windows taskbar notification... please help!!!!!!!

Oh...I loved that one. The spyware that tells you that you have spyware and that you should download (for a minimal fee of $19.95 or whatever) the spyware removal software.

I'm not exactly sure which one you have but as I recall they tend to embed themselves pretty deeply in your registry. The last time I got that one it was about time for a wipe of my CPU anyway (It is amazing how much of an increase in performance you get out of wiping and reinstalling!). Of course you have to have 3 hours to do it and have good backups in place.

That of course doesn't answer your question, so sorry I couldn't be more help.

Although after do a wipe/reinstall I've not had that problem again...so although a bit severe it did solve the problem.

Good Luck!

I would scan your PC with AdAware, Spybot S & D, amd any legitimate Spyware scanner. If you can get it identified then you can search it on the net to get more detailed info about completely removing it.

Thanks for the help guys. Yes it must have a registry entry since i already located and deleted its exe and associated files.

yes i have spybot, hyjack this and AVG free but they do not detect it. Since i removed it's associated files, that is understandable, however the problem now lies exclusively with the windows registry and the taskbar menue.

I very much doubt i could locate it's windows registry entry, but i'm sure if i could access the taskbar notifications folder then i could probably identify it's registry key in there? I figure the taskbar notifications menue is being fed that notification from somewhare in the registry right?

If you can rmeember teh name of teh spyware or more specifcally the name of the files that you deleted, the exe, and associated files, try searching the registry for references using those names as parameters. Since it's spyware, any reference you find can be deleted, and that might kill the notification.

Also, you can try googling the spyware name. Usually there are a few forums out there that specialize in removing these things. When I got a Trojan a few years ago, I managed to find such a forum and one member even made a small utility to remove the specific trojan I had! I was very impressed

If you can remember the .exe file name it is you could try this,

Start menu - Run, type msconfig.

A window should pop up and you will see a number of tabs across the top, you want to check - Services - and - StartUp. If you find it in here uncheck it's box hit apply and restart. You may find other progs in here you no longer want running too.

I have found this works about half the time, the other half it's a registry key and a pain to get rid of.

Security Task Manager is good at detecting these little shit's and IIRC it highlight's the key entry, or at least gives you something to search for in the reg key. It is a licensed program but the trial version will find problems just not fix them.

An after thought would be, you don't happen to have a system restore point do you? Even if you don't want to use that restore point this might work,

Restore back to an earlier time with (hopefully) not too many changes. IF the culprit is not there, grab a copy of your reg key, back it up and roll back your restore point to current settings. Paste your back up of the reg key over the current one and your done.

Of course any programs installed between the two restore points may not work now due to no reg key's for them but it may be a case of re-installing those programs that need it. Might save an entire system wipe and install.

Hope some of this helps
Good luck.

it is called 'spylocked 3' and i had a breif look in the registry but i could not see it. but that is no suprise since spyware artists are becomming more adept at disguising their files with 'windows like' names. I have even had spyware try to pretend to be a file associated with my particular video card brand!.



yea that is an old favourite of mine.

i think the thing that bothers me most is that feeling that some little shit spyware company stuck it's unwelcome foot in my door and i am powerless to stop them. If i was a little wealthier, i would probably offer $1000.00 dollar reward to anyone who crashes their website just to spite them for thinking they got the best of me.

New dot net got me last year, i don't know who or what or why but one day i turned on the pc and it was there. Nothing but a complete re-install could do the trick.....

I had the spylocked thing once, i have a program called Avast, friggin amazing! I use it and Norton's Internet Security Suite 2007 to find and destroy viruses. NIS 2k7 is almost a virus unto itself though, get it and then dont ever let it auto update, cuz that will make it run a file that eats your CPU. At least it did to me.

My 2 cents,
GalenEvil

Norton has too many process running for my liking. It is a capable program and i would still use it if it wasn't such a cpu/memory hog.

Personally, I use Avast. It covers the full gambit (spyware notification and ellimination too), and it's free. It'll update for you automatically, or by notice and choosing to. It has picked up more stuff than any of the to brands put together. Give it a try and see what you get!

avast.com

yea, it would be fantastic if we were rich enough to hire vigilanties to go and make them reinstall their operating systems the pricks!



I used a Nortons product many years ago, and yes they are highly invasive on your pc. I have always avoided Norton's products like the plaque sinse then. If they ever start making motherboards with an antivirus sub processor then perhaps Nortans will be useful???

I will look for 'Avast' many thanks for the help

I'll add that' I've had some good experience with Avast, Thouhg I use AVG now.

Mystik - I just though of something - You said you have Hyjack This right? Do you know when you got the spywhere? You should be able to use hyjack this to ID the process (if its running one) by comparing a current scan with say the original (or best guess date scan before you got the spyware). That'll atleast give you the process name, allowing you to find it in the registry, prefectch (clean that out, btw!) and possibly locally on your harddrive

Thanks for the suggestion but i have already done exactly that. Even being deleted from the prefetch hasn't stopped it, so the asseholes at Spylocked must have anticipated that and got around it somehow.