Post by fred on Dec 16, 2013 1:38:52 GMT -8
The problem.
About two weeks ago I downloaded, installed and used Format Factory. The following day when the computer was restarted it was clear there was a problem, the startup was very slow, the Vista sidebar didn’t appear for almost 10 mins, Private Firewall didn’t start until about 5 mins after startup, processor often staying above 80% and slow loading of FFox, Media Player etc etc and net access were all very slow.
I then scanned with Malewarebytes, Norton and Spybot with Malwarebytes reporting the presence of PUP.Optional.Hao123.A. Unfortunately, the problems persisted so I rescanned with all three and included a MS Malicious Software Removal Tool scan with no problems reported by all scans. I then looked online and found many references to PUP.Optional.Hao123.A and reports that Adwcleaner was a good tool (the rest is history).
Here is what I propose.
Uninstall Spybot (didn’t realise it was active) and turn off one of the firewalls (again).
With respect to the remnants of Webroo; Norton Power Eraser; AwdCleaner, I am not sure what to do about those. I have located the 2 Ad-ware remnants but am considering leaving them until I have seen the effect of removing Spybot and turning a firewall off.
My reasoning for not completing all steps at once is simply that I want to see if the competing firewalls and Spybots activities are the problem (is this a bad idea?).
It is my plan to now remove the identified Ad-ware remnants.
P.s. Ad-ware… Now there is a sorry tale!
Some time ago I tried a 30 day trial of Ad-ware, I decided not to use it and uninstalled it. The result of uninstalling Ad-ware was a significantly compromised computer… I can’t remember all the faults but I do remember that the uninstall process also took out our ability to access the net which made solving the problem rather tricky. But (with some help) the computer was fixed and worked well until a couple of weeks ago when I loaded Format Factory.
About two weeks ago I downloaded, installed and used Format Factory. The following day when the computer was restarted it was clear there was a problem, the startup was very slow, the Vista sidebar didn’t appear for almost 10 mins, Private Firewall didn’t start until about 5 mins after startup, processor often staying above 80% and slow loading of FFox, Media Player etc etc and net access were all very slow.
I then scanned with Malewarebytes, Norton and Spybot with Malwarebytes reporting the presence of PUP.Optional.Hao123.A. Unfortunately, the problems persisted so I rescanned with all three and included a MS Malicious Software Removal Tool scan with no problems reported by all scans. I then looked online and found many references to PUP.Optional.Hao123.A and reports that Adwcleaner was a good tool (the rest is history).
Here is what I propose.
Uninstall Spybot (didn’t realise it was active) and turn off one of the firewalls (again).
With respect to the remnants of Webroo; Norton Power Eraser; AwdCleaner, I am not sure what to do about those. I have located the 2 Ad-ware remnants but am considering leaving them until I have seen the effect of removing Spybot and turning a firewall off.
My reasoning for not completing all steps at once is simply that I want to see if the competing firewalls and Spybots activities are the problem (is this a bad idea?).
It is my plan to now remove the identified Ad-ware remnants.
P.s. Ad-ware… Now there is a sorry tale!
Some time ago I tried a 30 day trial of Ad-ware, I decided not to use it and uninstalled it. The result of uninstalling Ad-ware was a significantly compromised computer… I can’t remember all the faults but I do remember that the uninstall process also took out our ability to access the net which made solving the problem rather tricky. But (with some help) the computer was fixed and worked well until a couple of weeks ago when I loaded Format Factory.