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Free Spyware: extinct?

bigred

Penultimate Amazing
bigred
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
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Oh sure, you can get free ones that will SCAN your system....but I've yet to find any that will CLEAN your system for free anymore. Even good ol Spybot has gone this route. Anyone know of any left that will clean for free?
 
You mean free Spyware detectors, presumably. Free Spyware is on just about every porn site if you're willing :D

My version of Spybot Search and Destroy cleans for free, you sure you downloaded the right one? There is an interloper that sometimes comes up if you Google Spybot but it's a different prog.
 
lol and oops - obviously I meant something that will detect AND delete/kill spyware, adware, ad nauseum.

I went to spybot.com (now called "spywarebot") and the free version only detects. If you know of an older version avail that will clean, I'm all ears, although my orig reason for asking is now gone, ie #$%@!@ F.......reaking MIRAR. I want to personally break the legs of whoever came up w/it. I ultimately had to go into regedit and manaully delete a TON of crap to do it.
 
bigred said:
lol and oops - obviously I meant something that will detect AND delete/kill spyware, adware, ad nauseum.

I went to spybot.com (now called "spywarebot") and the free version only detects. If you know of an older version avail that will clean, I'm all ears, although my orig reason for asking is now gone, ie #$%@!@ F.......reaking MIRAR. I want to personally break the legs of whoever came up w/it. I ultimately had to go into regedit and manaully delete a TON of crap to do it.
Click to expand...
http://spybot.com seems to be legit -- are you sure your browser has not been hijacked? If that URL takes you to a website for "spywarebot", then it is likely that it has been.
 
!! You're correct, it was. Man that's a pisser. Oh well have downloaded it and stashed away for safekeeping. :) Thx
 
bigred said:
It won't clean for free though.
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Depends on which one you're using.

Ad-aware SE Personal is still free to download and use, and, according to Lavasoft, the product:

Removes aggressive spyware and malicious content
Click to expand...
RayG

ETA: I've found the best way to prevent spyware/trojans/worms from getting on my system in the first place is to:


Further info on limited accounts:
http://nonadmin.editme.com/WhyNonAdmin
http://blogs.msdn.com/aaron_margosis/archive/2004/06/17/157962.aspx
 
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bigred said:
It won't clean for free though.
Click to expand...

The personal version is free, will update and scan for free, and works pretty darn well. Just go to the mirror site for download. It will update itself every time you run it.
 
RayG said:
Depends on which one you're using.

Ad-aware SE Personal is still free to download and use, and, according to Lavasoft, the product:
Click to expand...
hmmmm

Well I've downloaded Spybot. Anyone real familiar w/both feel strongly one beats out the other?
 
Everyone always says that you need more than one, and as a best practice thing, I always put on Spybot and AdAware. But I've rarely or never had any problems (on others' machines; I've never had any at all on mine) that Spybot couldn't take care of. Running AdAware afterwards has often come up with a lot of tracking cookies and the like, but it's almost never found anything serious that Spybot missed.

Cheers,
Rat.
 
bigred said:
I didn't see "clean" in there anywhere. Scanning is worthless if it won't eliminate the problem.
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With most anti-spyware programs, clean is part of the scan process.

I usually find myself recommending Microsoft's Defender. As to the recommendation of more than one program, it is because, in the past, these programs would not detect or be unable to remove adware/spyware that a different program would. I recall reading an article that stated the best any product did was detect and remove about 50% of all adware/spyware out there. Running two programs would increase the chance of one of the programs catching something. This was a while ago, and I'm sure these programs have improved to the point where running two all the time isn't necessary. But, if you think you're infected, but your program says you're not, it might be worth trying an extra scanner.
 
Adaware and Spybot are both free and both remove spyware.

You just gotta find the link on their sites for the free versions.

DB
 
It is possible to surf the net daily without ever having to run an anti-spyware program.

I've been doing so with four systems for months and months with no ill effects. :D

No spyware/adware, no viruses/trojans/worms, no hijackthis logs, no problems. Anyone can do the same.

RayG
 
Concur with DeBunk, I run both AdAware and Spybot along with Norton Antivirus at least weekly and that seems to keep my machince pretty clear.
 
Similar problem: I can't get logged into Yahoo! to get my e-mail and into my content on Yahoo!. Something's blocking me, though I can get here.

Can anyone help? I'm running a bunch of stuff to clear it out, now.
 
bigred said:
I didn't see "clean" in there anywhere. Scanning is worthless if it won't eliminate the problem.
Click to expand...

You need to download and run the program. Once it runs, if it finds anything, it will ask you if you want to clean them off, check off the items you want to remove and it will remove/clean/scour whatever you want to call it. It's not web based, you have to install the program and run it before you can clean. And yes, again, it's all free.
 
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