Getting rid of gatorware

H Tower · March 13, 2003, 22:15

Oh crap, this is what happens when you let your brother touch your computer while you're at class. He was playing some online game somewhere and the website convinced him to download and install Gator. How should I go about removing every last trace of this adware? I've heard it's pretty resilient and even unistalling it can leave pieces behind.

SlowwHand · March 13, 2003, 22:22

Spybot will do it, I think.

Stefu · March 14, 2003, 03:50

Well, unless you do *something* quickly you'll wake up one day and see that damn Gator logo in the arse of your pants and be asked whether you'd like to remember the password for your zipper.

Have you considered burning the 'puter?

Harovan · March 14, 2003, 04:00

You misspelled Gatesware.

I don't know how with Gatorware in particular, but in general Ad-Aware does pretty good in removing adware.

Asher · March 14, 2003, 04:02

You should install Linux, spyware won't get installed because you'll never figure out how to do it.

Zopperoni · March 14, 2003, 04:04

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
You should install Linux, spyware won't get installed because you'll never figure out how to do it.

H Tower, you can find Spybot here; good luck!

Asher · March 14, 2003, 04:04

You should install MacOS, spyware won't get installed because there's no point in spying on someone who shops for flowers on eBay.

Edit: If my cat didn't spill my drink those would have been consecutive posts.

Zopperoni · March 14, 2003, 04:06

Hm, sorry about that

monolith94 · March 14, 2003, 04:07

Har har har.

Harovan · March 14, 2003, 04:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
You should install Linux, spyware won't get installed because you'll never figure out how to do it.

That's what manpages, infopages, README's, HOWTO's and RFC's are for

Or shorter, RTFM!

Skanky Burns · March 14, 2003, 04:07

Asher's on a roll!

Yeah, one of the spyware removing programs should get rid of that evil program.
And a free tip: BIOS password.

Asher · March 14, 2003, 04:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Zopperoni
Hm, sorry about that

Quote:

Originally posted by monolith94
Har har har.

Asher · March 14, 2003, 04:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
And a free tip: BIOS password.

My dad thought he was so clever when he set a BIOS password on the family computer when I was younger (before I had my own), whenever I was grounded.

He didn't even know that the BIOS password could be overridden quite easily if you have access to the motherboard. To this day he assumes I'd hacked his passwords.

He still thinks I'm some kind of hacker and swears I'm going to be hauled off one of these days.

Dis · March 14, 2003, 04:19

and if that doesn't work just reformat your harddrive. That's always my advice.

I like to clean up my hard drive every so often anyways.

Skanky Burns · March 14, 2003, 04:24

Quote:

He didn't even know that the BIOS password could be overridden quite easily if you have access to the motherboard.

This is someone who downloaded and installed gator. I think its pretty safe to conclude that he doesn't know much about computers.

Good work on getting around your grounding.

Dis · March 14, 2003, 04:28

exactly how easily can the bios password be overridden? What do I have to do to the motherboard? Remove the battery?

BustaMike · March 14, 2003, 04:48

Yep. Take out the battery and it resets everything in the BIOS.

Daz · March 14, 2003, 05:16

this thread is becoming too geek-ish.

Q Classic · March 14, 2003, 11:47

not really. you crack open the computer, you see one of those flat batteries, usually. take it out, wait five seconds, put it back in.

not that hard.

H Tower · March 14, 2003, 11:54

well, spybot seemed to work, i'll "consider" the other options. a way to override the bios password? wish i knew about that one a couple years ago.

SlowwHand · March 14, 2003, 12:31

ACTUALLy, gator is include in some programs at Download.com
Need to read, before you download a damned thing.