Number 235 - December 2002

Getting Rid of an Internet Pest
by Bob Thomson, Tacoma Open Group for Microcomputers
This isn't rocket science but, without knowing about some of the tools or steps described, coping with an Internet pest can seem as though advanced science is what is needed. There may be far more elegant ways to handle a persistent Internet pest--all I can do is tell you what I did to cope with one.     The other day when I clicked on Google to do a web search, a copy of another program began loading, then another copy of the same screen display, then another, then another, then......... As I tried to delete each copy, about five or six more would appear on the bar along the bottom of the screen.     This was in effect the individual user's version of the SYN Flood that brought down several of the nation's major servers in the past by simply overwhelming them with traffic. Because I couldn't regain control of my screen display my machine was unusable until I rebooted--which I did.     Unfortunately, rebooting did not get rid of the problem, because when I loaded Google again there was the same program screen continually loading and hogging the monitor again. This time I took notes and got the name of the offender i.e. megaseek.net. I don't know that Megaseek itself is doing this or if some hacker has simply used that name. All I know about is the effect it had on my machine.	Armed with the name I did a search for "megaseek" and found one script or html file as indicated by the "e" icon. Right-clicking my mouse on the icon I checked on Properties to learn that megaseek.net was in the C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\ContentIE area of my hard disk. I have BCWipe loaded on my machine so Right-clicking again on the "e" icon yielded the dropdown menu with BCWipe's Delete With Wiping as one of the choices. We talked about this program a couple of months ago and offered BCWipe as a library disk. Delete With Wiping does not simply mark the file as deleted in the directory (leaving it as still recoverable) but completely and irrevocably deletes it by overwriting the file space (and related swap file space) several times. Selection of Delete With Wiping got rid of the offending html file and I recovered control of my screen while on-line. But Wait--There May Be Another Way     Although I didn't try it this time, another likely way to get rid of a pest like this, especially if it resides in the Temporary Internet Files area, is the use other Windows utilities to get rid of traces of recent Internet history. To do that from the desktop screen go to Start/Settings/Taskbar and Start Menu. On the Taskbar and Start Menu screen, select the Advanced tab. On the Advanced screen select Clear, then when cleared click OK and close the screen. Then from your Internet Explorer screen select Tools/Internet Options. From the Internet Options screen click Delete Files/Ok. Then click Clear History/Yes.     Of the two, BCWipe is the more secure procedure!
Number 235 - December 2002