spyware located in taskbar

[segtech]

Howdy Folks!!!

I stumbled upon a piece of spyware that lodged in my XP taskbar. It comes up intermittently with a "Norton-like" system alert that informs me of spyware, a certain virus, and other system threats that will only be handled properly if I click "OK".

That brings up an IE6 window with no browser capabilities that can let you out (Back, Forward, etc) other than a Close box box in the upper right corner.
The offer is for one or more of the software packages offered. If I recall correctly one is called "razorware", another "spykiller".

It doesn't appear to be harming anything on my machine that I can discern, though its written threats forebode something more harmful as time goes on ignoring it. It resets back to its least nasty threat after its most nasty one only to loop through these repeaterdly.

Does anyone know of freeware or shareware that can help me eliminate this
pest?

Please send your ideas to my email address below, if you would. :slurp:

Steve Segore
segorese@verizon.net

 

[Liquidlen]

Seg.... ; Welcome to Techspot!
It is our hope that answers are posted here in the Thread.The idea is that others can learn from the interaction concerning your problem .Also , when you post your successes everyone can benefit.

 

[PanicX]

Have you tried Spybot(download.com) or Ad Aware(lavasoft.com)?

You can always disable any unknown startup items using msconfig (Start menu -> Run -> msconfig.exe)

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Download Ewido Security Suite (trial) from http://www.ewido.net/en/download/
When installing, under "Additional Options" uncheck "Install background guard" and "Install scan via context menu".

Start Ewido. When you run it the first time, you get a warning "Database could not be found!". Click OK.
On the main screen, click on Update in the left menu, then click the Start Update button.
After the Update finishes, the status bar at the bottom will display "Update successful".
-- If you have problems updating see here: http://www.ewido.net/en/download/updates/
Once the updates are installed do the following:
Click on Scanner
Make sure the following boxes are checked before scanning:
- Binder
- Crypter
- Archives
Click on Start Scan and let Ewido scan the PC.
While the scan is in progress, you will be prompted to 'Clean files', click OK
When the scan is done, you'll find a Save report button at the bottom of the screen.
Click 'Save report' and save it to your desktop.
Reboot your PC and post back the Ewido Scanlog as a .txt attachment