Thanks for putting up some information about Spyware Quake. When I got hit with this on Saturday I couldn't find a single google hit on it. Via my own research and connecting the dots (between this and SpyAxe) I managed to get it off my system. No matter how hard I tried though I couldn't initially delete stickrep.dll. In the end, I had to move it + rename it, reboot and then the offending process (or whatever it was) locking this file couldn't find it. HTH anyone else with this problem. Hope the people who made this software burn in hell - I lost two hours of my weekend when I could have been playing bf2.
David Levy | 03.27.06 - 4:50 pm | #

Thanks for the tips - they worked!
John | 03.27.06 - 8:28 pm | #

There is all ready a fix by Grinler. This is the same as SpyFalcon. There is a reg fix available for it, and smitRem by Noahdfear & grinler, should be run along with Ewido to rmeove the remaining junk.
poadb | Homepage | 03.28.06 - 2:19 am | #

poadb, Feel free to post links.
Alex Eckelberry | Homepage | 03.28.06 - 11:18 pm | #

As much as I'd like to, I dont think it's my right too. As a fellow Security Analyst, I'll just post the respective website links.

Grinler: www.bleepingcomputer.com
Noahdfear: http://noahdfear.geekstogo.com

The above forums, including the forum I volunteer at, are all great palces to get malware removal advice and guidance.

Regards

POADB
POADB | Homepage | 03.29.06 - 8:12 am | #

Thank you very much, i almost gave up and reformatted but thanks to you guys I saved my comp.
Zach | 03.29.06 - 8:59 pm | #

Again... Zach - There are PLENTY of online forums with dedicated trained and experiecned security analysts that would have assisted in ensuring your computer was completely free from malware.
poadb | Homepage | 03.30.06 - 1:33 pm | #

I have a big problem...spyware quake, for whatever reason, is still running in safe mode..did anyone else run into this problem?
Bryan | 03.31.06 - 12:49 pm | #

After following the instructions to remove the trojans, did you un-install spyware quake from the add/remove module in the control panel?
Adam Thomas | Homepage | 04.01.06 - 12:04 pm | #

just removed spywarequake using removal process at http://www.spyware-removal-guide...requake- removal
fredy | 04.02.06 - 5:52 pm | #

Thanks for the removal instructions for SpyWare Quake. What an annoying program. I did what was suggested, and so far, it seems to be working. I do have one question, though. When I searched the System32 folder, the file "mssearchnet.exe" was not there. Is it possible that this particular file was already removed by the other spyware programs I had run, and even though it was gone, SpyWare Quake continued to run?
T.J. | 04.04.06 - 2:20 pm | #

I cant find that file either. I dont know what is going on .
Nicole | 04.04.06 - 9:46 pm | #

Wow...Im hoping this works. I've been running Spy Sweeper, Ad Aware and Spy Doctor, but to no avail. I just started looking for other ways of removing it, besides manual removal since I couldnt seem to find half the files it asked me to delete, yet it was still running.

Also...did anyone else have a problem with IE homepage taking you to http://www[dot]bestsecurityguide[dot]com
Tyler | 04.08.06 - 11:22 pm | #

I'm getting the same problem as tyler with no obvious way to default the homepage back. Being afraid that the bestsecurityguide could have malicious code, if there is an easy fix for this, that'd be nice to know.
Brian | 04.12.06 - 3:52 am | #

BestSecurityGuide by itself is not stealth-installing software. Your browser has been hijacked. Reset your home page, run a free CounterSpy scan.
Alex Eckelberry | Homepage | 04.12.06 - 10:00 am | #

This helped me:
When you are in your browser Go to Tools -> Manage Add-ons

You will see an Add-on called "Nothing" - associated with a file - something like HP014B.tmp

Disable this.

Now it should be ok.
avecezar | 04.12.06 - 6:29 pm | #

Downloaded CounterSpy and it worked!! Got rid of Spyware quake to my surprise and a whole lot more shit I didn't even know I had. THANK YOU!
Jeremy | 04.15.06 - 2:13 am | #

But the manage add-ons option is not shown in my IE, I guess my IE may be infected. So I want to uninstall it and install again. But I can't remove it anyway. I have tried the Counterspy which is good but the IE problem is not solved. I believe I need to format the system. Sad.
Aries | 04.18.06 - 12:29 pm | #

We've updated our removal page
http://www.Sunbelt-Software.com/ ...akeRemoval.html


CounterSpy will be updated shortly as well.

That should help.
Alex Eckelberry (Siteowner) | Homepage | 04.18.06 - 2:56 pm | #

Hello, Aries again, I have solved the problem of IE. Even I uninstalled the IE but this wasn't work at all. Then I use "hijackthis" and run a scan, it showed the process mentioned by avecezar was "Nothing - associated with a file - something like HP014B.tmp", DELETE it!!! It is the shit of our IE problem. Thanks
Aries | 04.19.06 - 10:16 am | #

Downloaded CounterSpy and I have also manually removed everything conserning SpywareQuake, but I still can't get rid off that annoying ad that keeps popping up on my desktop. And the flashing SpywareQuake icon above the clock. All this eventhough, as I said, I have removed everything.

In addition, I can't find any of the files mentioned in the manual removal instructions on Sunbelt....HELP!
avon | 04.24.06 - 4:48 pm | #

I have the same problem as avon. I got infected with SpywareQuake 4 days ago, and still can't find any method of deleting it permenantely. I've tried manually removing them, spyware doctor, registry doctor, counterspy and xoftspy, but none of them seem to get rid of those files.

And now i've been infected with spyfalcon!!!!! AHHHH HELP!!!
selim | 04.27.06 - 6:35 am | #

We have seen this piece of cr*ap more than a dozen times in the past week in our service center. SpywareQuake is a new variant of the SpyFalcon and SpySherriff infections. I think a new variant has been released because all of a sudden customers started reporting that our free online removal tutorial stopped working. It seems that three new files have been appearing on the hard drives we have looked at. The files are all located in the System32 folder and they are msvcp71.dll, msvcr71.dll, and stdole3.tlb.

We have updated our tutorial at http:// www.schrockinnovations.co...pywarequake.php to include these files, and now it seems to be working again. If anyone knows about a completely automated (and free) tool to remove this, post about it because it would save me a boatload of time.

Sincerely,

Thor Schrock
Schrock Innovations, Inc.
http://www.schrockinnovations.com
866-496-8772
FordJenn | 05.09.06 - 4:56 pm | #

yeah nice to see that you guys are still helping us remove all this annoying spyware ... for free!

just requires some determination and a bit of work
Jackson | 07.14.06 - 6:18 am | #

Thank you so much for this software. It would have taken forever to do it manually, especially since I have no idea what I'm doing. I agree these people should burn in hell for wasting our time and trying to scare people. Again, thank you so much.
jasmine | 07.15.06 - 10:50 pm | #

60 year old removes Spyware Quake. Thanks to all the comments on the blog. I was as desperate as most of you and got Symantec to take over my computer and clean it up. $69.95 later I switched on my machine to find the damn virus still there. Your advice to run "Counterspy" worked. Gone is the annoying red flashing virus warning and it's accociated pop up message telling me to buy Antimalware! Thanks Sunbeltblog.
Gerrit | 07.29.06 - 5:42 am | #

i was have this s**t on my computer, my all anty spyware soft faild, i instal "Spy Sweeper" free trial and after upgrage i run Sweep, he kill this spyware quake verry easy, now i dont have any problem with spyware.
happy | 08.23.06 - 5:33 am | #