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General discussion

Windows Security risk

by madhacker Dec 17, 2005 6:45AM PST

Have you ever wonder why spyware can get into your register so easily. Well the problem is windows registry ofcourse. Ever website on the internet that places spyware into your registry has a folder with registry values just waiting for you to go to the website. Do not believe me why not go into regedit and search for CoolWebSearch or CoolWWWSearch and I can call more but these two have a lot of entries in your registry. After you find them I incourage you to read the rest of the list of files you will find there.

I think no more needed to be said about that topics except microsoft is just out for the money they make from these third party software vendors.

Discussion is locked

6 Posts
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Not that, but
by dirtnapper Dec 17, 2005 11:49PM PST

I did not find those two entries, but, sure did find a lot of other bad looking stuff..."russia, casino, porn, credit" type entries... can all of this just be deleted? Similar findings in the Internet, history key as well. Thanks.

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Protect yourself
by bglover51 Dec 18, 2005 12:08AM PST

There are tools out there that prevent registry changes or inform you when such changes are made-- Prvx and ProcessGuard do so in real time, WinPatrol checks your registry for changes every few minutes.

The point I am making is you, the user, can do things to ensure that, even if this crud works its way onto your computer it will not execute.

Most of the people who are regulars here do lots of preventive maintenance. We have download protections and registry guards. We scan regularly even tho we are extra cautious. And, at least speaking for myself, crud still gets through (I found a keylogger this week matter of fact).

I don't worry terribly that I found a keylogger because (1) I know it wasn't there long because I scan almost daily and (2) I'm pretty sure it never had a chance to execute because I received no alerts that a registry chanve had occurred on my system by one of my registry protection programs.

I've stated on this forum before, you can't stop EVERYTHING from getting through... stuff still gets through the cracks sometimes. But, you can be proactive in making sure it doesn't get a chance to do much damage.

Sure, the reason things get through is because Windows isn't as secure as it could be, but we have to live with that. So, take precautions, scan regularly and have enough protection.

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Maybe.
by Bob__B Dec 18, 2005 12:19AM PST

If I was to install some sort of anti-crudeware tool and then went into the registry I might find a rather lenghty list of nasty looking sites.

Investigating further I find that these are the sites my anti-tool takes a dim view of.

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Right
by Donna Buenaventura Dec 18, 2005 12:28AM PST

If one is using SpywareBlaster, Spybot immunize feature or IE-SPYAD and etc.. that is why the zonemap in the Windows registry has those mentioned CoolWebSearch or CoolWWWSearch.com. This is to block those bad ads and URL

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Right
by Ken Deyell Dec 18, 2005 6:05AM PST

Thx. Donna for clarifying this,as I do use Spybot ''immunization'' and when I checked had this lengthly list you referred to.

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Maybe
by dirtnapper Dec 18, 2005 7:13AM PST

Thanks... I went in deleted all the keys during the day, and sure enoughwhen I used the Spybot "immunize" this list came back. Since I keep a lenghtly host file as well as an arnsenal of progs, I was "checking my list twice to see which were naughty or nice"!

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