EPMD
New Member
If you have found yourself stuck with some useless software you didn't ask for which has been slammed down on you by somebody like XUPITER or GATOR or some other scumbag advertising company you don't have to be stuck with that crap any more. You're probaby wondering why pop-up windows have become ridiculous for you lately, like playing Space Invaders or something. Programs like these, which are really just viruses, are why. Scumbag advertisers buy space on servers (Gator, for example, is operating on MEACfans right now) and they load this crap on your computer in the background. The next thing you know you're being blitzed by pop-up windows and worst of all, info about you is being transmitted to other scumbag advertisers so they can blitz you too.
The worse one I've been hit with is Xupiter. Its a useless tool bar that gets added to your browser without your permission. Once its there there is no user-friendly way to uninstall it. It installs itself into IE, Netscape and AOL as well as your harddrive and system registry and takes your browser over. When you want to do a search through your browser it will stick itself between you and your usual search engine and take over the search itself. The catch is it will only find sites of Xupiter's advertising clients, who are mostly porn, gambling and Viagra providers. Its a useless piece of scumbag garbage (at least GATOR will let you uninstall their crap). But you can fight these @$$holes this way...
1) Download ad-blocking software, follow configuration instructions. I've tried some and here's are links to good ones:
<blockquote>Active ad-blocking for pop-ups and cookies:
http://www.adsubtract.com/offer/overtur e/A020A718P.html
System scan engine:
http://www.lavasoft.com</blockquote>
With Lavasoft, make sure you also download the most recent "reg" file. This is the ad-blocking equivalent to the "dat" or "signature" files for virus scanners.
2) Get those jack@$$es out of your system registry. Because they're in your registry manipulating your system you can't see them in the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS window in CONTROL PANEL and some, like Xupiter, hide themselves from the Ad-Blockers. So to clear your registry of Xupiter specifically (and possibly other crap like it) follow these steps:
<blockquote>a) Click START > RUN.
b) Type REGEDIT and hit OK. You will see the REGISTRY EDITOR window. NOTE: Be very careful in the Registry Editor and only do what the instructions say below. If you delete or alter the wrong thing you may hose yourself royally.
c) Click the EDIT menu and select FIND.
d) Type "XUPITER" (or whatever crap you're trying to remove) in the FIND WHAT field and click the FIND NEXT button.
e) The editor will find the first instance of XUPITER (or whatever) it comes across and highlight it for you. Just hit DELETE to remove it but make sure you're removing only that item.
f) Hit the F3 key to continue and the editor will find the next instance, which you will delete. Continue this process until the editor prompts you to say its finished and exit. </blockquote>
3) Reboot your machine.
4) Run the LAVASOFT AD-AWARE application you downloaded in step one. With the registry settings blown away XUPITER will be found and LAVASOFT can remove the remnants of it from your system. It will also find other !sht like GATOR, NETWORK ESSENTIALS, DOUBLECLICK and a shocking amount of others.
Be sure to set Lavasoft to scan on Windows startup because I've found that these fothermuckers still manage to download !sht on me. They get your when you visit sites they've bought space on. But the pop-up blocker works like a charm, the scan engine finds them quickly an removes most of them. The only catch is that I'd recommend scanning your registry from time to time for things like XUPITER, NETWORK ESSENTIALS, GATOR, DOUBLECLICK, BRILLIANT and so forth just in case. The Lavasoft site gives a decent list of a lot of the biggest offenders.
Of course, if you're working behind a firewall on a LAN then your administrator may have taken care of this problem already. But then again, MAYBE NOT. You may have a personal firewall like Norton but then again, SO DID I. The method above is how I was able to rid myself of this crap. Try it now, I think many of you will be shocked at what you find on your system. It really works. It even stops THE SWACPAGE from popping me up! And that makes me
-ep
The worse one I've been hit with is Xupiter. Its a useless tool bar that gets added to your browser without your permission. Once its there there is no user-friendly way to uninstall it. It installs itself into IE, Netscape and AOL as well as your harddrive and system registry and takes your browser over. When you want to do a search through your browser it will stick itself between you and your usual search engine and take over the search itself. The catch is it will only find sites of Xupiter's advertising clients, who are mostly porn, gambling and Viagra providers. Its a useless piece of scumbag garbage (at least GATOR will let you uninstall their crap). But you can fight these @$$holes this way...
1) Download ad-blocking software, follow configuration instructions. I've tried some and here's are links to good ones:
<blockquote>Active ad-blocking for pop-ups and cookies:
http://www.adsubtract.com/offer/overtur e/A020A718P.html
System scan engine:
http://www.lavasoft.com</blockquote>
With Lavasoft, make sure you also download the most recent "reg" file. This is the ad-blocking equivalent to the "dat" or "signature" files for virus scanners.
2) Get those jack@$$es out of your system registry. Because they're in your registry manipulating your system you can't see them in the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS window in CONTROL PANEL and some, like Xupiter, hide themselves from the Ad-Blockers. So to clear your registry of Xupiter specifically (and possibly other crap like it) follow these steps:
<blockquote>a) Click START > RUN.
b) Type REGEDIT and hit OK. You will see the REGISTRY EDITOR window. NOTE: Be very careful in the Registry Editor and only do what the instructions say below. If you delete or alter the wrong thing you may hose yourself royally.
c) Click the EDIT menu and select FIND.
d) Type "XUPITER" (or whatever crap you're trying to remove) in the FIND WHAT field and click the FIND NEXT button.
e) The editor will find the first instance of XUPITER (or whatever) it comes across and highlight it for you. Just hit DELETE to remove it but make sure you're removing only that item.
f) Hit the F3 key to continue and the editor will find the next instance, which you will delete. Continue this process until the editor prompts you to say its finished and exit. </blockquote>
3) Reboot your machine.
4) Run the LAVASOFT AD-AWARE application you downloaded in step one. With the registry settings blown away XUPITER will be found and LAVASOFT can remove the remnants of it from your system. It will also find other !sht like GATOR, NETWORK ESSENTIALS, DOUBLECLICK and a shocking amount of others.
Be sure to set Lavasoft to scan on Windows startup because I've found that these fothermuckers still manage to download !sht on me. They get your when you visit sites they've bought space on. But the pop-up blocker works like a charm, the scan engine finds them quickly an removes most of them. The only catch is that I'd recommend scanning your registry from time to time for things like XUPITER, NETWORK ESSENTIALS, GATOR, DOUBLECLICK, BRILLIANT and so forth just in case. The Lavasoft site gives a decent list of a lot of the biggest offenders.
Of course, if you're working behind a firewall on a LAN then your administrator may have taken care of this problem already. But then again, MAYBE NOT. You may have a personal firewall like Norton but then again, SO DID I. The method above is how I was able to rid myself of this crap. Try it now, I think many of you will be shocked at what you find on your system. It really works. It even stops THE SWACPAGE from popping me up! And that makes me
-ep