Hi Di....... You are more than welcome. It is a never-ending battle to keep up with all the exploits that are out there. And I usually run a pretty tight computer, so to speak. And I always had Spybot on here......but had taken it off to check out a possible problem. I used AdAware for a long time too, but the new one seemed to cause some problems with my Windows Millenium, so took it off and kept Spybot. But AdAware is an excellent proggie and you will like it. One other thing........a spyware-fighting friend checked out the website in question and he said.......... >>>The site is heavily loaded with embedded adserver stuff, which generates the popups. Durn near sucked all my RAM out when I uncloaked my defences.<<< I have a lot of little free programs that are very helpful with annoying things and another one I forgot to mention is Popup Stopper which I put on when surfing. There is a free version and I just looked thru the website for the link for it. It is on the right hand side at the bottom of the chart at....... http://www.panicware.com/popupstoppercompare.html It works beautifully at stopping the pop up ads. But I didn't have it on for a genealogy link. 8-(( I will write you off List if you would like to know the program I used to make sure the hijacker was off here. And it was. Sorry for the OT posts, but this was a potentially serious problem had a *newbie* clicked on the same link. They would not have realized what it was. Worse.....they could have blamed the former website person and Patsy had absolutely nothing to do with it. I think that the person in charge of that website should be hauled up on the carpet and I will be looking into that for sure. Cheers.........Heather List Admin - ENG-CUL http://www.british-genealogy.com > Heather > Thank you for sharing this information and the resources to combat the > problems that we are all experiencing. I am a teacher of IT in adult > education and will pass on your warnings, experiences and the resource sites > to students and friends. I have downloaded and run AdAware which found 6 > "infections", mainly in the Cookies folder, but one in the registry. > Previously I have taken to reloading Windows about every 6 months to > overcome this problem, so I will be interested to see how effective AdAware > is. > Thanks again for your advice. > Regards > Di > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Heather Figueroa" <heatherfig@rogers.com> > To: <CARIBBEAN-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2003 6:34 AM > Subject: WARNING!! Browser Hijacking...... > > > > Hi All...... > > > > I am sure a lot of you know that my other passion is security and > > viruses. But spyware and browser hijacking are relatively new and I > > doubt that most of you are aware of this rising phenomenom......but you > > should be. > > > > I had clicked on an old link in Genealogy.com for Patsy's site as she > > described and after 8 popups and a nasty spyware program called GATOR > > trying to download, I got the heck out of there......but the damage had > > been done. > > > > The next day my home page was changed to "Find the Website You Need" and > > among other things, I couldn't update my computer at Windows Update > > because it interfered with that as well. > > > > There are two good programs out there for spyware (and spyware can be > > 'benign' or 'malignant' to use medical terms.....this one was a bad one. > > AdAware 6 is a bit more user friendly.....I happen to use Spybot Search > > and Destroy, which is not. It scares me at times (G). > > > > It found 3 entries hidden in my Registry for this hijacker and I deleted > > them. I am now in the process of running a specialized program for > > hijacking and it is being evaluated by the experts!! So this is not > > something that is minor. This is majorly serious. And if any of you > > ever have your home page hijacked, write me immediately. > > > > DO NOT GO TO MAX PAGES!! As far as I can see, that is where I picked up > > this sneaky hijacker. That site showed up as the first line in the > > specialized Hijack analyzer....so I don't doubt this. Some *%&^ has > > taken over the page and will cause you nothing but grief!! > > > > Patsy had nothing to do with this......it was done behind her back and I > > wrote her this morning when I had enough information and the cleanup > > process almost completed. > > > > I will give you the links for AdAware and Spybot, but suggest you use > > the first one.......it is more user-friendly. I run it every day to > > take out the spyware cookies that land on here. Usually 3 or 4 per day. > > I happened to have it off temporarily for a reason and that is how I got > > hijacked. > > > > http://www.lsfileserv.com/index.html - this is the one for the new > > version 6 of AdAware......read the first page, click on the free one and > > download it. > > > > http://security.kolla.de/ - this is the Spybot Search and Destroy and > > for the 'everyday user', it is a little complicated, so stick with > > AdAware. > > > > I hope I have covered everything.......but it seems no matter what > > defence mechanisms the experts come up with, the 'black hats' invent > > newer ones. If you want to write me off-List........no problem. > > > > If there is anything further I will post it......but because this was > > Pat Jackson's old website that was involved, I felt that you all needed > > a warning and an explanation. And check your Favourites and delete any > > "Max Pages" sites you might have...... > > > > Now......think I will go have a drink!! (G) And it won't be just > > Pepsi!! > > > > Cheers.....Heather > > > > > > ==== CARIBBEAN Mailing List ==== > > For information on individual islands, research aids, island bulletin > boards or history please visit the CaribbeanGenWeb project at > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~caribgw/ > > > > > ==== CARIBBEAN Mailing List ==== > all messages posted to CARIBBEAN-L are archived at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ > Before posting a query, see if the question has already been asked >

Dear Auntie Virus, thank you very much for that warning & useful info. I had AdAware on my old computer, and had not re-installed, but have now, and this new version is much better. It at once found some nasties hidden away in the Registry file! I am also trying the pop-up stopper, but some legitimate sites such as the Ellis Island site use pop-ups, though of course they are useful, and appear only when one chooses (i.e. to enlarge the view). The anti-popup software blocks them but allows one to countermand the block by pressing the Control button; however that could become equally annoying, so I shall have to see, as I spend an awful lot of time on the Ellis Island site. Thank you again It helps to keep abreast of these hazards! Ernest

Thank you, my dear. And I want to also thank Dean for letting me advise this group of the problem.....and also Patricia for moving so quickly and efficiently on it. As to Popup Stopper, take it out of Startup and only put it on via desktop icon when you need it......if you need help with that write me off-List. I only put it on when doing some serious surfing.....grin. It will even stop some Microsoft Windows pages as well.....so it does work. I have a bad habit of playing word games on Pogo.....and those are popups too, so I leave it off when I play there. Or as you say......hold down the Ctrl key when clicking on a game. Glad to be of some help.....and one of my Brit lists is having a problem with a new genie website that has the dreaded Comet Cursor spyware on it. So sorting that one out too. Thanks to all for listening and happy surfing........Heather > Dear Auntie Virus, > thank you very much for that warning & useful info. I had AdAware on my > old computer, and had not re-installed, but have now, and this new > version is much better. It at once found some nasties hidden away in the > Registry file! > > I am also trying the pop-up stopper, but some legitimate sites such as > the Ellis Island site use pop-ups, though of course they are useful, and > appear only when one chooses (i.e. to enlarge the view). The anti-popup > software blocks them but allows one to countermand the block by pressing > the Control button; however that could become equally annoying, so I > shall have to see, as I spend an awful lot of time on the Ellis Island > site. > > Thank you again It helps to keep abreast of these hazards! > Ernest > > > ==== CARIBBEAN Mailing List ==== > all messages posted to CARIBBEAN-L are archived at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ > Before posting a query, see if the question has already been asked >