The GHZ Forum

Seems I've gotten some pretty nasty spyware on my comp under the monkier of "SearchSquire" and Spybot can't remove it. I've tried a few site's recommondations of manually removing it, but to no avail. Sorry to make my first post back a call for tech support, but does anyone know how to remove it?

Here are some instructions to remove it. You should also consider getting a free firewall to warns against such intrusions such as Sygate's Personal Firewall, LavaSoft's Ad-Aware SE spyware remover as its source files are constantly updated, and a new internet browser such as Mozilla Firefox or Opera (as they are infinately more reliable that IE). I hope it helps.

<A HREF="http://www.lavasoftusa.com/">Ad-Aware</A> and <A HREF="http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/">Spybot Search & Destroy</A> are pretty much all you need.

Get Microsoft's new AntiSpyware program. It found and removed tons of things on my PC that Spybot and AdAware never detected. And it offers exellent real-time protection.

I opened IE last week to compare the apperence of a site with the way it came up in Mozilla. Within 5 seconds, "Critical operating system files have been deleted." Never trust Microsoft. Bill Gates is the antichrist.

Bill Gates is GAY. GAY FOR YOU.

STOP POSTING THAT PICTURE. I only just finished fixing my spleen from the last time you posted it. Now it's exploded again! Thanks alot asshat!

That's a really old computer on his desk.

Segaholic2 wrote:<A HREF="http://www.lavasoftusa.com/">Ad-Aware</A> and <A HREF="http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/">Spybot Search & Destroy</A> are pretty much all you need.

Spybot is amazingly useless nowadays, though it does help from time to time. The latest beta catches a good deal of tracking cookies in Firefox's cookie directory, so I guess that's useful.

http://www.microsoft.com/spyware

That and AdAware will get rid of most spyware. Also, HijackThis is extremely useful as well. You can just make a log and run it through HijackThis.de and it'll tell you what you should remove.

And stop using IE, if you are. Firefox, Mozilla, and Opera are all safer, and more compliant with new web standards. Install Real Alternative and Quicktime Alternative, maybe the VLC mozilla plug-ins, and you'll be good to go as far as playing most media in the browser.

Frieza2000 wrote:That's a really old computer on his desk.

No shit. That picture was taken in the 80's. Notice how youthful innocence has not left his eyes.

Theres another picture floating around where you can see a Mac on his desk.

Well, I tried the manually removing it, but DOS keeps telling me that I'm putting in an invalid command or something(plus there wasn't even a SearchSquire entry to delete). I also tried to install the Anti-Spyware program but the shitty thing told me I needed Windows ME or XP to run it(I only have 98). Is there any way to get around that?

If you have tried the ones we suggested (Ad-Aware should work with Windows 98 machines), then I think it's time for the desperate last resort of reformatting your computer and reinstalling Windows. Here are some instructions, but make absolutely certain that you have the original CD for which Windows came on, or else you're computer will be completely stuffed.

Jesus fuck, you're still running 98? Format the bastard and install XP already.

Oh yeah? Well I'm on OS 10.3.6. Bitch.

Haven't installed 10.3.8 yet?

Too lazy. Upon closer inspection I'm on 10.3.7, not .6.

Dache wrote:Jesus fuck, you're still running 98? Format the bastard and install XP already.

Oh believe me, I would if I could. My PC can't even run XP.


About reformatting......nah, not worth the effort. I don't plan on keeping this old comp too much longer anyway(If all goes according to plan). I'll just put up with the pop-ups and the telemarketers till then:P




Godamn you you 6-year old, laggy, advertisment filled, overpriced, AOL infected, was-inferior-at-the-time-it-was-purchased machine! To Hell with you!*kicks it*

If you can still read this after kicking your hardware, try saving for a new PC.

Jesus fuck, you're still running 98? Format the bastard and install XP already.

Why? I honestly don't see that much of an improvement between the two.

Well, the main selling point is that system resources are drained to the point of non-existence, for the sake of the program windows and start menu looking slightly better.

But even so, XP is still better that Millennium Edition. You can’t possibly get worse than that.

What about OS/2?

It was originally made in 1987, thus you would expect it to have stability issues when trying to merge a Window's GUI and Unix CLI together for its time.

Conversely Millenium Edition, which was released 12 years later, feature the same stability issues, a system restore function that drains system resources but doesn't even work, system crashes that occur for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and a price tag of $200 for an operating system that is practically no different from a standard copy of Windows 98.

In the word of Comic Book Guy: "Worst. Windows. Ever."

When something crashes in XP, it doesn't take the whole goddamn OS with it. That's a pretty nice improvement.

I say backup anything you really need and reinstall Windows. And if you get sick of Windows 98, you could always try your luck with Linux. Honestly, your situation is one of the few good excuses to.

I've actually seen the BSOD while using XP, it definately doesn't happen as much as it did with 98 and prior. I don't hate XP as much as I used to, the only thing I still don't like about it is compatibility issues with older programs and games, even when I set it to run in 95/98 compatibility mode. That, and I can't exit to DOS.