Because I am only surface competent with computers in general, and little more so with the Internet - although I am one hellacious searcher - THIS KIND OF SHIT drives me out of my mind. I got it on Monday:
- from the evil-does-have-a-name dept.
Xupiter Mongers Deal Spam, Scams
- "What could the most evil thing on the Internet and the Dalai Lama possibly have in common?
Both are being used to promote websites owned by two of the Internet's most notorious businessmen.
The Xupiter toolbar that is plaguing so many Internet users is the work of the father and son team of Saeid and Daniel Yomtobian. Both men are experienced in devising innovative ways to use the Internet to force their businesses down people's throats."
I have heard tale of this evil-in-action, and the torture it is to remove it from your system after it hijacks your browser. Apparently, it installs itself with little or no warning, changes your browser home page, and redirects all searches to its home page.
Internet users across the globe are reporting this as the most evil thing they have aver seen. It is virtually impossible to get rid of, and the supposed uninstall utility either doesn't work or breaks your system. Recommended is Spybot Search & Destroy to eradicate this pest.
I definitely need cool computeratis like Kurt to tell me what to do.
To get rid of the homepage problem, I had to go to my CHOSEN HOMEPAGE, My Yahoo!, click on Help at the top of My Yahoo! page, and then click on "How do I make My Yahoo! my home page?" and folow the instructions. I know there is some way to do it from the browser, but I forget how.
I'm going to check out the Spybot deal now.
UPDATE
Spybot Search and Destroy freaking rules!! It neatly excised all of the Xupiter crap and a bunch of other nasty little piece of shit spies lurking in my computer without messing with anything it shouldn't. I SING ITS PRAISES FROM THE MOUNTAINTOPS!!
Article comments
1 - James Russell
So how exactly does Xupiter get into one's system to begin with? That's the detail I'm not getting here.
2 - Eric Olsen
Sloppy clicking on my part, I'm guessing. Read the Wired articles for their speculation on th various methods by which it gets in, including feeding off of the NY Times and LA Times sites, both of which I visit often.
3 - Kurt Greiner
Eric, thanks for the e-props!
Apparently there is a flaw in some of the older versions of IE that could allow this to install WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION. Of course, many of the net-heads on Slashdot would tell you to just use Mozilla to be safe... :)
Then again, were all programmed to ignore the little security warnings (I laughed myself silly the fist time I saw "Always trust software from Microsoft Corporation" on one of these) and EULA (license agreements). Most people just blindly click through. Don't feel bad, but be more aware.
I predict that 'personal' computer security is going to become a hot issue in the coming years. Dell, Microsoft, AOL, et al. don't tell their millions of customers how to protect themselves against all of the nasties out there.
Anti-virus and hardware firewall are a good start. They need to be kept up to date. Can 'average' users do this? With more difficulty that necessary. I find that even most small businesses are vulnerable. This process has to become automatic, or most won't do it.
Vendors could go a long way in automating this process for users. Microsoft has their 'Automatic Update' feature on their newer operating systems, and that's a good start. But I need to remember to manually fetch and upload firmware to my firewall. Too hard.
I guess I shouldn't complain too much, it keeps food on the table :).
Kurt Greiner