Back again (this time I'm REALLY mad)

[DJ_Zephyr]

Those pop ups I mentioned in my last post aren't gone.  They were just getting ready for a second strike.

I think the cause is a little adware/spyware program called EliteBar, along with one of it's components, PokaPoka63. Their combined job is to embed into Internet Explorer and plague unsuspecting victims with a mentally devastating barrage of POP-UPS!  You don't even need to start up IE5.  I use Firefox, and the pop-ups still show up in Internet Explorer windows.  Sometimes I don't even start a browser at all, and the little suckers will appear while Im playing Flight Sim, Jedi Academy, or Guild Wars!  This can be annoying, since the games will minimize every time a pop-up rears its ugly head.

So far, it has proved a royal pain in the ass to remove, seeing as it's STILL not gone, even after two days of firing everything I could think of at it-

ZoneAlarm Firewall...
Spybot Search & Destroy...
Ad-Aware...
RegFreeze...
A few attempts to use MSCONFIG to keep the program from starting up with Windows...
and a thorough scouring of Google and various other resources in a quest to kill this demon.

I'm working with my Dad to get it removed, but he's all the way on the other side of the state, so he can only email me his help.

I'm desperate, people.  ANY help that could be granted would be welcome.  Past experience with Elitebar and other spyware, professional tricks, ANYTHING... as long as it doesn't ask for my credit card number.  I'm hard-pressed as it is for money, I will only spend money on this problem if it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

Again, the culprits are EliteBar and its component, PokaPoka63.

Thank you in advance for ANY good tips!
DJ_Zephyr

[WebbPA]

Did you try Google?  My search turned up hundreds of ways to remove it.

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=elitebar

[the_autopilot]

Did you try Google?  My search turned up hundreds of ways to remove it.

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=elitebar

Yes he did.

and a thorough scouring of Google and various other resources in a quest to kill this demon.

For this kind of a problem, a reformat is the best thing to do. Just backup any data you need to a CD/DVD and wipe the hardrive clean. Repartition, and reinstall XP. Nothing will survive this 'anti-viral/anti-spyware technique'. This method, while not complicated, does take considerable time to perform, but it seems as if you have exhasted all other options.

[DJ_Zephyr]

Nevermind!  This time, I think I got it for GOOD!

It was Elitebar, as suspected, and the little sucker has a way of loading into RAM and deleting any visible files.  However, if you start in Safe Mode, it can't load to RAM and is trapped on the hard drive!  You can then take the DELETE KEY OF DEWM and annihilate it from the face of your comp.  I deleted 5 files that I believed to be associated with EliteBar, and no problems have arisen since the purge.

I'm still weary, and if I can help it, I'm never running IE5 again.  So far, tho, so good.  No pop ups yet!

Thx again for the help!  I'll post again if it ressurects itself!

[the_autopilot]

Upgrade IE5 to IE6. Whether you like it or not, IE is apart of windows and so must be updated every so often to patch security holes. I seriously recommend you to upgrade to IE6.5.

[ctjoyce]

USE FIREFOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IE is a Virus funnel. I did a very simple test to proove it. Useing only the standird windows firewall, and the basic popup blocker in IE6 I browsed many porn sights (their known for their spyware / adware). After about 5 minutes of browsing I ran Webroot Spysweeper, and came up with 5 Ad / Spyware programs, and over 300 spy cookies. Preforming the same test useing FireFox gave me only 1 Ad program, and 168 spy cookies. When preformed again useing MaCafee firewall plus, Virus scan plus, Webroot SpySweeper, and the popup blockers in firefox I only showed up with 15 cookies, and no spyware; compaired to IE6's 55 Cookies and 3 ad-wares.

Its basic science guys, Use Mozilla

Cheers
Cameron

[Katahu]

Besides testing out Firefox, what were you doing in those porn sites. Just asking.

I have Firefox as well. No pop ups, no ads.

What I have:

Norton Internet Security
Norton Anti-Virus
Zone Alarm
Spybot
Firefox
Outlook - it's currently the most effective spam blocker I have seen -

[eno]

I'm actually suspecting the windows messenger service in this case ...... it probably needs disabling.