremely resource intensive. For one there's the fact that windows almost notoriously uses about 80% of your resources just to sustain its own fat, grubby body. I am running XP Pro on a 2.6Ghz PC here, which does a whole selection of tasks slower still than a unix box here which is running on a P166 (!!!) I am not kidding. I have a friend even who reportedly runs a couple of BSD boxes with a 486 processor (?) to process his trading models and do some other stuff, which windows apparently would require some heavy machines for. Why all this? Maybe M$ has contracts with the hardware companies to induce premature "virtual plant obsolescence". Or maybe it's the fact that most of Windows' core routines are still the same that were programmed in 1981. Either way, it's alarming, and it makes Windows a ticking time bomb whenever you install it. For me, every few months the number of corrupted DLL's, wrong processes, other corrupted stuff, accumulated rubbish information etc takes overhand and the "Windoze Renaissance" routine has to repeat once again. Not only to regain a "fresh" setup, but also to reduce the space back to what's there, rather than the many win flatulences that accumulate. You back-up whatever necessary from the old setup and then transfer the important files to the new. It's great. It makes a big difference. It needs to be done. And don't tell me about win cleanup programs, Norton SystemWorks, etc which is supposed to "fix" win programs. I use it, too, but all that stuff is extremely invasive and only fixes the symptoms on the surface, but often worsens the problems under the surface (often violently manages shared DLL's etc). Win cleanup & fix programs can delay the death of windows, but they cannot prevent it. Why use Win? Because there's hardly much choice if you're bound by a huge corporate power machine to using mainstream programs. It's like Jabba the Hutt; Plain fugly, fat and sleazy, a lovely thing to hate. But it's got supremacy on it's territory, so you better not dare to argue.* *Disclaimer: Any analogies or similarities with the current US president are purely coincidental and not intended. This post is free of political bias.
So what are you running now? Win98? OMG! Better go straight back to 95. It still is "better". Not "good", just "better".
Ya joking? Up until 3 months ago I still had an 8 year old Win95 machine running without defrag for at least 6 years. TM Trader
Beware also when someone send you an email (under any pretext and sometimes it pretexts an error from the provider) when you click on his message and that your firewall says a remote computer attempts to access your computer