Malwarebytes Review (Anti-Adware,spyware etc.)

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Its a very small sized program for a security program. The installation was fast and easy although i got some errors about missing dlls but it seemed to install OK.

Did a quick scan and it seemed to do the job, found a couple of Trojans sitting there, it was very quick for a scanning process, faster than any other reputable software out there and it picked up everything in the quick scan, i did a detailed scan and it returned nothing so it seems the quick scan is very effective, usually i never run the quick scans in my other software because it would usually leave something behind for the deep scans to pick up.

Did a scan in safe mode Windows Vista, seemed to find two reg entries and deleted them but then they came back, ran the program in normal Windows and it found some other entries that belonged to the same nasty. So i ran a scan twice and now the third time in normal Widnows and it seemed to have stopped it from coming back.


Overall:

Simple (< 4 minutes scan on my rig),
Faster (Than anyhting I've seen including SpyBot SD,
Small file (Good for downloading when your already in trouble),
Fair update file sizes (Not the smallest but hey other program install files are worth 15 updates),
Low memory and RAM usage


EFFECTIVE (ONLY SCANNER THAT PICKED UP ON THE NASTY I WAS HAVING)PROBLEMS WITH,


Am so curious to see if the Pro version will be super duper awesom and if its feasible to replace my other scanncer,s will comapre their results later on, i guess more scanners installed the more fine the comb will be but if it can find everything the others can, it will be such a simplistic security plan for me home network.

** Sounds like something you can run weekly without wasting time, energy or wearing computer too much.

Super Browser Hijacker Attack

Recently, My Laptop's Vista partition has been hacked at by a Virus that hijacks my browsers both FireFox and Internet Explorer.

Hijacking involves something like:

* When you hit a result in Google it opens to a new advertising related website
* You can't type in and hit enter some websites
* It is hard to download as all links in the browser are redirected to some other search engine (non-genuine) or some advert web site.


This was a scary experience for me as it showed that my usual trust applications could not find let alone attack and save me from this nasty.

My usual trust apps found some problems but none found the virus that's causing this web havoc:

* Spy Bot S&D
* Avast AV
* AVG AV +SW
* Ad-Aware
* Commodo Firewall
* Vista Windows Defender


SOME WORK AROUND:

* Use Google to find a web page say for solutions to this hijacker, and then use the cached pages, for my virus i found it was scared of google

* Use Google translator and paste in the web link and then use non-English ---> English for English websites, using Google Translator seems to proxy through somewhere avoiding the redirects

* Use a different computer and download/search problem resolutions (Most effective)




SOLUTIONS (Possible)

Download an excellent software called Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Installed it and with only a quick scan it fixed my problem, so far (Hoping it will stay this way after a reboot)

BTW the virus that got me was called "Trojan.Agent" according to the software scan results.

I got my information from:
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6132_102-0.html?forumID=32&threadID=310254&messageID=2868932

Please upgrade to the Pro version cause this is seriously the best detection tool, its a keeper.
Will do a review on it after i see how the reboot goes.



Example hijack redirect destinations

http://go.google.com http://bridge1.admarketplace.net Myaussiesearch.com http://www.theglobalsearchengine.com http://www.clicktosee.com.au
http://analystspecies.info/search.php? http://impactmedicine.info
http://www.ozpricehunter.com http://77.91.229.143/click.php?
http://questionnaire-guardian.info http://blow-operation.info http://ranksupplement.info
http://classroom-lot.info http://festival-gaze.info
http://stimulussock.info http://77.91.229.143/click.php?
http://revenue-classification.info http://4yousauce.info
http://banfuture.info/search.php? http://condition-draft.info
http://abuseobstacle.info http://biassickness.info
http://bomberworry.info

Some More Info, Google : "trojan.agent redirects", no "" required


Registry keys
affected:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\tdssdata

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\tdss


The problem i found i had was i only knew the websites it was redirecting me to and had no idea about the name of virus so couldn't get rid of it. Please save some website addresses you've been redirected to and post them here for future reference to others (if you've been attacked by the same kind of virus, thansk).

Creative Soundblaster Live 5.1 Driver for Windows Vista Download

Ok, some news on the Vista sound card, I've managed after months, got Vista to produce sound but only stereo of my 5.1. I not sure what i really done but the last thing that i did before it worked was disable all on board sound devices and then uninstalled the creative drivers. Then got my CD that came with it and install the driver off that.

Then it just suddenly worked after a restart. Well actually i went into properties and clicked the Test button that tests the left and right speakers. Then it worked on from there. Sorry there isn't much details but I am still confused how i did it.

But i think if you really wanted it to work you could always use the on board plugs to connect your speakers to.


Backtrack:

I tied these websites before but their suggested application driver installs couldn't find my sound card.

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Sound_Blaster_Audigy_Driver_for_Windows_Vista/1011672251/2

http://www.aeonity.com/david/creative-soundblaster-live-51-driver-windows-vista-download

http://www.softwarepatch.com/utilities/creative-live-driver-vista.html