FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I have a problem. Ever since I got a computer in April, certain websites (especially news) will partially load for me, then come up with this page:
http://www.google.com/hws/dell-inc/afe?hl=en&channel=us&s=http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N884.theonion/B1959996.2;sz=120x30;ord=80504770?. It really interferes with my browsing, and prevents me from enjoying some websites. If I click the "What's This?" link in the top right corner, it tells me that the search page is a result of some program that came with my computer. I searched the Add/Remove programs list, but couldn't find it. I have no idea how to stop the Dell search page, and it makes me madder each time I use the Internet. Is there anybody who can help me out?

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Punch it.


But seriously. When something like that is bugging me so bad, I reinstall windows and wipe out the hard drive. Start from scratch. If you think about it, you will probably spend less time reinstalling your programs than you would trying to figure out what is causing it and then how to fix it without wrecking windows and having to reinstall anyways(can you tell that's happened to me before?).

If you start from scratch, then you can find out which program is causing you issues by checking after each install.

I really do hope somebody else comes by with an easier magic solution for ya, good luck Books.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

i believe that comes from the Dell assistant software that they ship with your computer. as long as that program is turned on you will always get those messages. also, switch to another browser like firefox if you haven't already, as a lot of times those search pages are tied specifically to IE.

---

"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

HAHA! Moondog, your tip prompted me to check Add/Remove Programs again. At the bottom was a tool called "URL Assistant". I searched it on the 'Net, and read some bad stuff about it and other junk that Dell preinstalls. I got rid of the URL Assistant, and it looks like things got fixed! That makes me pretty happy.

Thanks both for your suggestions, I was afraid I'd have to reinstall Windows.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

If you haven't already done so Sirbooks, I recommend downloading the following (they're free);

• ZoneAlarm personal firewall

• Ad-Aware to scan for pop up ad generators such as the one you've just killed off

• SpywareBlaster to kill many popups and pieces of malware at source

I have those three installed, and they keep my machine free of unwanted nasties. Do a regular Ad-Aware scan once per week, then run SpywareBlaster to gain updates, and make sure that only the programs YOU want to connect to the Internet are allowed to by ZoneAlarm. If anything outside of your permitted list tries to connect or call home, ZoneAlarm will stop it dead in its tracks.

Also, as a belt and braces measure (which I use), go to thispage and find out how to kill off a lot of unwanted parasites, spyware and malware at source. A neat trick that kills off a lot of the nasties stone dead in the interimm while you're downloading the other protection. Trust me, it works. If you want to test the Hosts file from that page, just try visiting any X-rated site that uses refer.ccbill.com as its signup, and hey presto, you'll get the following message:

"Cannot connect to server refer.ccbill.com".

That's the acid test - if that particular parasite is dead, most of the rest are too.

The Hosts file on that page is regularly updated. Download a new version every month or so and you're sorted.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Did you just recommend Books to go to x-rated sites

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Not per se Matty - I was just citing that as an example of how to test the security of his system once he'd implemented the measures I outlined. There are other ways this can be tested - trying to visit Alexa or any of the other known malware sites will also test the measures and produce the same results. However, the choice given above is actually 'safer' in one respect that sites like Alexa, in that it doesn't try any drive by downloads, whereas Alexa and some other malware sites that are categorised as 'general content' DO try drive by downloading, and so they're more risky to use for testing the security of your machine if there happen to be holes that can be exploited. Basically, do NOT visit Alexa, Gator or any similar places (despite the fact tha they're not X-rated) unless your machine is VERY secure, otherwise you'll spend days trying to rid yourself of their poisonous malware. The worst of these is Ezula - this site drops a trojan on your machine that not only replicates itself like a virus, and more to the point tries to seek out and uninstall Ad-Aware to facilitate its nastiness, but on XP machines installs a rootkit patch that is impossible to remove without formatting your hard drive and reinstalling XP from scratch. I think that's a few days' work we could ALL do without


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I do already have Norton Antivirus and Webroot Spysweeper, so I should be set for anti-bad stuff programs. They cost more than free, but I can live with that.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

My belief is that all forms of anti spyware, virus, malware, trojan, worm etc is useless. They all work for about 3 seconds and in that time a 12 year old in japan has made a new super worm just because he/she was bored. No the only way to be trully safe is to do one of to things
use Deep freeze
http://www.faronics.com/html/deepfreeze.asp

or get an external hard drive save your entire system and if bad things start to happen simple plug it in and continue from your last save state.

thats my 1 and 9/10 cents for you.

Or you can just not be a stOOge and watch what you do on the 'net. If you're dumb enough to get a virii, worm, trojan etc etc etc you need to give your computer to me.

What's your address?

I freely admit my stoogeness.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I know Cali, I was just harassing you

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

it very much pains me to say this, but the windows firewall that comes with xp service pack 2 is actually all the firewall you need as far as software based firewalls are concerned. if you want to be extra paranoid you can build yourself a hardware firewall out of an old computer, but you will still need to be careful when surfing. personally, i like to use firefox (because it's not tied directly into the windows OS) and set it to accept all cookies, but prompt me before setting them. this way i can kill any ad cookies before they get to my computer.

---

"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

What's your address?

His address is:
666 No-more-clutter Rd.
We-must-downsize-our-stuff, NY 00000

(there is room at my place though. Send it to me! )

---

"it's the neck, it creaks under the weight of too much heavy thinking."

666? I'm now very afraid.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."