Block specific web sites

Discussion in 'malware problems & news' started by twl845, Jun 29, 2007.

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  1. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    I'm having a problem with a few specific web sites on my Daughters computer on IE. Her 2 daughters frequent sites like Zwinky, which is a chat room for kids. This thing generates 20 or 30 cookies in 1 session. It has its own icon in the sys tray. My GrandDaughter installed a toolbar called My Web Search, from this Zwinky,which tried to take over as the default search engine, and her AV picked up 19 files from this thing which weren't viruses, but probably malware. I uninstalled the toolbar, cleared out the cookies with Superantispyware, and cleared the quarantene in the AV. After I left, my Grandaughter went back in the chat room, and accumulated another 22 cookies in a few hours.
    Does anyone know of an app that will block specific web sites for us with a password so the kids can't access it and change the settings?
     
  2. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    How old are the kids? For those under thirteen, you could try Glubble. This is just a suggestion and I am not familiar with the program other than what I have read.
     
  3. lucas1985

    lucas1985 Retired Moderator

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    I'd put the domains associated with "Zwinky" in the Restricted Zone of IE. Also, you can add those domains to the host file.
     
  4. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the info. To answer Ronjor, these kids are 9 and 12.
    There is a new problem that I can't solve with my limited knowledge. As I mentioned in my first post, I uninstalled the My Wed Search toolbar. Today I noticed that the program "My Web Search" has it's own entry in the ADD/REMOVE folder. I attempted to uninstall that and it won't let me. It says "Cannot delete m3impipe.exe". I did a search from the start menu, and MY Web Search has a file in C Programs which has all the happy stuff to run in it. I attempted to delete it and it won't let me.
    There is an icon in the sys tray for my web search community tools which I don't know how to get rid of.
    And finally, my AV had picked up some files yesterday that weren't viruses, but probably My Web Search files, which were deleted. Ever since last night when ever the computer is booted up, an error window comes up and says "An error has occured on this page
    line: 127
    char: 2
    code:0
    url: file://c:/program %
    20 files/my web search/bar/message/common/index.htm
    Do you want to continue running scripts on this page? Yes / No
    If I click yes or no the window dissappears until the next boot up. Can anyone help me out? Please keep your appreciated response in simple terms I can understand :D as I'm not a techie. Thanks a lot in advance for any info.:)
     
  5. lucas1985

    lucas1985 Retired Moderator

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    They are probably autostarts leftovers. Using Sysinternals' Autoruns you can disable those entries.
     
  6. eniqmah

    eniqmah Registered Member

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    Usually a registry sweep would clean up leftover installations and invalid autoruns as well.
     
  7. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Thanks for autoruns. I got the little bastard! :D I can't get rid of the Zwinky sys tray icon though. It has a red x in the corner of it so I guess it's disabled. I put it on always hide, so it won't be visible unless they expand the sys tray.
     
  8. Tarq57

    Tarq57 Registered Member

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    Let Google be your friend!


    Seems the best way to get rid of it is via the uninstaller, it appears you may have only uninstalled part of it.
    Make sure the children are running under a non-admin account, and have a good password for the admin account that you run. After all, it's your computer.
    Using a hosts file from the admin account, and blocking the particular domain, should prevent it happening again.
    Thing is, though, if the kids are determined, there will always be other junk around that they'll try to install. It is also possible for a user with a little learning to crack the admin account, the info on how to do so is spread around the web. I don't know if/how you can completely prevent this; it's more behavioral than security, therefore not my place to suggest.
     
  9. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    The "official" way from the website is this...

    Un-installation/Removal of the MyWebSearch Toolbar

    The MyWebSearch Toolbar can be easily uninstalled. If you want to uninstall this product, there are several ways to do so:
    From the "Add or Remove Programs" dialog box in the Windows control panel, where it is listed as "MyWebSearch": You can click on the "Start" button; then click on the "Settings" button, then click on the "Control Panel" button, then click on the "Add or Remove Programs" button, then look for MyWebSearch, and click on the "Change/Remove" button.
    You can also click on the drop down arrow button next to your MyWebSearch icon in the toolbar that the Toolbar installs, and select "Enable/Disable Features", then select "Uninstall MyWebSearch" and confirm your wish to uninstall the Toolbar.
    Each of the product features can be separately hidden or deactivated by accessing the "Add/Remove Buttons" menu, accessible through the drop down arrow next to your MyWebSearch icon in the toolbar that the Toolbar installs in your Internet browser.
    The Zwinky icon appearing in your Windows XP system tray is an integral part of the Zwinky experience when you are logged into chat. If you wish to change the settings so that, upon starting your computer, the Zwinky icon will not automatically appear in the system tray, you can Open ZChat, click on "Edit Preferences" and uncheck the checkbox next to "Automatically load the Zwinky icon in the system tray on startup".


    Just in case some other desperate parent needs it!!

    Don't you just love how it says the sys tray icon is an intregal part of the Twinky experience.
     
  10. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Thanks Stapp, I have already uninstalled the toolbar, and was referred to a small Microsft app that enabled me to disable the rest of MyWebSearch. I can't find any more traces of it or zwinky on the computer, except the icon in the systray. So what your saying is to access the web site and I'll find the edit preferences where I can uncheck the icon? Can I do that even though I've gotten rid of the program etc.?
     
  11. dan_maran

    dan_maran Registered Member

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    If the icon is still there the program(or a piece) is still there. Get yourself Sysinternals(MS) Process Explorer find out what process still related to Zwinky is running, and try to kill it. If you cannot kill it normally(ie with PE) download DTaskmanager from here:
    http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/
    This program has the option to kill process with override and I have had good luck killing every process I have tried with it.

    HTH
     
  12. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Thanks, that's what I figured. I'll check out your apps.
     
  13. bryanjoe

    bryanjoe Registered Member

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    hi all,

    i wanna know how to block certain websites?
    be it IE, Firefox, or Opera........
     
  14. Tarq57

    Tarq57 Registered Member

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    An effective way would be to use a hosts file (Like MVPS Hosts) and manually add the URL or name of the website to it.
     
  15. bryanjoe

    bryanjoe Registered Member

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    ok ... trying it now
     
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