Spyware and Firefox

[Chain777]

I've been using firefox for a couple weeks now and have been happy with it for the most part. Recently, I've noticed a lot of websites trying to load when going from page to page. This is slowing down the browser, and from the little I've been able to see, they're spyware. One I caught was pointroll.com, which is definaltly an ad site.

I use ad-aware and spybot on a regular basis. Since using firefox, niether of these apps seems to be working correctly. Spybot quit updating, and I had to re-install it to get the update function back. Both apps, after running them a few times, come back with zero results. Now that at first seemed like a good thing; Firefox is so good it's preventing spyware from installing, at least that's what I was hoping for. Now, I'm concerned that something has prevented these apps from doing their jobs.

Has anyone else noticed similar problems lately? I'm almost positive I have spyware on this PC because of all the ad sites that keep loading/trying to load. It's really getting aggrivating, and nothing I do with spybot or ad-aware seems to help. Are there any other apps out there I can try to help fix this? I'm thinking maybe there are some new tricks the spyware people have come up to foil Firefox, since it's popularity has been growing so much lately.

 

[drag]

Could be something old, or a virus. I'd rule that out before worrying about firefox just yet.

Make sure that you have good anti-virus, and everything is up to date...

 

[Chain777]

Originally posted by: drag
Could be something old, or a virus. I'd rule that out before worrying about firefox just yet.

Make sure that you have good anti-virus, and everything is up to date...

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm not jumping on Firefox, but since it's new to me I don't really know what to expect from it. I was used to running spyware checks once a week or so on IE, and always found at least a dozen or so spyware apps on the scans. With Firefox I ran my first scan after a couple days and was surprised there were only a couple that ad-aware found, and none spybot found. Then I noticed the update wouldn't work on spybot, and in the last week or so niether app has found any spyware.

I use NAV and have it automatically update on an always-on broadband connection. It's seems fine, and scans for viruses twice a week. I think I'll try one the free online scans just to be sure.

Is there a good alternitive (freeware if possible) for Ad-Aware of Spybot?

 

[drag]

I don't know any alternatives to Adaware or Spybot. You could try just deleting the old versions or uninstalling them and redownloading them.

I've had a couple times while working other people's computers were spybot or whatnot wouldn't work properly, this fixed them.

I am certianly open to exploits in firefox, but nobody has reported anything serious other then the shell: bug that was fixed with the 9.2 release. But it's unlikely...

Although if your spybot and adaware aren't functioning even after a uninstall/reinstall then that's definately a bad sign...

If your using XP check out your startup programs. You go to the startmenu then to run, and type in the command msconfig (I believe that's it) and check out the startup program tab. If any are unfamilar or you don't want them running in the background (unlike.. say your NAV) uncheck them and then reboot. Then check out to see what they were if you can.

Check out the task manager and running proccesses after you do that and see if there are any suspicious programs running, look them up in google if you don't know what they are.

Hope that helps.

 

[Schadenfroh]

See the spyware removal guide

on a side note, There are types of spyware that keep Spybot and Adaware from functioning. Rember to keep all the apps up to date, the default download mirror for spybot was not working for me, so chose a differant mirror to update spybot from. In the guide in my sig, i have many steps that you can take to avoid spyware, even with firefox. Also note that Adaware does not scan FireFox's cookies for tracking cookies, as it does not support firefox.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
See the spyware removal guide
on a side note, There are types of spyware that keep Spybot and Adaware from functioning.

Originally posted by: Chain777
Thanks for the quick reply. I'm not jumping on Firefox, but since it's new to me I don't really know what to expect from it. I was used to running spyware checks once a week or so on IE, and always found at least a dozen or so spyware apps on the scans. With Firefox I ran my first scan after a couple days and was surprised there were only a couple that ad-aware found, and none spybot found. Then I noticed the update wouldn't work on spybot, and in the last week or so niether app has found any spyware.

Bingo.

It sounds like some sort of spyware got in, and it disabled Spybot and/or other sorts of anti-malware tools, if it refuses to update. Highly doubtful that it got in through Firefox though.

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Rember to keep all the apps up to date, the default download mirror for spybot was not working for me, so chose a differant mirror to update spybot from.

It could be that too, that perhaps the update server was down?

I've been using Mozilla from around 0.9 until 1.5, and then Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox until 0.9.1 (+patch), and I've never, ever, gotten any spyware from using Firefox.

I have seen one instance of a site trying to install a malicious .XPI (Mozilla/Firefox auto-install package), but of course I said no, and then immediately disabled the installation of .XPI packages in the settings. (I had forgotten to do so after installation.)

I think that I've actually un-installed Ad-Aware. I used to run it every few months, and kept it updated, but it never finds anything, because nothing ever gets in. So I stopped worrying about it and uninstalled it.

(I practice "safe computing", at all times. If only everyone did, then we might not have these worms and spyware infesting our computers. I'm not saying that I'm better than anyone else, but only that if you take the time and education to learn how to protect yourself properly, then you too won't have to suffer from these annoying and potentially-destructive software critters.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Chain777
I use NAV and have it automatically update on an always-on broadband connection. It's seems fine, and scans for viruses twice a week. I think I'll try one the free online scans just to be sure.

Forgot to mention, do you run a firewall? You definately should, either a hardware firewall (NAT/router box), or a decent personal software firewall.

 

[imported_idontknow]

Yes, change the mirror in Spybot from the default. That was all I needed to do to get Spybot to update correctly. I think it might have to do something with the country the mirror is and the country you are in.

 

[Chain777]

Thanks for all the help everyone. Especially Schadenfroh for the help in ID'ing and removing the spyware.

Everything seems A-OK now.