"Cashbackbuddy" REPEATEDLY gets on the Laptop de Muerte...and it's really beginning to frustrate me...I DON'T DOWNLOAD IT OR GO TO "BAD" SITES...and yet, after I run adaware and spybot over and over again and then occaisionally go into Program files and REPEATEDLY UNINSTALL IT, it persists...I look down, and there's the stupid dog icon in my tray right now...three centimeters left of the clock...and I've already CLOSED it four times today...

So, apparently, nothing I know of to do is working...and it won't let me erase the folders in Program Files directory! What the heck??? I can't erase a file on a computer that I'm the administrator for? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever!

So, anyone have a solution for this? Should I just try to change all the file extensions so that it can't open? Will it come back?

Have you tried anti virus scan?

What OS are you running??? There might be a solution if its XP, just click start, "run", then type msconfig, then click the "startup" tab and that will list everything that is running on start up, but I doubt that will work if it keeps re-starting itself.
The reason you cant delete the folder is because the program is probably running, or one of the files in there is anyway. So find a way to stop it running and then delete them.
If your running XP, its a simple matter of checking all your running "processes" and ending what looks suspicious.

I'm running XP...but the thing is...I don't know where this nasty little booger is hiding...I can find "cashback.exe" incredibly easily, and kill it every couple of minutes...but then it comes back! I'm not sure which process on my process list refers to the one that brings it back... :(

I seem to recall it bieng in the "system32" folder in your windows directory, look for something similar to "Cashback" and a few dll's as well.

Have you tried running HiJack This? That may find many more places where it's hiding...

This "reinstall" behavior is quite common among spyware and malware. Consider it the new hydra... with each head cut off, another one grows back.

You may need to boot up in Safe Mode in order to completely disable it, too. Just a thought...

<font color=skyblue>Time to dig into the registry and search for your keyword, then delete what you find...
if none of the above has yet helped 100%.

By the way, here is a google search. It says your problem has some aliases.

Alias: CashBack Buddy, CashBackBuddy, CashBack by BargainBuddy
</font>
See here for removal tips.
http://www.giantcompany.com/antispyw...-CashBack.aspx

[ 10-27-2004, 11:18 AM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

Ah bargain buddy...how I hate thee.

You could also try Webroot Spy Sweeper. It got rid of my most annoying spyware, but it's really only temporary since you can't update the spyware database without giving them money.

http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/...0-17-150.shtml
try this, it really helped me get rid of stuff I did not even kno wI had on my computer ;)

<span style="color: lightblue">And once you get rid of it, you might want to take steps to not get it again. Prevention is always better than cure. [img]smile.gif[/img]