"Text Enhance" malware removed...

IndianaRog · "Text Enhance" malware removed...

I was just doing some editing on my website and noticed a number of words underlined and greyed out. It was odd because they were random words. I clicked on one to see if it took me to some dead end on my website. To my surprise it opened up a dialog box advertising some outfit called TEXT ENHANCE...selling the ability to get paid whenever someone clicks on such a word.

I did not install this myself, so did a Google search to find many complaining about the same thing...apparently it is Malware that is linked to Adobe Flash Player. Only known fix I could find was to uninstall and reinstall Adobe Flash Player. I did this and noticed after uninstall, the Text Enhance crap was gone...upon re-install it was back again.

Either Flash Player is coming with an unwanted hitchhiker or there is other malware on my system triggered by the presence of Flash Player.

Has anyone else seen this...especially website owners using Webs.com and Firefox which is my standard, though it appears on IE8 when website is opened from there as well.

Any thoughts? JUST ran McAfee virus program yesterday, will try Spybot SD today to see if it can flush the bugger out.

NOTE: on re-reading this message I just posted, I notice the words "get paid". "Flash Player" and "McAfee" above are now underlined...click on them and up pops Text-Enhance. Damn that is pervasive stuff...running Spybot SD in the background now as I type this.

classixs

Please keep us posted if you figure this thing out Roger, i haven`t seen anything like it yet but would be nice to have a solution ready if it should occure

The Denying Dutchman

Malware that "reads" the words you type and then alter them into hyperlinks?

That's some nasty piece of software! I wouldn't type any passwords before solving the problem.

Sandman

Roger, if spybot doesn't do the job, try another freebie called Malwarebytes. It's fixed a few problems for me and is more powerful.

The free version can be found here.

http://shop.malwarebytes.org/lpa/...?gclid=COWK9t_0yLACFQ8htAod1RUNWQ

manfred

AVG 2012 Free Program, i have it installed for 4 years and had never a problem with malware/or spy ware!

Manfred

Pineapple11

As Sandman said, Malwarebytes is a good virus scanner, so is Superantispyware. Stuff like avast and AVG are good all round anti-virus', but there virus scanners aren't that good.

Camst648

Hello Roger.
the story in your post is disturbing. do as other say and please keep posting the results of your effort. this could sound like it may be contageous and move to other peoples website as well. I hope you will get it fixed soon.

zzubnik · Re: "NEW" malware glitch..."Text Enhance"

It was likely caused by a browser hijack from a website you visited:

IndianaRog

Problem finally solved.

Ran McAfee paid virus program...didn't fix it

Ran SpyBot SD free spyware/malware program...didn't fix it

Ran MalWare free program...didn't fix it

=================

Searched more on Google and found the answer. I had to delete all "cookies" on my PC, then specifically list two websites associated with that "text-enhance" malware as EXCEPTIONS...preventing them from re-establishing cookies on my PC in the future (at least from those websites).

After a restart, all seems well.

So it was a bad cookie at the end of the day and now it's gone...several hours worth of messing around with it, but thankfully gone now.

Oh...and I am not contagious as far as I know

classixs

Thanks alot for keeping us posted Rog, will keep this in mind if something like this should occur for me

....and now its time to checkout the not contagious Temple of Steam

Camst648

Wallace

Hi Rog

Glad to see you got it sorted. Like myself you have found out there is some things that malware/antivirus programs just won't remove.

I had the same problem last week, searched google and found the solution here about halfway down the page starting with.....

"This seemed to work so far for me with IE8:"

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-u...cedb8-9b9d-402e-aa30-bd8299266429

It took me a while as many searches came up with how to remove it from Chrome.

The worser one was also last week. Someone had put a post up about tin worm in steam engine bases/metal. I did a google search and despite all protection being in place I picked up a worm virus/malware. Things weren't good, I lost my wallpaper and all programs on my "start" (windows logo bottom left hand corner) had emptied. Dozens of windows popping up with error messages etc. Luckily we have 3 login accounts on this PC and one allowed me to use the internet without popups so I could search for a solution. Basically it was looking like a fresh install of Windows

and the problem was also linked to Adobe, acrobat.
Never had problems like it, searches showed it's a worm that gets in if adobe isn't up to date and it will bypass antivirus/malware programs.
Thankfully this other login account also gave me access to System restore, something that I find very useful. I ran that with success. A virus scan and malware run removed it.

From what I can gather it got in after I clicked on a site to view a pdf. Adobe wasn't up to date which allowed it in, and viewing the pdf triggered it. The ssytem restore put it back to a previous date where I still had it but not triggered yet. It would have triggered once I viewed a pdf.

Great to hear it's sorted mate

IndianaRog

The slime that creates these worms, viruses, bogus cookies etc. etc. should be drawn and quartered...what a waste of time and energy by millions of people.

Wallace, glad you too got things corrected.

colin

I just logged on and found laptop has got this virus
Tried link to Microsoft and got take a survey and win
an i-pod phone i use AVG 2012 free

IndianaRog

Colin, there are lots of suggestions on the internet for how to get rid of this "text-enhance" thing, but the one that worked for me was to go into the tools section of Firefox, delete cookies, designate text-enhance.com as a source NOT allowed to send cookies in the future, then lastly turned cookies back on. At first I did NOT turn cookies back on, but that was a pain as many programs won't run without that ability.

So all changes were made within my browser's tool section and now I am OK. Seems the major virus/spyware/adware programs are not catching this thing.

By the way, I didn't win the Ipod either !!!

Swift Fox

Glad you sorted Rog, i've set firefox to automatically delete all cookies on exit and added that site to the blocked list.

colin

Problem sorted,i did a full AVG scan that didn't work
so i downloaded microsoft scan that didn't work
deleted all cookies that has worked

RocDoc

Glad you got it sorted Rog.

My personal stance on cookies is to delete every single one of the buggers at the end of every day using free software such as CCleaner (set to maximum secure file deletion - at least 3 passes). The 'clear browser history' and 'clear cookies' options in most browsers don't actually clear the history nor cookies.

Sure cookies can make web sites load a little quicker and offer that 'personal' touch ... but they can contain nasty bits of code that Rog has found out to his cost.

Get rid of them all ... it's the only way to stay safe

Here in the UK and in Europe there is a new law coming into force soon that restricts the use of cookies by web sites. Essentially, you have to 'authorise' the web site to place cookies on your PC. The site have to give you the choice of whether you want the cookies or not.

Pete

"Text Enhance" malware removed...

Re: "NEW" malware glitch..."Text Enhance"