Topic: OT: Spyware Quake

[Scottish Andy]

Hi all, this nasty little b*stard managed to worm its way onto my laptop even past Norton, and I cannot get rid of it.

First, I took these steps:

1) Uninstalled it from Add/Remove Programs.

2) Ran SpyBot Search&Destroy twice - before a restart and right after

3) Ran Norton Antivirus (takes ages since I've got about 180,000 files...)

4) Tracked down and completely deleted all the SpywareQuake entries Norton pointed out but couldn't delete

5) Ran manual searches and deleted a few other components from my hard drive

This worked in getting most of it off, but there is still an icon that flashes in my system tray, alternating between a Accessibility icon (Green guy in a wheelchair) and the International Symbol for 'no' (red circle with red diagonal line though it). This icon keeps popping up a 'Critical system error' and  'your computer is infected' messages, and re-downloads the SpywareQake, which opens up a clickable antivirus-style program screen. If you click it, it takes you to a very professional looking website that tries to get you to buy it the 'full' program.

I've even deleted a 'vcodec' from C:\WINDOWS\system32\ncompat that Spybot can't get rid of itself, and still the damn thing keeps flashing at me.

Since then we've done countless other Spybot runs, and it won't go away. The only good thing is it seems to be stuck in my screen profile. It doesn't show up in my wife's profile, so I was considering erasing my entire profile. Are there any less drastic methods that don't involve DLing special antispyware progs?

Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.

[E_Look]

If you do know where the files are, try HijackThis!  I think it allows you to remove almost anything, but there are no safeguards in it.  I've tried it once, but I knew it was something I wanted deleted.

[Grim]

Have you tried removing it whilst in safe mode? it sometimes helps to remove spyware when windows is booted up in safe mode.

I also found a link with a suggested fix http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How_to_Remove_SpywareQuake-t104439.html

[Scottish Andy]

Grim, thank you sooooo damn much. Following the instructions from a link on that page you posted, I've finally managed to get rid of the Quake completely.

You have my heartfelt gratitude, so again, thanks, Grim!

[john999]

I've been running a free av for years that's made by a German company.  It's obtainable at "free-av.com".  The name has changed over the years (I think its "Avira" now) but its got 2 - 3 updates a week (also free) and usually works fine for me.  They finance the free one by selling the commercial version to companies for intranet and networked machine protection.  I like it, give it a try.  You can also get support if you have a problem it can't fix.  Usually you send them a report and the next update has it fixed.