Welcome to Merijn.nu

Site search

Powered by Google


Links

  • SpywareInfoForum
  • Spybot Search & Destroy
  • Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict
  • Site created with Notepad
  • UniteTheCows - Digital Media Community
  • SilentRunners
  • BookGap
  • FlyingHamster
  • RunScanner

HijackThis

HijackThis HijackThis: A general homepage hijackers detector and remover. Initially based on the article Hijacked!, but expanded with a lot of other checks against hijacker tricks. It is continually updated to detect and remove new hijacks. It does not target specific programs/URLs, just the methods used by hijackers to force you onto their sites.
As a result, false positives are imminent, and unless you are sure what you're doing, you should always consult with knowledgable folks before deleting anything.
A rudimentary HijackThis log tutorial by me is available here.
The official HijackThis QuickStart for posting on the SpywareInfo forums is available here.

Compatible with: Windows 2000 and newer
Currently at version: 2.x

-> Download from TrendMicro
-> Download from MajorGeeks

StartupList

StartupList StartupList: A simple tool that lists all and every auto starting program on your system. You might be surprised what it finds, this is way better than Msconfig. Commonly used to troubleshoot malfunctioning systems, trojan/viral infections, new spyware/malware breed and the likes.
Compatible with: All Windows versions
Currently at version: 2.02

-> Download from CastleCops
-> Download from LurkHere
-> Download from Subratam
-> Download from BleepingComputer
-> Download from Merijn.nu

CWShredder

CWShredder CWShredder: A small utility for removing CoolWebSearch (aka CoolWwwSearch, YouFindAll, White-Pages.ws and a million other names). Established antispyware program tend to forget essential parts of the hijack, so until they update, you can use this to completely remove the hijack. This program is updated to remove the new variants once they come out.
CWShredder is owned and maintained by InterMute/Trend Micro since October 19, 2004. It is available from them for free seperately, or integrated into SpySubstract PRO.
Compatible with: Windows 98 and newer
Currently at version: see InterMute's website

-> Download from Trend Micro
-> Download from Merijn.nu

ADS Spy

ADS Spy ADS Spy: A small tool to list, view or delete Alternate Data Streams (ADS) on Windows 2000/XP with NTFS file systems. ADS are a way of storing meta-information about files, without actually storing the information in the file it belongs to, carried over from early MacOS compatibility from Windows NT4. This meta-information is not visible in Windows Explorer.
Recently browser hijackers began using this technique to store hidden information on the system, and even store trojan executable files in ADS streams of random files on the system. Use with caution, Windows and several antivirus programs also store (temporary) information in ADS.
Compatible with: Windows NT/2000/XP/2003
Currently at version: 1.11

-> Download from BleepingComputer
-> Download from Merijn.nu

IBProcMan

IBProcMan IBProcMan: A standalone version of the little process manager included in HijackThis (Misc Tools section). Shows full paths to processes, optionally shows DLLs loaded by processes. Can save the process list (and dll list) to file, as well as copy it to the clipboard. Compatible with at least Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP and newer.
Very useful for cleaning up systems infected with trojans or viruses that kill antivirus and antispyware programs.
Compatible with: All Windows versions
Currently at version: 1.04

-> Download from Merijn.nu
-> Download from BleepingComputer
-> Download from Heise.de
-> Download from MajorGeeks

BHOList

BHOList BHOList: A frontend for TonyKlein's BHO & Toolbar CLSID collection that downloads the list, and displays it in a sortable, searchable list. You can also export it to a file and load that file back instead of downloading it from CastleCops again.
Also displays local BHOs and toolbars.
Compatible with: All Windows versions
Currently at version: 1.5

-> Download from BleepingComputer
-> Download from Merijn.nu
-> Download from MajorGeeks

BugOff

BugOff BugOff: This little app disables a few exploits that are commonly used by browser hijackers (including CWS), thus protecting you from infection. This does not remove an existing infection! Applicable to everyone that uses Internet Explorer. Note that disabling certain objects cripples programs that depend on it - in which case you can temporarily enable the object.
Compatible with: All Windows versions
Currently at version: 1.10

-> Download from Merijn.nu
-> Download from BleepingComputer

Kill2Me

Kill2Me Kill2Me: A removal tool specifically for the Look2Me parasite. This tool removes versions 115, 116, 117 118, 120, 121 and 122 on Windows versions 95, 98, 98SE and ME. Windows 2000 and Windows XP are not supported - use shadowwar's L2MFix for that instead.
Compatible with: Windows 9x/ME
Currently at version: 1.11

-> Download from MajorGeeks
-> Download from Merijn.nu
-> Download from BleepingComputer

Uptimer4

Uptimer4 Uptimer4: A bar that sits at the top of your screen and can display over 20 pieces of system information that might be useful to you. System time, system date, uptime, free RAM, free pagefile, free disk space, CPU usage, IP address(es), Winamp controls, battery status, running programs, netstat, etc.
This project is currently suspended until I have more time to update it. Keep sending in bugreports though. :)
Some functions may not work properly with Windows 95 and Windows NT4 without SP6.
Compatible with: All Windows versions, though some functions will not work on Win95.
Currently at version: 1.00

-> Download from Merijn.nu
-> Download from BleepingComputer

MovieCollection

MovieCollection MovieCollection: A database program that can keep a list of movies you have (intended for DVD Rips), publishing this in a format that is directly readable by all major browsers that support CSS.
Compatible with: All Windows versions
Currently at version: 1.42

-> Download from BleepingComputer
-> Download from Merijn.nu

TransIcon

TransIcon TransIcon: This does exactly the same as TransText, but is a lot smaller and more flexible. It uses a tweak to make the background color of the text below desktop icons transparent, and does not stay in memory after doing this. The effect should last until the next desktop reset (mostly a change in screen resolution or desktop background), so a shortcut to this program in your Startup folder works most of the time.
Needs commandline parameters (add them to the 'Target' field in the shortcut) to specify the color you want the icon text itself to be in the form of hex values (e.g. FFFF00), RGB (e.g. 16711935) or words (e.g. white). Run it without parameters for a help dialog.
Note: this program is not useful on Windows XP, since that has support for this tweak natively.
Compatible with: All Windows versions, except Windows XP
Currently at version: 1.01

-> Download from BleepingComputer
-> Download from Merijn.nu

KazaaBegone

KazaaBegone KazaaBegone: A Kazaa uninstaller which scans and removes all elements of all Kazaa versions, as well as all of the bundled software that comes with it.
This new version is updated to remove Winsock hijackers correctly.
Compatible with: All Windows versions
Currently at version: 1.30

-> Download from BleepingComputer
-> Download from Merijn.nu
-> Download from MajorGeeks

BFU

BFU BFU: Brute Force Uninstaller (BFU) is a scripting program that can execute a series of preset commands like a Windows batch file, aimed at uninstalled programs that are hard to remove, uninstall improperly or simply unwanted. Scripts are plaintext and can be written with Notepad, and the command syntax is very transparent. Documentation on the commands is available here.
BFU is very complete and powerful, has a small memory footprint and has no uninstaller.
Compatible with: All Windows versions
Currently at version: 1.11

-> Download from MajorGeeks
-> Download from Merijn.nu