"Error! The program has been damaged...."

[msnerd]

Help! I downloaded SpywareBlaster from at least three different sites, installed it, and then tried to run it. I got this response each time:

"The program has been damaged, possibly by a bad sector of the hard drive or a virus. Please reinstall it."

Reinstalling it didn't change anything. (I even removed it using Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.) I still got the same error message when trying to run the newly-installed program.

On my wife's computer, I downloaded, installed, and ran Spyware Blaster. As far as I know, everything worked fine on her computer. I then used two different techniques to get the installation program from her computer to my computer: (1) on a CD-ROM and (2) as an e-mail file attachment. Each time the program seemed to install successfully on myh computer, but each time I got the same error message when trying to run SpywareBlaster.

Now, it is true that my computer is infected with a bad case of the Coolweb highjack Trojan, which I have been unable to remove permanently even with using CWShredder, Ad-Aware, and SpyBot Search & Destroy running in Windows "safe" mode.

Can Coolweb really prevent me from properly installing and running SpywareBlaster on my computer? That's scary!

Does anyone know a work-around or have other advice to offer?

Thanks in advance for any assistance you may be able to offer (even if it's breaking to me the bad news that I have to reformat my hard drive and re-install Windows XP, hardware, software, updates, and data and document files from scratch).

msnerd

P.S. I realize that trying to install SpywareBlaster now is like closing the door when the fox is already in the henhouse, but I want to protect myself as best I can from anything else trying to get in.

[LowWaterMark]

Hi msnerd,

Unfortunately, yes there are many threads here about that particular infection making the installation of SpywareBlaster impossible. It is being looked into, but as yet it is not resolved.

And yes, it is scary that the Coolweb people are doing things like that.

[msnerd]

> Unfortunately, yes there are many threads here about that particular infection
> making the installation of SpywareBlaster impossible. It is being looked into, but as
> yet it is not resolved.

Oops! I usually check threads before posting on a BBS, but I guess I was so upset that this time I didn't. Sorry for the duplication of material; I didn't realize that others had reported the same problem. (Maybe part of it was also that I just did not want to believe that Coolweb could actually cause the installation of SpywareBlaster to fail when I was working with a perfectly good version of the installation program. How in the world do they do that??)

Thank you for your response. I hope that some resolution or work-around is found, since SpywareBlaster comes highly recommended (which is probably why the Coolweb people don't want it around, even after they've gotten themselve successfully installed on someone's computer).

msnerd

[kend1606]

I think calling them "people" is a stretch.

[mick68]

Msnerd,
I'm having the same prob. i have cleaned the system twice and it actually has returned/worked. I had it loaded before cws hijack. When it finally loads all the proctection is disabled. When i enable it, it seems that something in cws comes back and I start getting the same error message again...Man these cws jerks knew what they were doing.......I can't wait until a newer version of spyblaster comes out!!!!!!!

[msnerd]

Maybe this isn't the place to ask this, but someone said, "Don't get mad, get even."

Is there any (legal, of course) way to "get even" with the people who put Coolweb on my computer? Since WinPatrol warns me ("woof") whenever my home browser page (www.google.com) has been changed, I change it back wihout looking at it, but if it's a search page or portal, couldn't one boycott the advertisers and tell them why? (Or are the advertisers disreputable as well?)

Also, has a work-around been found yet so that I can install and use SpywareBlaster and not get the "Error! This program has been damaged" message?

msnerd