GATOR SCAM at Slayage.com

nerd4hire

nerd4hire

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WARNING! GATOR SCAM at Slayage.com

OK, so I go to slayage.com, and the first thing I see is a banner that says Angel Season 2 DVD. Attached to that is a sign that says And it's FREE! click here to download now.

The banner flashes and I see two boxes to register a user name and a password.

The banner flashes again to a sign that says "Imagine a product that could remember passwords for you".

This isn't the first time a misleading banner has been used to scam the uninformed into downloading spyware.

This one really rankles me though. First of all it's targeting click-happy teenagers. Secondly, the way I saw it they seemed to be saying you could get a free Angel DVD. You can't. What you'll get is spyware on your system. That kind of thing is just so wrong. If it isn't illegal, it should be. Thirdly, it's just so damned slick. It's going to catch a lot of kids.

So what's Spyware?

First of all don't confuse something like Gator with something relatively harmless, like cookie profiling. All cookie profiling is going to do is follow your browser around, and do anonymous marketing profiles on it. I just look at those kinds of cookies as admission fees to some sites.

Gator is something different. Here's a link to a site that offers some information on Gator:

http://www.cexx.org/gator.htm

This kind of spyware usually slows your system down, and has been known to cause crashes, disable internet connections, and force hard drive reformats by altering system files.

It's scummy stuff, and it's a dirty-dog thing they're doing at slayage.com by tricking kids into downloading it.
 
That sucks!

I always watch out for stuff like that and I also recently downloaded a 'search & destroy spybot' program that *supposedly* finds any spyware etc and well, destroys it - the first time I ran it it got rid of over 100 of these damn things, plus other files that could cause damage to my PC - I was really horrified that so much information can be collected by these programs. Like you say nerd4hire, alot of the time people get caught out by clicking on these gimmick banners.

Thanks for the heads up! 😉
 
i don't know how i got that stupid spyware...but i got it...falkin thing...everytime i delete it...it comes back...falks me up....its making me look at reformating once again...i'm falkin tired of reformating this dumbass computer...it'll be the third time due to slowness and junk...
 
Get Ad Aware guys - it's free to private users and stops spyware, pop-ups and all sorts of other "scumware" as my friend Biggals calls it. It's as useful as your firewall - you've all got one of those, right 😉

Download from here http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ or do a Google and find a more local site to get it from.
 
I got one of them spybots downloaded on my computer too, like Cordelia. I had to get it at some point, luckily I got it for free with a 'Pop-Up Stopper' because I use Optimum Online. I run a check for all spyware and adware on my computer at least once a week or more. At some point I must've gotten Gator onto my computer - probably for being an idiot and clicking on something similar to what's being advertised at slayage.com. Whenever I run a check with my spybot, I delete the Gator problem and all the other spywares, but for some reason it always comes back, slowing down my system, causing pop-ups galore. Even the pop-up stopper can't get rid of it all. I don't know if reformatting my computer will get rid of the problems completely - all I know is that it'll erase everything I have on my computer. I couldn't possibly have the time to save all my data anywhere else temporarily, and my brother would have to do all the reformating for me - he's away at college. It sucks; I don't want to have to run a check every day just so I can use my damn computer whenever I want.

Thanks for the warning, though. One less Gator problem on my computer...
 
Ya know... I didn't plan do come back to this thread. I expected it to get ignored or deleted.

I was just so pissed off at the brazen disgrace of a site I'd previously trusted (slayage.com) trying to scam me and my fellow Buffy fans into putting that Gator garbage on my system I had to spout off.

I see now though, I'm not the only Buffster who's ever had a problem with spyware. You're going to need a little information to help you fix your problems. By dumb luck I've gone through the spyware wars and I think I can help you.

OK...First of all, Gator is not the only spyware out there. It's not even the worst. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of examples of different scumwares. Think of them as kind of a legal computer virus, because that's what they are. (More like a trojan, actually)

A couple of you have had problems with cleaning the spyware then having it come back the next day. Yes. It can do that. Not to worry. You shouldn't have to reformat.

The first thing you should try to do is update your Spyware cleaner, and rescan. New and modified spyware modules are coming out constantly, just like computer viruses.

Spybot: Search and Destroy comes with an update feature. Just click where it says update, and it will do the rest, just like your anti-virus scanner.

Adaware I'm not sure about. I haven't used it in awhile. You used to have to go to Lavasoft's site and download what they called a "Ref" file. This was your update. You then had to add it manually.

