Spyware/adware problems

[meadors]

Has anyone noticed the incredible amount of malware popping up out there? Maybe I've ignorantly neglecting maintenance of my antivirus, spyware scans and firewall monitoring, but I now have some serious problems that will not go away or even let me download help to clean things up.

Looking at the forums at spybot SD, they are swamped with requests for help and waiting time is over three or four days now.

I'm thinking of just saving my important files to CD and reformating the whole computer. Any ideas?

[trish]

Your idea sounds good.

[Cam]

I run linux. So no. :)

My work computer which is XP, No. Methinks corporate defences are getting better.

[Insomniac]

I've noticed more attacks. Specifically Acrobat exploits (I disable the acrobat plug-in so the only option is to save/open PDFs) and malware attacks embedded in HTML. Our AV has been blocking it all though.

Reformatting is the most thorough. If you aren't certain of what has gotten through, it's also likely the best solution because you just won't know if you cleaned it up.

[nrc]

The only problem with the backup, format, and start over approach is that you need to make sure that none of the utilities or programs that you have intentionally installed is actually malware. Otherwise you'll be right back where you started.

[ChampcarShark]

I'm thinking of just saving my important files to CD and reformating the whole computer. Any ideas?

That is usually the last resort. Ten again it is the best way to know for sure that your computer is clean.

Like nrc says be careful on the programs that you re-install.

[SurfaceUnits]

Ad Aware has taken care of anything that has hit my PC

[G.]

I've noticed more attacks. Specifically Acrobat exploits (I disable the acrobat plug-in so the only option is to save/open PDFs) and malware attacks embedded in HTML. Our AV has been blocking it all though.

Ah crap. That's why Adobe Flash needed to update my registry settings this AM.

Thanks Spybot! Denied.

[EDwardo]

If you are using Firefox I strongly recommend adding "noscript" which you can find at Mozilla.com.