Costmin

[Paddypix]

Done all that now - fingers crossed. Thanks WM.

[Paddypix]

I give up - it's back this morning and is showing beside ABP on the extensions page.

[Workingman]

If it is not in Windows Add/Remove Programs it has probably not installed itself as anything other than an extension in Chrome. If it will not allow itself to be disabled or uninstalled from Chrome I would be tempted to uninstall Chrome and start again.

And when I say uninstall Chrome I also mean to clear out its folders as well - that is, manually. You will lose saved passwords etc. but maybe that a price worth paying.

Uninstall Chrome using Add/Remove and choose get rid of profiles if asked.

Then go to Windows Explorer/My Computer. On the toolbar choose View>>>Options>>>View tab>>> tick Show hidden files and folders and untick Hide protected system files. Go to C:\ and the Users folder>>>Your profile>>>AppData>>>Roaming. in Roaming delete the Google folder. Go to Local. In Local delete the Google folder. Also go to Program Files and Program Files (x86) and delete any Google folder.

If you have CCleaner run it, or get it here: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download and run it, but make sure all the items in Chrome are ticked.

Go to Windows Explorer/My Computer and reverse all this: On the toolbar choose View>>>Options>>>View tab>>> tick Show hidden files and folders and untick Hide protected system files.

Reboot and reinstall a fresh copy of Chrome from https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/chrome/browser/

If you have lots of bookmarks you might want to export them before removing Chrome - they should be safe, but have a good look and delete any you do not recognise before exporting them.

[Paddypix]

Thanks Frank. I don't have many bookmarks and would willingly lose them to get rid of this annoying popup. Entering passwords again can be done gradually as needed. I do have CCleaner but usually forget to run it very often. I'm off now to uninstall Chrome and start following your instructions.

[Paddypix]

All done and so far so good. I've been to Amazon twice just to see and there was no sign of Costmin, and it's not showing in Extensions either. What would I do without you WM?

Now, how did I get this blasted thing in the first place?

[Workingman]

You'd survive.

You might have got it by downloading software and not Declining its offer to install.

I have thought of a few more "just in case" things to do.

Run CCleaner again and in its Tools panel choose Startup and Delete anything that looks like Costmin from all the options. Also go back to my last post and where you were deleting Google folders look for Costmin folders and delete them as well.

[Suff]

And here was me believing google in that Chrome can't be hijacked.... Not..

Sadly system restore won't recover Chrome as it's an app which has been infected. If it's been disinfected then WM is right, clear any history or data lest it comes back again.

Chrome is an issue here. IE and Firefox are supported by the majority of key AV suites, but Chrome support is still slow to come. Probably in part due to how rapidly Google keeps changing chrome.

Personally, If I were still having issues, I'd be inclined to remove Chrome with Revo Free, then install it from clean again. That would remove all the settings and data that affect Chrome without relying on the internal workings of Chrome.

I avoid Chrome, can't stand it..

[Paddypix]

I changed to Chrome because of all the security issues surrounding IE. If this annoying bug comes back in Chrome, maybe I'll go back to IE as I don't like Firefox. So far so good though and I'll be more careful about unticking boxes when I'm downloading.

[Suff]

I have used every version of IE from 2.0 onwards. It has been and remains my main browser.

In 2003 I decided, finally, that there was no way of me personally protecting myself against the kind of sites which I visit and still get any functionality in the browser. So I searched for a solution which would protect me. After several rather painful rounds with Norton Internet Security, Symantec finally released Norton 360. The number of infections I've had in IE, since I started using Norton would not exceed the fingers on one hand. All of my own making when both Norton AND IE told me it was not a good idea and I overrode them.

IE is not the problem. ALL major browsers have holes in them you could drive a truck through. The largest is javascript. They all use it. They all have to run it. They all get infected by the exploits. Even Chrome which claims it does not. The only protection is an AV suite which has a JavaScript exploit scanner and blocker. Even more important is a heuristic blocker which does not block based on whether a virus is known or not, but blocks based on what a virus does. Incidents of false positives (applications which are genuinely doing these actions with your consent), are almost nil nowadays as the databases of legitimate software are truly huge and updates to them are very rapid.

There is a belief, held by many and even some in the computing world, that you can protect yourself with free software or by good practises. Apart from people like WM (and me but I won't do it), nobody can protect themselves this way any more. Malware numbers in the billions and increases by millions every month. Only large and very organised companies can block this stuff, real time, as it tries to enter your system. They spend so much money doing this that they need to charge for it. Consider the cost of tracking literally billions of threats, cataloguing them and updating the threat software to deal with them. Even with automation the task is staggering.

Google may make noises about "safety" and Firefox too. But just go to Google and look for Chrome 0 day flaw or firefox 0 day flaw. When IE9 came out, the security testers marked it as the most secure browser on the market. OK so it's slipped, but 10 and 11 follow the trend. MS is fixing the flaws fairly quickly and it's about as safe as you can get, when properly configured. Even safer when allied to a comprehensive AV suite and IE is still the primary tool which these suites are configured to protect. You have to wait for Chrome or Firefox support. As for Opera, and the other flavours of browsers out there? Dream on.

I often hear people telling me that they use Chrome because it's more secure. Most of the time I don't even bother to respond. They wouldn't believe me anyway and, for the way they want to work, they're probably close to the truth.