I am having trouble with spyware/malware or anywhere that allows my computer to be accessed with the following web addresses. These are not legit websites nor do they have anything to do with good surfing. These are bad people here. If anyone knows how to get rid of the is hijack beyond the hijack this, spybot, adaware and mcafee total secure virus protection and firewall, I would definately appreciate it.
The sites that pop up against my will are:
searchportal.information.com
kolmic.com
These are definately bad places to be sent too. Help if you can. I have read many blogs and articles about Google having a deal with them in their adwords dealings. I am not sure that is how they are getting onto my computer. I have also restricted those sites in internet security files and included them on my hosts file.
If I make progress, I will write that here.
3 responses so far ↓
motterscreek // August 9, 2007 at 3:01 pm
One more thought on this spyware. I have never figured out why the hackers do this. Or, are the people who get these things on their computers so dumb that they actually click on these bogus links? The thing that really gets me is they just load your computer up with these things and for what reason? Because they can? the world is looney, isn’t it? They can’t be doing it for money, can they? It is just like the 419 Nigeria scam, only an idiot would send these con artists money.
motterscreek // August 10, 2007 at 8:39 am
If you know what the hosts file is on your computer, you might want to put the above mentioned and suspicious files web addresses into them. Hosts files weren’t set up for that purpose but actually were set up so your computer could find frequently visited websites simply by searching the host file without waiting for the Internet to respond back and supply the numerical address (IE: 11.101.9.9) Every web address has this series of 4 numbers separated by three dots.
But, if you list the offending address in the host file and list the numerical address as 127.0.0.1 you point that website back to your own computer. An easier explanation is as follows:
You type spamxxx.com website address into your browser and your computer then first searches for the numerical address in the host file. If Spamxxx.com website address is listed (NOTE: you must list it there with its numerical address for your computer to find it there) then whatever its numerical address is your browser will go there on the net. But, if you have listed spamxxx.com in your host file and listed the numerical address as 127.0.0.1 then that points the browser back to your own computer and stops the computer from browsing to the offending site. One of the most common ways hackers or suspicious websites are visited by you are when you get an email with an attachment or an address for you to click.
Let’s say a hacker hacked your friends computer then sent you an email disguised as your friend and puts a web address into the email for you to click or an attachment for you to open. If this hacker is leading you to some suspicious website and you allow yourself to be suckered and click the phony email link you are duck meat. You may have by your stupidity unleashed the website from hell onto your little computer because you trusted what you get in your email. Little green men will pop up on your screen and say “now I control your computer, earth person.” Then they will laugh at you and steal your computer. You will then be looking for me to help you fix your computer which is now either not running or running very slow or is screwed up in some other way.
But, if you have that website address listed in your own host file as 127.0.0.1 then you will never get to see the little green guy because your computer sees the website as your own computer and stops right there. It is in essence how you block yourself or others from browsing to suspicious or offending websites or it keeps others from hacking your computer and directing your browser to another unwanted site.
On the other hand, you can list an offending address in your security settings as hi risk and when that site tries to contact you through whatever source the computer will react according to your instructions which will be whatever security level you have set your computer at for hi risk sites. This is certainly not a total solution, but does tend to provide at least a decent prevent.
For more information on “host” files, simply put the words “host files” into any search engine and you will find a lot of websites explaining the process of how to get to the file and what to do with it. There are also a lot of sites out on the net that have assembled long intensive lists of offending sites and have put them on the net for you to copy and insert into your own host file, located within your windows files. In my own host file I have listed at least a thousand bad websites and in essence blocked them from ever being visited. It is strongly advisable to do this. It will eliminate a ton of pop-ups, spam, spyware, malware and viruses from ever reaching your computer.
If you have children you can also specifically block offending websites from your children ever reaching them. Beware though, your kids are smart and probably already know about the host file.
So be prudent and use your computer wisely. Make sure you have an up to date virus protection on your computer ( there are good free ones on the net if you don’t have one) plus install the many protective programs that are free that will help keep you secure like ad-aware, spybot and others.
Happy surfing and watch for those little green guys from outer internet space.
motterscreek // August 15, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Searching for the Hi jack – finding the solution
I have been searching my computer for a week now for the elusive piece of code that was sending me unwanted websites, and closing down my internet access. I think I found it thanks to Spybot Search and destroy. What I never knew was that Spybot has many sophisticated tools available in this remarkable program besides its basic scan for malware. It found this start up virus/malware/redirect in my start up file. It was unmarked and was in there as a nothing entry, but it was there.
The startup file is a listing of functions that start running when you boot up your computer. This little gem was a security terrorist in the form of code. Once running it directed your computer to download intrusive websites such as (searchportal.information.com and kolmic.com.) Even when I adjusted my host file which if programmed right will redirect those suspicious websites so they are blocked, the program simply eliminated the host file and continued to download the terrorist website spyware. Spybot identified it and I disabled it by closing the loop hole in my computer. It was that startup item that seemed unmarked innocently opening each time my computer rebooted. I also with the help of Spybot, locked the host files so no program can access or change it. Problem solved for now.
These demon criminal programmers keep getting more and more sophisticated and Microsoft can’t keep up with them. They try by sending updates constantly to patch security leaks but like anything else someone wrote a piece of code that does something and someone else will write a piece of code that counters it. Nothing is ever perfect but then neither is life.
My problem at least for this situation is solved but I am sure there will be more in the future.
I am curious as to why those who want you to do business with them send you programs that will muck your system up so you can’t do business with them; makes no sense. I do understand those who have nothing better to do then for fun, make life miserable for as many computer users as possible by writing code and infecting machines. Then again, what is their point in life? It seems if they are that talented they could write incredible programs that would make them millions instead of causing havoc and possibly going to jail for their efforts. Go figure!!.