How to get rid of spywarequake.com? HELP ME PLEASE!!!

[Prevost]

Hello,

I don't know how, certain website called spywarequake.com installed into my taskbar an stupid icon and is annoying me with a notification.

Can anyone of you tell me how to remove this from my PC???

Thank you.

[Prevost]

Hello,

I don't know how, certain website called spywarequake.com installed into my taskbar an stupid icon and is annoying me with a notification.

Can anyone of you tell me how to remove this from my PC???

Thank you.

[Darius Wey]

Check to see if you can uninstall it via Add/Remove Programs.

If not (or if you can but it doesn't do anything), use an anti-spyware application such as Windows Defender or Ad-aware.

[Prevost]

Well Ad-adware seems to be unable to detect it.

After a while, the program got fully installed by itself, and I was able to remove it via Windows, but the darn icon and notifications remain.

Actually, I'm afraid this is a virus. The thing appeared first upon Norton Antivirus notified of having cleaned "Trojan.Zlob". The same message is being shown several times a day.

[Stik]

Originally Posted by Prevost

After a while, the program got fully installed by itself, and I was able to remove it via Windows, but the darn icon and notifications remain.

Actually, I'm afraid this is a virus. The thing appeared first upon Norton Antivirus notified of having cleaned "Trojan.Zlob". The same message is being shown several times a day.

This certainly sounds like a variation of SpyAxe, which goes by other alias /variaton names.

" The trojan that has downloaded and installed Spyaxe is detected as Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob. It has lately been masked as a Video Codec.

Spyaxe offers affiliates compensation for downloading and installing Spyaxe on users computers. Thereby the people behind Zlob can receive money for the unsolicited installations they distribute."

http://www.f-secure.com/sw-desc/spyaxe.shtml

Hope this helps. The people that are behind these schemes should be held criminally liable imo. :|

[Prevost]

Stik, it actually behaves like you describe. Already downloaded f-secure, so going offline to reboot and analyze. I'll update soon.

And yes, they belong in jail :evil:

[Stik]

Any success Prevost?

As I suspected, spywarequake is another variant of the spyaxe trojan. So new is the threat, Google has little information on it except for 2 links to the spywarequake homepage thats creating the havoc in the first place!

In the ads on the same Google search page there are several software companies advertising a fix for the problem, the condundrum being who can one trust???

ZDNet's Suzi Turner's learned of spywarequake, and blogged this yesterday along w/ hopefully some fixes for those w/ infected machines...

" SpywareQuake - newest rogue, replacing SpyFalcon and SpyAxe "

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Spyware/?p=802

Hard to bring criminal complaints against these scumbags since their IP addresses are out of US jurisdiction, in this case the Phillipines. So I guess the only recourse is to warn others to BEWARE of authentic looking Internet Explorer Virus Alerts that in actuality will bring one more trouble than one's bargained for if their clicked on.

I can easily see how both the uninitiated young and the elder computer users can fall prey to this underhanded chicanery being perpertrated by very unethical software ' companies'. Shameless. :roll:

[Prevost]

Originally Posted by Stik

Any success Prevost?

Well, Stik, I'm not sure...

I used Windows Defender. At first, it found ZOLOB, and couldn't eliminate it conclusively. Afterwards, I used f-secure. I'm not sure if further notices of founded viruses deployed by Norton Antivirus came before or after using f-secure, but right now not Windows Defender or Norton are finding anything wrong with the system. Also, even after "deleting" the program with Windows Control Panel, I found some .exe files of it with Norton CleanSweep, so I deleted them too.

However, the icon and notification cloud from the tray persist.

So, thanks for the link. I'll dive into it right away! I haven't give up.

[Prevost]

Originally Posted by Stik

Hard to bring criminal complaints against these scumbags since their IP addresses are out of US jurisdiction, in this case the Phillipines. So I guess the only recourse is to warn others to BEWARE of authentic looking Internet Explorer Virus Alerts that in actuality will bring one more trouble than one's bargained for if their clicked on.

I can easily see how both the uninitiated young and the elder computer users can fall prey to this underhanded chicanery being perpertrated by very unethical software ' companies'. Shameless. :roll:

Interesting what you point to, Stik...for I didn't clicked ANYTHING.

[Prevost]

Hey, I'm done! Infection cleared!

Thanks, Stik, for your help and the research you did for me. Thanks again.

[Grinler]

Just for anyone who runs into this infection again at this site, we have a removal guide up here:

How to remove SpywareQuake