An update on the ' devil's' pop-up window ..previous story.

A few of my online blogger friends have contacted me by email to confirm they had seen what
I had described on my blog...that offending pop-up box window. It's over now as I have squashed it just like that. But it entailed 2 days of solid painstaking detective work on my computer.
I had tried the following steps, all without success:-

1 Restore computer starting point to an earlier date before last Sunday.

2. Do a full McAfee Scan and keyed in " fix the problem". ( Took Hours )

3. Went to Internet Options to choose the programme " start computer without add-ons"

4. At Internet Options chose and set the various settings to "highest filter level".

5. Tried all kinds of options at "Tools" and Internet Options.


My Solution

By carefully reading up about these offending malware, spyware on Google...I discovered something really important. That our fully paid for anti-spam, anti-virus protection service provider like McAfee etc...CANNOT STOP ALL virus, pop-ups, malware etc..from invading and surreptitiously creeping into our computer.
They can stop most but not ALL.
I was very disappointed to learn about this.
If expert companies with all their advanced training and brains cannot prevent such offending nonsense, then WHY ON EARTH are we paying them for so-called "protection" of our systems?

One very important line I read and re-read again was this: the only sure way to get rid of the problem is to trace the offending file or files, cookie or cookies ( so called add ons ) then disable it and if possible REMOVE it.

It took me 2 days to locate the offending files ....yes, more than one! The reason it took so long was because I am not a trained I T expert or IT engineer. Even my computer shop owner friend told me over the phone, with his fully trained partner beside him, that it not an easy thing to solve or overcome! They gave me no solution.

I located the suspicious files by clicking one by one, all files downloaded on the "add on" system.
The details of each file pops up in a box. I scrutinised carefully. The offending files are camouflaged by so -called proper names like Google, Microsoft Corp, etc..
There were 3 that I confirmed were invaders and removed.

1) A Google Toolbar Notifier

2) An " XML DOM" Document

3) Microsoft Corp Silverlight - Activex Control

Here is the actual details of one of these "invaders". I copied them down.

Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper
Publisher: Not available
Type: Browser Helper object
Version: Not available
Date installed: Not available ( highly suspicious to me !)
File: Acro IE Helper. dll
Class: ID: 0684.......followed by a long string of letters and numerals
Folder: C/program Files/adobe/acrobat 7.0/Active X.

I hope our Govt and global IT authorities can take some action against the website/s that produces such nonsensical attacks on our computer systems.
Many of these spammers have been traced by FBI and other agencies and arrested and are now in jail. What about here in Singapore?
I do not have any idea where the offending website comes from.
But I do believe it is not an unknown thing to those in the know.