[Rhodes22-list] re: Zesty Find

[Michael Meltzer]

Bill your computer is being hit to easy, something is amiss. I would go into IE and check tools=>options=>securty and click "default level", something is set to low on your system. Make sure to run windows update first. BTW a hardware firewall is a good investment(100-150$), look for a "cable router" with a stateful packet filter.  it will also allow to share the cable modem with the other computer in the house. after that rerun the virus software. It might be a case where you need to reload the system.

MJM



 






Michael, thanks again,

Oh, the joys of being an early adopter!

Zestyfind is gone, but I have 10 new things replacing it.

I now have three different spy detecting programs installed:

Spybot Search and Destroy
Ad-Ware
Spy Hunter

If I run all three, one after the other, each will find objects missed by the other two.  If I then run the first one again, it will find new stuff it didn't see the first time.  Now some of this is nothing more than one of the programs seeing something another program has quarantined.  But not all.  The people who developed this stuff created a lot of variations, and they just don't stop.  A good offense will always overwhelm a good defense, and that's what happening here.  The defenders simply can't keep up.

What's more, the people behind this are downloading and installing their own spy detecting programs.  Lord only knows what these things are doing.

Meanwhile, and this is the thing I noticed first, Google is operating in a peculiar way.  Originally, every time I went to Google for a search I would get a series of pop up ads related to the search.  That was somehow connected to Zestyfind.

Now, the first page I get looks a lot like Google, but I don't think it's Google.  Instead of the normal search results, the first 10 entries are all advertising results placed in the white area where the search results normally appear.  If I press page two, or next, I get what looks like the normal first page of Google.  Thereafter, everything looks the same as it has since Google started placing sponsored links on the page.

I've installed the Google ad-blocker, but it doesn't help.  Has Google changed the first page it sends?  If not, I would guess they'd be interested to know about this latest development.

I'm seriously considering detaching my computer from my cable modem when I'm not online.

Your thoughts?

Bill