If you don't update your Spyware scanner it won't necessarily be able to either find current spywares, or clean them thoroughly if it does.

OK so what if you do this, and the spyware still comes back. Well, you're going to have to get help.

What has happened is the spyware module has anticipated you might try to clean it. It has hidden a portion of itself to reload at your next boot. You have to find that hidden bit. Here's how you do that.

First you'll need another program called "HijackThis". Now your going to have to go to a place where they will help.

Go here:

Spyware and Hijack removal

It is a message board where spyware experts hang out and help people with their problems. Tell them yours. They will probably ask you to post your HijackThis log. Open the HijackThis program and run it. HijackThis is a program that will among other things go through your system and make a log of everything that starts with your computer when you boot up. Copy the log and post it on the spywareinfo.com messageboard thread you started.

They will go through every little item and find what is causing you the problem. They will tell you what to do from there.

After that, you should have a clean system. So what do you do now. You don't want to get it again, right?

My first suggestion is if you use Internet Explorer or Netscape, switch to another browser. These 2 browser's have multiple vulnerabilities hackers, and virus or spyware creators like to take advantage of. There are safer browsers.

I use Firebird 6. I haven't had a problem so far. Firebird 6 also has attachments that will help you with Privacy/Security problems.

This wil not make you completely safe, but it will make you safer. Now you're going to have to download yourself some common sense. Allowing popups is dangerous. Clicking on them moreso. Never accept a download from a popup unless you are 100% sure what it is, and that you want it. Clicking on banners can also give you a nasty. If you download a free program, be careful. Scan the licensing agreement for suspicious language suggesting they want to watch you, or they want you to give them more power over your system than you think they should have. Never accept added, free bonus programs to the program you thought you were downloading. Be suspicious if an add-on tells you it's a security update. Trust the source of the information where you heard about the download.

Having said that I'm now going to give you links to the free progams I previously suggested.

Hijack This, Spybot S&D, and Adaware

Firebird 6 Browser

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/

Hope this helps. Post back if you have problems. I'll try to help.
 
Nerd - you are the man
Might I suggest Opera as an alternate browser - sorry I don't have a link but it's only a Google away...
My stepson swears by Linux as the answer to all these problems - but it's a bit too techy for me 😉


Just found the Opera site here http://www.opera.com/. I found it was pretty good when I used to use it - hope it still is.
 
Originally posted by nerd4hire
OK...First of all, Gator is not the only spyware out there. It's not even the worst. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of examples of different scumwares. Think of them as kind of a legal computer virus, because that's what they are. (More like a trojan, actually)
Click to expand...

Tell me about it... things have come up after these scans that I've never heard of.

A couple of you have had problems with cleaning the spyware then having it come back the next day. Yes. It can do that. Not to worry. You shouldn't have to reformat.

The first thing you should try to do is update your Spyware cleaner, and rescan. New and modified spyware modules are coming out constantly, just like computer viruses.

Spybot: Search and Destroy comes with an update feature. Just click where it says update, and it will do the rest, just like your anti-virus scanner.
Click to expand...
Woah, I just did that with my Spybot -Search and Destroy... ran another scan and tons of more stuff came up that I could be getting off my computer. Thanks for that; I didn't even realize that option was there.
 
One last thing.

With Spybot your system can be clean of system corrupting scumware, yet a scan will still come back with entries.

Have a look at these entries. They're usually just third party, profiling cookies. There's no need to get overly freaked about them. Clean them, or don't clean them: either way it's not going to affect the performance of your physical computer system. On the other hand those particular 3rd party cookies are not in any way necessary to your computing experience. Some cookies are necessary. Those ones aren't.

Also: Some of the free programs you download come bundled with spyware. If you clean the spyware from them, there's a possibility the program itself won't work. Again, not to worry. With a little diligent searching you can find a spyware-free equivalent to that program.

Also, again: Yes, Opera is a good choice as an alternate browser. I believe the free version comes with adware. It's not really anything to worry about, although you may find the ads a little irritating.

Linux is not a browser. It's an operating system. To use it requires relearning a new operating system. Also some windows software won't work with it. It has tons of advantages though; among them, no spyware. You could also buy a Mac.
 
Thanks for all that information - much appreciated. It is the Spybot S&D that I have installed and I update it whenever I am online and I make sure I do a weekly scan for spyware. So far I have had no problems since installing this and would recommend it.🙂

I use IE as my I'm on AOL - not sure if I can use another browser or not - hopefully with my diligence and the added information provided by nerd4hire I won't have to.
 
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