Spam/Spyware issue...

[Zazoo]

Ok, over the last few months I've noticed something really odd.
A couple of weeks ago I went to the Nasa website to look at some stuff, days later when going through my spam e-mail I notice two emails that have words related to the pages I looked at -- One email came from a "V.M.Huygens". The other had the word "Cassini" in the subject line -- not your typical words for spam mail. This gets my attention and I start paying closer attention to the words in my spam. Sure enough, the "subject" lines and "from" lines of about 1/3 of the spam I'm getting now contain words directly related to recent web searches I've done or web pages I've visited. It's really pissng me off. Obviously I've got some kind of spyware program that is monitoring my web use and then firing off spam emails with wording targeted specifically to me.

Any suggestions? What could this be and how do I get rid of it?
Thanks,
~Mike

[Dr.Jeckyl]

clear you cookies/cache more often. more frequent scans. update software... blah blah blah. :wink:

seriously tho, spammers are rediculous with their tactics and unfortunatly anti( _____ ) software is always a step behind.

[MONOLITH]

And this definately would have to be from a program that's inside your own machine, yes?

Is it possible for that level of monitoring to be rooted at an outside entity?

[Aramis]

Next time you boot up the browser and navigate to a page, ctrl + alt + delete and start looking for unknown processes. You can usually google most of them. If you have a keylogger or page sniffer or something, it'll probably only run when your browser is launched. You may be able to find what kind it is.

Add to that, I hope you're using a software firewall + virus scan. Make sure they're updated- mine has a list of the processes trying to access the internet, and I can block ones I don't want calling home (such as Office programs and the like).

You may also want to experiment with anonymizer (sp) programs like Free Surfer or even try a change in browsers. If it doesn't follow you, something may be piggybacking on the browser.

Finally, there's good old format and reinstall/ghost if you have the capability. That'll get anything on the HD.

[Javaman]

spyware removal apps
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ad-aware -

Bazooka Scanner -

spybot -

xcleaner-

 DoxDesk Parasite Check-
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antivirus
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avast-

trojans scans
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