Ducktoes Spyware Blog

Safestarts is obviously creating a lot havoc out there, since so many people come to this blog searching for relief from its tenacious hold over their computers. Safestarts is scareware and malware. It extorts money from its victims by displaying dire warnings and alerts about finding spyware and adware on the computer. This is a fraudulent attempt to get the victims to buy Safestarts supposed anti-spyware for relief from its own assault. Safestarts has a website but it isn’t found http://safestarts.com. Safestarts.com will give you the error message “Not found.” They do have a website at http://www.safestarts.com/test/?c=341359 however. Warning: Just go to see, don’t download anything!!!! The site “tests” your for spyware but every test result draws the same conclusion. It tells you to download several of the Safestart products. The company seems to be from Moergestel, Netherlands.

Never, ever download these programs.

To remove Safestarts programs and the annoying alerts and warnings follow the steps Ducktoes recommends for all spyware.

And make sure you switch to Firefox. That will help immensely and is easy. Click on this button.

Many of you are coming to the Ducktoes Spyware blog to find out about Safestarts. It is a rogue anti-spyware site. By rogue I mean anti-spyware that is really spyware itself. You pay Safestarts to protect your system with their Virus Ranger or Antispy Kit or MalwareWar and guess what? You get more spyware!!! In a few months you will be paying even more money to get your computer fixed.

To get rid of Safestarts products click here.

Using Firefox is one of the best ways to prevent spyware. And it is free. Since Firefox has far fewer users than Internet Explorer, most malware creators don’t bother with making spyware for it. They want to get the most bang for their buck and effort. So, since much less malware for Firefox on the internet, then Firefox is a very simple, surefire, and free way to prevent most spyware.

You still need to have anti-spyware, of course, even if you use Firefox. Read my guide on how to prevent and get rid of spyware.

Download Firefox here. I’ve made it easy for you; you don’t even have to go out on the internet find Firefox for yourself.. Just click the button and take the first step to reducing your computer headaches.

I found a great site that checks files for viruses. If you have a file on your computer that you worry might be a virus. You can upload it here to be scanned by several (32, I think) different virus scanners. I checked out a file called “Good Karma” a friend, Joyce, received as an attachment. It was NOT a virus.

Ducktoes at your service.

If you want to speed up your computer, read my tips here.

This is a sidetrack. Lots of people ask me how they can start a blog. It really is quite easy. But if you feel daunted by the set up process, I can make it easy for you. Of course I designed and maintain this blog Ducktoes Spyware Blog. I use Wordpress. And I also designed this blog on Typepad: David Trigueiro’s Idaho.

Yes, I’m a also web designer besides being a spyware zapper and computer tech. I can put Google ads on your blog too, if you’d like to earn some money from your writing. So if you want a blog, e-mail me. It doesn’t matter where you are geographically. Get your webfeet wet, today!!

Today I’m removing (from an Acer laptop) a trojan called Win32.Renos. It causes false alerts on the desktop purporting to be from Windows. If you click on the alert, the trojan then downloads a rogue anti-spyware called Win SpyControl, AntiSpy Kit, and Virus Ranger.

The alert looks like this or some other warning:

This is a photo of the alert that Win32 Renos causes to pop-up on your desktop.

The rogue anti-spyware seems to be associated with the Zlob download trojan too and a web address http://www.safestarts.com/test/?c=440785. (Warning, don’t go to that site!!)

I removed it using Spy bot and Spyware Doctor.

Here’s what Microsoft says about this spyware. Microsoft associates Win32.renos with SpySheriff group of rogue anti-spyware products.

Whichever rogue anti-spyware Win32.renos is linked to, they all do the same thing. They attempt to get you to download and pay for bogus anti-spyware that is really spyware itself. This is fraud. It also infests your computer with lots of dangerous spyware.

Ducktoes to the rescue!! Please leave a comment if you have more to add about this problem or any questions.

This is a photo of the alert that Win32 Renos causes to pop-up on your desktop.

This is Part Five of a five part series about how to speed up your computer. Here are the other four posts. Before you follow these suggestions, however, you should get rid of your malware. Here are the instructions to remove it.

Why should you clean the registry? The registry is a listing of all the settings and options in Windows. They are listed in the form of “keys”. When the registry gets cluttered with unfunctional and useless keys the computer still has to refer to and process them and this slows booting, running applications and going on-line. To fix this and speed things up, you can delete or edit the keys manually, which is tedious and risky, since changing the registry is a good way of messing up the computer completely, if you don’t know what you’re doing.

There is a free registry cleaner called EasyCleaner by Tony Arts. It works well. If you use it, please leave the creator/owner a donation. You should use EasyCleaner as part of your regular computer maintenance routine.

The best registry tool is jv16 PowerTools by Macecraft. The trial of 30 days is not limited but gives you access to the full version. In some computers, it is the tool that makes the most significant difference in speed. Use both the Registry Cleaner and the Registry Compacter components.

Ducktoes to the rescue!!

I’ve discovered a free file sharing P2P that doesn’t come bundled with adware or spyware. It is Xolox. Xolox also scans downloading files for viruses. So if Ms. Ducktoes (that’s me) still hasn’t convinced you to quit using P2Ps, at least switch to Xolox.

I hope my sons, Joe, Peter, Ben, and John, are reading this!