Ghost Surf's Spy Catcher finding CWS

Hello again Geeks; it has been a long time indeed.....

Post my prob first.....

I have Ghost Surf Platinum, which has an anti-spyware prog called SpyCatcher that finds spyware that the others (spybot, spyware blaster, adaware) miss.

Currently, I am online with my old VAIO with Windows ME (which is still working fine, detractors be damned!) and I don't want to hook up the new one until I know what I am looking at.......

Probs: Spyware blaster: every time I reboot, 2 items disable protection for themselves; Blazefind(2) from flingstone.com, and CWS(1360) from 05p.com

Spybot-can't load updates. I've un and reinstalled completely, to no avail.

Adaware-same as spybot. Works, but can't update definitions file (on the last 2, the error message is that "no newer components are available"

Ghost Surf-continues to find CWS entries and disable them (if you want, I can post the logs from GS).

I have recently upgraded my memory from 512 to 1GB, and have recently completed a clean install of XP Pro, including formatting (twice) and partitioning prior to OS install. However, the version of XP I have is two years old and hence, is using SP1. When I go to Microsoft Update to download updates and SP2, (of which there are 57 or so)I get hit with spyware. I have cable but it still takes a long time.......I also did not load any other progs like Office until XP was fully updated and SP2 was installed.


Since I'm not trying to save anything, should I just do another clean install, rather than trying to fix these probs? and second, if I do that, what's to keep the machine from getting reinfected prior to SP2 install?

I have burned a CD with all of the apps/progs you guys recommend for a clean install, including ZoneAlarm. Help and suggestions, as always, are most welcome.

Best of Everything,

jtone

PS. If it helps, the CWS that is found by Ghost Surf is misspelled "CWS.HomeSearchAssistent" ("Assistant" is misspelled).

 

Persistant Malware!! and clarification of last...

The machine with which I am having trouble is the PC with the Windows XP system, not the notebook with WindowsME. I am using the notebook as a browser/word processor until I am sure that my PC is clean.

Hope that makes the last post a little more clear.

Thanks Again-

jtone

 

An update

After defragging, wiping out and reinstalling all anti-spyware/malware stuff, and re-running SpyCatcher I seemed to have gotten them all out. None of my progs detect any spyware but I'm heading off now to do the online scans in your "Read me first" sticky.

BTW-yanked the drive and used a buddy's machine to scan for a boot sector virus, which was negative.

 

Thanks for the reply; been kinda busy....

I went throught the "Read this first..." sticky and did all of the recommended checks/scans. Before I did, I removed Spybot and Adaware manually.

After running the online scans,I defragged my drives, ran a chkdsk /f, and reinstalled (Adaware and Spybot). They are both working and updating fine, and SpyCatcher isn't finding the CWS anymore, so hopefully we're ok.

BTW-I do auto updating via Microsoft update and also use Zone Alarm as a firewall.

 

Again, sorry about the long delay. I'm starting a new job and was out of town for training, but as always I appreciate the reply.

I've worked through the thread you posted previously. The problem I was having was that my SPII disk was slightly messed up and as such I had to log on to Microsoft in order to download it. Since my OS came with SPI, the second I'd get online I'd start getting hit. Also, I disabled Windows messanger but forgot about messenger service...

To resolve this, I used a disk cleaner on my SP II disk and made sure that SPII was installed before connecting to the internet. This seemed to resolve the issue

I have since re-scanned everything, just to be sure. I'm pretty good about security and doing regular scans, etc. I haven't had any issues since the first post. I am also protected from malware per your recommendations, and have been for a number of years.

Aside from your recommendations, I bought Ghost Surf because of the reviews that I read about SpyCatcher, which I have found to be an excellent prog. I don't use the anonymous proxy as I don't see the need, and it's really slow anyway, but the other apps are great.