Questionable program + Idiot = Sypware

Ok, today I’m going to admit it.

I AM AN IDIOT.

2 days ago I got some software that I thought was questionable. I’m not going to say what it was other than that I wasn’t sure if I should run it because I thought it might install spyware on my computer.

I was right.

It DID install spyware.

And now I can’t get rid of it.

I’ve run ad-aware and spybot s&d about 15 times each.
I’ve been into safe mode with hijackthis and I can’t even tell you how many other tools.
I’ve been all through the c:\WINDOWS and c:\WINDOWS\system32 folders deleting all kinds of crap.
I’ve been through about 7 different programs that are designed to remove specific instances of spyware like smitfraud, ishost, and virtumundo.
I finally resorted to other programs like ewido and stopzilla.

Historically I have never done anything to stop spyware other than ad-aware because I have been smart enough to avoid it. I don’t just download and run anything. I’m usually pretty careful. (not to mention that I only use windows for programs that I can’t run on linux)

This time I was an idiot.

Now I have a roar that goes off every time I start my computer. I have to put up with it until I’m confident enough that the spyware is gone.

I can’t print anymore because in my efforts to try to remove all the spyware (which is self replicating) I deleted something that has to do with my printer.

Idiot!