Possible spyware

Question

Hello,   About two weeks ago, I downloaded free Kazaa and Kazaa download accelerator from the internet and before I knew it, my computer was flooded with all sorts of malwares and spywares and immediately deleted the Kazaas. I have patiently taken the time to read all sorts of online reviews and used anti-spyware software (xoftspy, spyware doctor, noadware, ewido, spybot) to remove these spywares. I have succeeded to clean up my PC and the registry as the pop-ups no longer appear, and the scanning from these anti-spywares confirm this. Occasionally, I get results of tracking cookies when I scan my PC with say noadware.   However, the biggest problem I haven't been able to even comprehend lies in the fact that my computer cannot access my yahoo mailbox normally since then. Let me explain better. As a matter of fact, I actually do open my yahoo mailbox from my PC. But it is impossible for me to delete mails in my mailbox in the usual way by selecting the message tabs and clicking delete. Rather I have to open the particular mail and click delete from inside to delete the mail. Besides, I see strange links in red tagged  [Ad] and [] in my yahoo mail pages and the yahoo mail page http://mail.yahoo.fr/ as well as of the sort [www.dell.com] on other website pages I visit. I had earlier submitted the problem to Yahoo thinking it came from them. It was when I successfully opened my yahoo mailbox (without seeing these  [Ad], [] and other similar links) and deleted my messages in the normal way at a cybercafé that I realized the problem should actually reside in my computer not yahoo mail. My operating system is Windows XP Pro 2002 and I use internet explorer 6.   I will be grateful to get your advice on this problem. Thanks in advance.

ChrisRLG · Answer

It would be best to follow the Hijackthis instructions from :-

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_hijack&message.id=4987

then post a HJT log in :-

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board?board.id=si_hijack

the experts in that room will then give you detailed advice.

ukatwone · Answer

I have done all that with the registry and even did manual deletion of possible spywares in system 32 and entries in the registry. I also scanned the PC with all sorts of anti-spyware whether software like noadware, pestpatrol, skybot and online scanning sites which confirmed that all spywares have been removed. I final had the idea today to use another navigator, Netscape. Guess what, all the red  ad symbols are nowhere to be found in my yahoo mailbox and my webpages. I can delete my messages the normal way now with netscape. My guess is that this problem got in Internet Explorer configuration and setting when I was infected with these spywares. As I refused passing my Explorer configuration and settings to Netscape during installation. Unfortunately, since I use Windows XP, I can't delete and reinstall Internet Explorer as it is tied to the operating system. I even tried using the Internet Explorer 6 service pack 1 but the problem still persisted even when I repaired Internet Explorer from the add/delete menu. For now I have chosen to make Netscape my default browser.

ChrisRLG · Answer

I would post that HJT log.   If you have something left on your system, it could 'invite' other things to join. (No I am not paranoid - this does happen).

ukatwone · Answer

Guess you are right. I'm posting it immediately.

Virus & Spyware

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