Can spyware restrict internet access


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alright im in a pickle. apparently i received some trojan spyware from a website i was visiting. now i have a message saying windows detects an infection, and then continues to tell me to go to a website to receive some antispyware tools to remove. only problem is now my internet connection isnt working either (im on a different computer than the one that isnt working...for all u who think havent figured it out yet) and therefore i cant get to the website to download the antispyware tools. ive run adware-se and norton scans with no luck. any help at all would be appreciated. thanks

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DON'T click that link that tells you to download anti-spyware software. I had this same problem just a few weeks ago - that link will cause you to download more spyware. The way I got rid of this problem was by using a program called CounterSpy - it's a free download at Download.com - boot into safe mode, run a full system scan with CounterSpy, and that should clear it up for you.

I appreciate the referral to counterspy, ill check into that.. and yes slimy, i am a 'newbie'. :cool: Anyway the thing is, I still dont have internet access (cant check emails, use msn, visit websites, etc.) and am wondering if this is due to the fact that I have this spyware, or I am just not doing something right...and only realize 24 hours from now. Any thoughts on spyware restricting access to internet however??? As well, this pop-up thats telling me to download the antispyware removal tools isnt just some ad.. its an an actual Windows program thats warning me (I believe its called WinShield.. but in case thats not its name, then ill just say that its the default Windows firewall protection program). I shall try a few scans in safe-mode tomoor morning and see where that gets me. Other than that, if anyone out there knows the truth...please dont hesitate to dig me out of this hole. thanks again

Ive figured out I have winstall.exe which i believe belongs to SpySheriff, except the funny thing is I dont have all the other symptoms associated with SpySheriff that ive read other ppl do (wallpaper warning of infection, etc.). In theory, if I could manually delete every file associated with winstall.exe & SpySheriff...would this fix the problem??? Or would I need to scan with something anyway. I am only saying this since I still cannot connect to the internet... would I even need something like HijackThis??? Anyway, I still dont know if this winstall.exe is whats preventing me from using the internet..any thoughts???

Has anyone ever heard of winstall.exe or SpySheriff changing internet connection settings??? Im thinking that the problem is with my DNS, since Ive run some network diagnostics and the only bit which doesnt pass is my DNS settings. Im thinking that somehow this spyware, once on my computer, managed to change my settings w/o me knowing...and know I dont know where to begin. Has anyone ever heard of this b4??? This is really starting to **** me off lol, and if any1 out there knows even the smallest bit of info on how to restore DNS cache settings for internet connection (if this is even the problem) then POST IT HERE.

OK no worries, i have sorted out my problem :D I managed to get rid of the spyware through ad-aware se, TweakNow RegCleaner, and spybot... yet am still gonna scan another of each to make sure. As for the internet connection ("I still dont have internet access...and am wondering if this is due to the fact that I...am just not doing something right and will only realize 24 hours from now."), it was a problem with my Norton and wireless router which just happened to coincide with my spyware infestation. Rogers 24/7 tech support = A++ in my books. anyway if this helps anyone else out there then great, but if not oh well...at least i helped myself. Lastly and on a completely seperate note, why would these malware programmers even consider that what they do is in some way productive. These f*ckers mess up countless PCs with useless sh*t, and force innocent ppl to go insane looking for ways to rid themselves of this "disease". Anyway, cheers from the shredder. :shiftyninja:

Indeed it does, and thats what i first thought as well. Luckily my internet problem coincided with this however and altho i clicked on the balloon, I could not connect to the website which would download SpySheriff for me. I only truly figured out that this warning was not Windows when I stopped running the winstall process using ctr+alt+del (this is before i managed to rid myself of winstall completely, since it was not showing up on my scans and i obviously couldnt just delete that one .exe file and expect my problem to be gone - so i used ctr+alt+del as a temp fix). Anyway, this balloon disappeared as soon as I did so... but I ask you this: "would the balloon have disappeared if it really were Windows and winstall.exe was still on my computer, instead of just not running?". You can decide for yourselves I dont care, but from what ive seen over the past few days.. proceed w/caution.

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