zippyjuan

I recently got the VX2 spyware problem and have a couple of lingering effects. Norton Antivirus no longer finds anything (it would not delete what it did find so I manually searched for and deleted those files as well as searched my files for known key words for the spyware and deleted any of those I found). I have cleaned my temporary files including cookies. When I run AdAware now I find 114 "data miners" in my cookies which I ask AdAware to delete (I have to individually check each item) which I do and if I run the scan again, it shows nothing. But when I go back to the internet (Explorer with Earthlink), the 114 pop back up the next time I scan with AdAware.
I first discovered the Spyware when my firewall started telling me a program I did not recognize was trying to connect to the internet which I told it to always block- so I don't think that these cookies are sending out information, although they could. Then I ran antivirus and Adaware which told me about the VX2. It is not easy to get rid of since it attaches itself to your browser. It changed my icon tray and put up shortcuts for Lycos (which I have never used) and checking my Add/Delete programs list there were some new items there as well which I deleted. I searched for any Lycos files (found several including zip files) which I also deleted. I seem to have it all except for whatever is causing these data miners to show up. Should I ignore them or is there any way you can think of to find the source and get rid of them?

Also during this time (after I thought I had gotten rid of the VX2) I installed the latest version of Norton Systemworks and Norton Antivirus (my subscription was going to expire soon). Now whenever I click on "Start" it shows a bubble saying "New Programs Installed" which is normal and usually goes away after you click on that program, but this one does not go away. No major thing, but it is a nusance. Any ideas on dealing with these?

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zippyjuan

Thanks for the info LPMiller! I haven't had time to check through it all yet, but should be helpful!

zippyjuan

OK- I tried to find all the files and things listed, but came up empty. Antivirus finds nothing so maybe the cookies setting was established before the programs were deleted. I still get the list (although numbers change- 114, 104, 112) of data miner cookies everytime I run AdAware after opening Internet Explorer. What I am trying now is to delete them all again and then I set my cookies to always prompt me before establishing a cookie rather than doing it automatically. It will be a hassle for a while, but I hope this will help. I did notice that the "New Programs Installed" bubble which has been showing up for weeks whenever I click on Start is not there now. We'll see how it goes!