Carp matey, look at your addins, use firefox with ad blocker and never use internet explorer again!
I see I showed up a bit late for the follow up but you are in capable hands 
Glad to see you found the buggers. As I was scrolling down your post I was getting more concerned with the infestation level…
One thing you will definitely want to do is reboot and then go back and check again some time later. The more sophisticated programs will have a hidden nest site to keep spawning from if you happen to find and get rid of the “public” instance.
Another indicator of infection is when you scan the file names on your system and see one that is alphanumeric jibberish. Even the extension will be some unrecognized collection of alphanumerics. These will keep popping up as random gibberish names. This makes them harder to search on and find. Most common locations are root and system32 directories…
That’s the plan, TT. Routine maintenance.
That would seem logical, TT, except that too many necessary files sound like gibberish to me also. I’ve printed for future use all those that I found to be bogus, however, as well as those that sounded suspicious but turn out not to be.
Barky, I appreciate your suggestion, but am reluctant to download yet more software. I think for now I’ll stick to routine maintenance.
TSM … I spoke too soon! I’m now seeing videos! … lol … Well, maybe not actual vdos, but moving graphic images that are advertisements. I see them so far only on the “comments” page. [Click on your user name at the top of this page, then on “comments”, that page.] They just showed up today for me. Along the left margin. And they are big enough they are blocking the text so in some cases I can’t see what I’m trying to read.
Last time I looked, it was an H&R Block advertisement jiggling around. I’ve no problems with advertisements appearing, but wish they wouldn’t block the main text areas.
Another trick an IT guy at work suggested to me is that when you’re doing virus scans, diconnect your computer from the internet so that if one of the bugs senses danger, it can’t call home for help.
George, I still see videos, but the site doesn’t seem as unstable as it did before. Keystroke entries do, however, occasionally still get interfered with when a video is running.
This is the only site I have this problem on, and I regularly get warnings that “internet explorer has blocked a popup from cartalk.com” still, so there’s no doubt in my mind that this site has picked up something parasitic, perhaps unknowingly. I appreciate the site, and remain a loyal supporter, but I think they have a parasite or two.
TSM, I would chime in and urge you to try Whitey’s original advice and abandon Internet Explorer. That browser is the main conduit for all kinds of bad stuff to get into your computer and is the reason you’re still having problems with this site…
Download Mozilla Firefox and use it as your main browser. It’s free, easy to install, and works great.
I beg you to quit using IE. It’s Swiss cheese for every piece of adware, spyware and virus out there. Once you start using Firefox you’ll be amazed at how much less trouble you have.
The problem is not this website. It’s your @$&? adware-infected browser. And I say that with only goodwill towards you. My curse words are aimed at Microsloth and their demon child Internet Explorer.
@Mountainbike, I suggest you go back to my post above, click in the second and third links, and follow the instructions for permanently removing the two programs you thought you had uninstalled. Evidently, uninstalling them using the directions in my original post was not adequate.
…and if you’re still using Internet Explorer, it might not be the reason your computer is reinfected, but it’s not helping.
Firefox is a reliable free open source browser. You can download and install it at https://www.firefox.com
Chrome is Google’s free browser. It is faster than IE and Firefox, but it also uses more RAM memory. I suggest you use it without signing in, and if you install an ad blocker and a script blocker, it will keep Google from using your browser information to market things to you. You can download and install it at https://www.google.com/chrome
Every website worth using will be compatible with both of these browsers.
I’m using IE11, no videos…
But do I remember correctly, TSMB, you’re using Windows XP?
May be time to upgrade…
Nope. I’m using 8.1.
Microsoft is about to discontinue support for XP. It’s OLD!
@texases and everyone else, upgrading the operating system and/or the browser can make your computer more secure, but neither of these upgrades would have prevented Albrechto or Findwide from being installed.
Albrechto was installed when TSM installed “another free software (video recording/streaming, download-managers or PDF creators) that had bundled into their installation this adware program. When you install these free programs, they will also install Albrechto as well. Some of the programs that are known to bundle Albrechto include 1ClickDownload, Superfish, Yontoo and FBPhotoZoom.” *
Findwide was installed when TSM “installed another free software or add-on that had bundled into their installer this browser hijacker. For example, when you install VPlay, you will also agree to install Findwide Toolbar, and change your default browser home page to to search.findwide.com. However, when you uninstall VPlay from your computer, your web browser’s default settings will not be restored. This means that you’ll have to remove Findwide Search from your favorite web browser manually.” **
Whenever you install software, especially free software, you should use the advanced options or custom installation. Using the express installation options does not give you a chance to monitor your choices at every step and opt out of this kind of adware/spyware/virus (whatever you want to call it). It really doesn’t matter what kind of operating system you have. You could have the best virus protection in the world. You could have the best firewall software in the world, or the best browser, or the best script blocker. None of it will matter if you don’t pay attention to what you’re installing. If you download software from questionable sources, and you aren’t careful about how you do it, nothing else matters.
I don’t mean to sound harsh. Lots of people make this mistake, but if you’re going to install software from questionable websites, especially when it’s free, you really should take care how you do it. That is the issue here.
When you’re installing software, and you get the option to use the default options or do a custom installation, don’t be intimidated by the message “only for advanced users.” Use the so-called “advanced options” or custom installation even if you don’t consider yourself an advanced user. Using the advanced installation doesn’t mean you need to change the installation options; it means you just get a chance to see what those options are. Most of the time, especially when you’re installing legitimate software, there is no harm in clicking through the entire installation without changing anything (as long as you don’t spot anything suspicious). Even if you don’t think you’re going to change any of the options, go through all the steps anyway. You don’t have to be an “advanced user” to do it. Heck, I don’t consider myself an advanced user. I’m not an IT professional. I’m just an adept computer user who takes the time to learn what I think I need to know about the most important tool in my trade (the personal computer).
** http://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-findwide-search-virus/
It looks like the so-called experts are now saying what I’ve been saying all along.
“…a staggering 92 percent of all Microsoft vulnerabilities rated as ‘critical’ could be disregarded if you configure your PC so that users didn’t have administrator rights.” *
…so if you’re one of those people who accidentally infects your computer with spyware and viruses, you should set up two accounts, one where you have administrative rights to install software and make changes to your system, and another to use the rest of the time.
And @TSM might be interested in this excerpt from the report Whitey cited above:
“This report should also be a wake-up call for Windows XP users. You are highly vulnerable, and you have few ways to mitigate the risk without moving to a more modern operating system.”
Using Linux since 1999, and reading this thread is like sitting up on a hill watching a Civil War battle. Interesting, but does not affect me much.
On computer forums, it has been stated if you have XP and have it set up correctly, you can keep using it.
Also, on one board, it was written that the Microsoft anti-virus, the free one, will be updated with virus definitions, for at least another year, but they did not know what McAfee or other expensive protection programs will do.
Not everyone can simply update XP, since in many cases old computers won’t run anything newer. However, if you have a neighborhood kid who runs Linux, it might be possible to sneak in a free version of Linux which runs on your machine. But, it may run Linux equivalents of the Windows programs, but maybe not the Windows programs.
I do everything on Linux that I would be doing on Windows. I even run some Windows programs using WINE.
Having said that, if you are determined you must have the same Windows programs, then yeah, better save up for a new computer. I bought a really nice HP desktop with flat panel monitor, a couple months ago, for $498 at Wal-mart. Windows 8 free update to 8.1. In the spring I will set it up for Linux dual boot with 8.1.
But, then I started on microprocessors in 1974 which helps a lot, and Linux in 1999.