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Comments on: Spyware Horror Story: Uncool Web search

CoolWebSearch is a notorious browser hijacker that also dabbles in pop-ups, stealing private data, and mutative reproduction. Despite preventative measures, the threat continues to plague PC users.

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by strongwinds June 19, 2008 2:23 PM PDT: well, since you had a CWS infection, I would recommend CWS sherrder, and also Avast! and Advanced spyware Remover,and (like the editor said) Firefox, And McAfee link scanner. a good free firewall is Comodo. I also would recommend Trojan Killer, for scanning start-up locations, just make sure you know what your deleting before you delete it!
P.S. if you end up using FireFox, get the AD-blocker plus plugin.; Like this Reply to this comment


by 0zSpit June 20, 2008 3:14 AM PDT: i was using norton 2005 and had coolwebsearch get right past it, shut nortons down and started taking over. luckily back then i had spyware doctor when it was actually a usable product and it instantly went after cws. after several reboots and running spyware doctor in safe mode it removed the infection.; Like this Reply to this comment


by benjaminstraight June 20, 2008 6:28 AM PDT: I don't like being spyed on.; Like this Reply to this comment

by trkcoach22 June 20, 2008 8:32 AM PDT

or........just get a Mac.

Like this Reply to this comment


by compudoc318 July 3, 2008 9:09 AM PDT: and limit the software i can use......why do that. macs arent more secure, just a smaller market share, so why would a hacker waste time creating a virus for cpus that only 8% of the world uses....; Like this


by andrewx12 June 20, 2008 8:48 AM PDT: I don't see why people hack and spy on people i think it's very stupid and I have had a hacker in my pc b4 also one of the best anti-virus and anti-spyware/shield program i have came across is probably spy sweeper i never really had a spyware horror another good security sytem i found is ca security is very good too.also keyloggers are bad too i put in elite keylogger on my pc purposely just to see how much they catch and even with the free version i managed to pick up like all of my passwords.; Like this Reply to this comment


by Composer_1777 June 20, 2008 4:11 PM PDT: I don't like these stories.; Like this Reply to this comment


by C_G_K June 20, 2008 10:15 PM PDT: coolwebsearch is a disaster. I have seen cases where it installs actual device drivers which continuously download and reinstall spyware and malware programs at the same time that you are trying to delete them. Removing these device drivers is very tricky and will most likely result in a system that won't boot.

My advice if you end up with a severe spyware/malware infection? Save off all your stuff - documents, pictures, music and such - then reload windows. Most PC vendors put a recovery partition on the hard drive now, so no need to look around for your reinstall disks. If you don't know what you are doing, hire a competent tech to do it for you, or you'll probably regret it in the long run.

As long as your computer is set up to automatically download and install security patches from Microsoft, the most common way this junk ends up on your system is through email attachments, file sharing, or by duping you into downloading some kind of software like video codecs, screensavers, etc.

The jury is still out in regards to whether Vista will make it harder for this kind of garbage to infect your computer. Let's hope so.; Like this Reply to this comment

by adkiller2k7 June 21, 2008 12:53 AM PDT

If you want the strongest security, then here are my favourite security programs and they are very strong,

Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware/Anti-rootkit, Avast! 4.8 Home Edition(FREE)
Anti-Spyware, Spybot Search & Destroy(FREE)
Firewall, COMODO Firewall Pro(FREE)

They are the best Free products, They beat Norton, AVG and Symantec put together

Like this Reply to this comment


by IG-87 June 30, 2008 11:50 AM PDT: oh god, you got all my favorite security programs!; Like this


by compudoc318 July 3, 2008 9:11 AM PDT: All the apps mentioned above are great, but in the end, make sure to use a program like mcafee siteadvisor or a link checker. I do virus removal for a living, and ive noticed that with a large majority of infected machines, they have great apps running, but some viruses, if you click a bad link, or go to the wrong page, all that protection will be useless, in then end, its common sense about surfing and email usage.; Like this Reply to this comment