I seem to have an infection of some sort of spyware. My symptoms are as follows:
I received a popup ad which surprised me since I use the Windows XP popup blocker. Popups are usually blocked. I also had some sort of search toolbar on Internet Explorer. I managed to remove the toolbar but I don’t remember exactly what I did.
I started getting alerts from Zone Alarm (my firewall) stating that a program was trying to access the internet. The program is qpdsregl.exe. I have tried to delete this file with no success. I even restarted the system in safe mode with command prompt. I deleted the file from the command prompt but when I restart in normal the file reappears.
When I first launch Internet Explorer I get a window with my homepage and another window with advertising. The advertising is different every time. Most generally the url is something like
http://www3.popupsearches.com/tbsear...uery=companies.
In the window with my homepage it displays normally except some of the words such as “Security”, “Company” or “Help” may now appear as hyperlinks. If I hover over the hyperlink the path shows “Sponsored Link.” If I click on the hyperlink again I will get an advertising window.
I have run Spybot and Zone Alarm’s anti spyware programs but they don’t find any spyware. I ran Norton Antivirus and likewise, no viruses.
If anybody has any ideas as to what I have and how to remove it I would greatly appreciate a reply.
Thanks in advance for any help you are able to give.
Ron Wies