Replies to post #101474 on InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[Monterey2000]

OT..Found this about Counter Spy on the Dell Support site.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_virus&message.id=38637

Counter Spy Removal - HELP! [ Edited ]

If anyone can help this novice will be truly grateful!! After being swamped with various dialiers and porn/gambling pop ups I downloaded Counterspy for help. It has a 15 day trial period and then you can choose to subsribe or not - in theory!

I decided not to subscribe and removed the program - and my computer promptly stopped working. Not able to do much more than open Works. No internet, no other programs - nothing. Spoke to Dell and went through Adminstrator to restore system. Long story short - if I remove Counterspy (have tried to and had to restore system to a point after Counterspy was installed), it stops my computer from doing anything and after a restore it installs and will not allow me to cancel installation. Basically I can't get rid.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Re: Counter Spy Removal - HELP!

Hi Kaicus: Sometimes these supposed helper programs are enemies in disguise, and it appears that it has changed your registry and wants to make itself at home. It might be helpful to go to the HighJackThis board, follow the directions to download the program and to do a scan, then post a log to have this annoyance removed and make sure no more nasties are on your system.

[Corp_Buyer]

OT- PC security

Thanks for the spyware tips and advice to secure our PCs. Here are some more tips that might be of help to protect your network and Windows PC:

* Secure your home or office wireless network - At the router, disable Broadcast SSID and Enable Encryption e.g. WEP. You will need to specifiy these values for the router and all PCs connected to the wireless network. Some routers (e.g. Linksys) also allow you to enable a packet matching feature (essentially a h/w firewall to block all unrequested packets);

* Stop all ads from coming into your PC in the first place. I like Norton Personal Firewall with the ad blocking feature enabled. Ad blocking on this product comes disabled by default (I wonder why?), but once enabled, it very intelligently and effectively blocks all ad servers and also automatically updates itself (via Liveupdate), without interfering with the normal operation of websites. BTW, the WWW is so much more enjoyable without any ads at all and blocking ads goes a long way to preventing spyware from coming in.

* Windows XP: Add a logon password to your account. It adds a step to startup, but is well worth the effort in case your PC is physically compromised. If you have the choice, Windows XP Pro is preferrable to XP Home edition since it allows you to set folder and file level security options. With XP Home, there is an option (right click on e.g. My Documents folder, sharing tab) to select "Make this folder Private", which adds some protection in a network.

* If you have a Bluetooth enabled PC, you can disable the features (access modes) you don't use, since they often default to "on" and leave your pc open;

Here is the famous and free Shields Up tester by Gibson Research Corporation (run all the available checks of ports, etc.):

https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Symantec security check:
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp?j=1&langid=us&venid=sym&plfid=23&pkj=SBBMC....

Hope this info helps you.

Regards,
Corp_Buyer

[JimLur]

OT Here's a site on IHUB that affords help on spyware and any other PC problems.

http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=2128