Get HijackThis (google for it, or download.com)
You can turn off all & any of the embedded IE parasites, not to mention
just about anything else.
I also use it to turn off all those annoying systray icons that that
_every_ program installs these days.
Then use spybot to immunize and track every change so you can keep them
from coming back.

What other software copies itself to people's computer without their
permission, causes damage and serious loss of time, yet is considered
illegal while this is not?
- Ben

On Jun 6, 2004, at 2:38 PM, Dave Dilatush wrote:

> Late Friday afternoon I noticed a sudden, dramatic increase in
> the number of pop-up ads when browsing with IE6, along with a
> parasitic "search bar" gadget that attached itself to my WinXP
> taskbar like a remora and wouldn't let go.
>
> After a long weekend spent casting out demons with McAfee,
> Ad-Aware, and Spybot Search & Destroy, I've got the problem
> pretty well under control-- except for one especially pesky
> critter that just won't quit, and on which I've not been able to
> find any information.
>
> The symptoms are these: after loading a web page with a
> substantial amount of text, I'll find that a great number of the
> words on the page have been converted into hyperlinks.  These
> links have the same appearance as legitimate links on the page,
> but they point to some redirect at www.adsrve.com (DO NOT GO TO
> THAT PAGE!).  From there, who knows where they go; I refuse to
> click on them.
>
> What is strange is that these links seem to be created by some
> process running on my own machine.  When the web page is first
> rendered, the text appears normal; but over the next second or
> two, I can see various words (or parts of words) being changed to
> hyperlinks.
>
> Anyone here have a clue what mal-ware might be doing this?  And
> where I could go for help on banishing this beast?
>
> All help appreciated...
>
> Dave D.
>
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