[pnj]

my girlfriend got some crap virus or something on her laptop. it's a vista windows machine. I ran McAfee and it found something called adware - mirar.

I had McAfee delete it and found some stuff online that said to delete some keys from the registry but those keys don't exist..

thoughts, suggestions?

basicly, you open a browser and it opens more browsers...and more and more.

 

[kidwoo]

I use crap cleaner, ad aware, spybot and cureit.


I had some crap I got on my computer that was slowing down my editing software and the combo of the above got rid of MOST of it. The problem with some of this sh1t is that it goes out and fishes for other programs and installs them......creating a compounding problem. Try one or all of those out and see if it works.

 

[cannondalejunky]

www.trendmicro.com

click houscall

 

[hooples3]

ad aware works great for me..matched up with Zonealarm i have been (knock on wood) trouble free for quite a while.. or you can go get a Mac.
you should run ad aware at least once a week..

 

[DRB]

Yep its giving you popups based on the website you requested.

The reality is that most of the times these things hide themselves in the registry re-installing themselves after you reboot the machine. So even after you clean it, the crap just comes back.

I'd really recommend going to http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

and start with that. Its going to probably take awhile to get rid of it especially with the popups occurring.

 

[vtjim]

Try running multiple spyware cleaners in Windows Safe Mode.

I would also suggest a registry cleaner. You can get a free trial from www.Cnet.com.

Edit: If you know the name of the actual virus and cannot get rid of it with any of this advise, just Google search it and you should be able to find a walk-through to get rid of it.

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

Ad-Aware + Spybot Search & Destroy = great combo.

 

[pnj]

thanks for the suggestions. I don't know the name of the actuall program that's causing the issue. McAfee found "adware - mirar".

Getting a Mac isn't an option....

 

[Upgr8r]

Ad-Aware + Spybot Search & Destroy = great combo.

I've been using this combo to good effect for a couple of years now

 

[vtjim]

That is the name - Adware - mirar.

A quick Google search found this info. Other results may give you good advice on getting rid of it.

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2004-091714-4329-99

Edit: click the "removal" Tab on that link to learn how to get rid of it.

 

[pnj]

well, I still can't get rid of this thing.

spybot finds stuff but they come back when I reboot.. do you run that program in safe mode? what am I doing wrong?

 

[binary visions]

Always use spyware cleaners in safe mode if you already have an infection. It doesn't eliminate everything but it does prevent a lot of items from starting up.

Try running it in safe mode.

Supposedly, Mirar shows up in your add/remove programs, so remove it there first, reboot into safe mode, and try using Spybot.

 

[berkshire_rider]

well, I still can't get rid of this thing.

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