Casino Online, Travel, Poker and other crappy icons

[Althar]

A friend of mine has some problem with his comp lately. Icons like Poker, Casino Online, Travel, Internet and things like that got installed on his computer. Perhaps it's a virus or some spyware but he'd like to know how to remove it. If anybody know what his problem is then please write back soon cause its getting pretty annoying cause it comes back even if he deletes it.

[Fighter17]

spyware got on your PC, end of story.

[Dark Neighbour]

Well spoted. And I mean that.

Spyware, quite possibly a really volitile one, which is why it comes back. Use a program like Giant Anti-Spyware, or Spyhunter to remove it. If all else fails, format. Always a last resort though.

[djnickname]

I would recommend Spybot : search and destroy.
It never let me down and it's a awesome program ( and it's free ^^ )

Link : http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

It will prolly not delete the icons so you need to do that yourself.
And if you are not sure it's gone you can always download ad-aware and let it scan away.

[trunkszero]

spyware or hijack

[polobunny]

spyware got on your PC, end of story.

The post was so useful, i'm sure he wanted to know if it was spyware. He clearly asked how to remove it....Anyway

It is spyware, I rememeber seeing those at my aunt house and Ad-aware + SpybotS&D detroyed it.
Alternatively, your could try other spyware removers such as GIANT anti-spyware. Exceptionally you could do a system restore, or even format.

But you shouldn't need to format, format is really the last resort, there is plenty of other things to do before formating.

[Althar]

He already tried Ad-Aware, Spybot and even Giant Antispyware and it still comes back some time after he deletes it...
Edit : Just tried Spyware Blaster and it seems to be fine....for now. We'll have to wait and see if it installs itself again.

[master]

did you try doing it at the startup? or simply don't go to that site? Does sound like a reaccuring ad/spyware problem

[djnickname]

spyware or hijack

To add a little comment to the hijack this

Never use this piece of software if you are not a experienced computer user otherwise this program can cause alot of problems that you dont want:p

[Borman]

If you are feeling confident, you can search for registry entries.

[polobunny]

Was this a problem YOU experienced?
Yeah, people shouldn't fiddle with reg entries and dll's unless they know why they exist.
Trust me, i've learned that from my previous experiences.

/me changes this reg entry value for a 1
/me reboots
/me cries when the blue screen pop-up

[Borman]

I deal with spyware in the Registry all the time

[polobunny]

I do to, that was pointed at djnickname.

[RoseDragon83L]

This may seem simple, I don't know the extent of your friends or your own computer knowledge, but you may try checking in the add/remove programs list to see if there are any of these there, or anything else that sounds fishy if they install alot of junk. That would uninstall the entire program rather than deleting a few registry entries and files as some of the anti spyware programs will do.
I recommend this first because alot of these gambling/travel and searchbar types aren't really spyware in the way most is as they are things you opt for or install yourself, which is why they aren't picked up by some anti spyware programs.

['Nemesis']

Another Solution:

Under the assumption that your friend has Windows XP & and if he knows the exact time frame in which the Spyware was installed, you could try rolling back the PC to a date before the Spyware was installed by using System Restore.

However I ONLY (and I cannot stress this enough), recommend you do this if your friend has not installed any important software/drivers on his PC since he was having issues with his PC as it will be gone. I believe files are also affected as well.

Go to:
Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore

then select the option:
Restore my computer to an earlier time

Select the date prior to the date the Spyware was installed.