I use Spybot, Adaware as scanners. I have MS's Antispyware beta installed as an always on protection, plus Zonealarm firewall is also on with its inbuilt spyware prevention stuff.
thrombus29
Flame War Master and JREF kid
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2001
- Messages
- 2,334
DUPE
thrombus29
Flame War Master and JREF kid
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2001
- Messages
- 2,334
I gave up on both spybot and Ad-Aware, I just use Hijack this now.
The learning curve is a bit steep, and I still have to manualy remove some stuff from the Registry, but there is a nice feeling of security when you know what is running at all times.
The learning curve is a bit steep, and I still have to manualy remove some stuff from the Registry, but there is a nice feeling of security when you know what is running at all times.
bigred said:
I've been using beta versions of MS products since around 3.1 for workgroups, beta one is normally a bit of a pig but by the time they get to a public beta and the release candidates they are pretty solid.
moopet
binary decision maker
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2005
- Messages
- 703
bigred said:
MS Antispyware Beta is actually Giant Antispyware bought and re-badged. In fact, its registry entries and some of its files are still called giant-thisthattheother.
Giant was an established product, and MS have made a couple of improvements. It's actually not half bad.
a_unique_person
Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning
I found spybot and adaware were ineffective against Cool Web Seach, a particulalry piece of spyware. There is a free tool available that works on just that. Between the three of them, I think all bases are covered now.
bigred said:
First line of defense: Get Firefox for your browser and make it your default browser.
http://www.mozilla.org/
Second line of defense: NEVER click anything in any pop-up window. Given option of yes or no, don't click either. Always close a pop-up with the red-X button in the upper-right corner (or if no other option -- force quit the program)
Spybot search and destroy is my personal favorite. Then probably adaware. I don't trust anything from Symantec or McAfee (just me I guess).
(and to rub it in) On my Mac I use nothing, no anti-virus either. not needed.
Kenny 10 Bellys
Critical Thinker
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2005
- Messages
- 290
Spyware is now the number 1 problem we have to fix for users here, so I've now got osme experience of this.
First off go get yourself Spywareblaster, which is a great little free tool that runs in the background and stops the more common malware even getting a toehold. It updates regularly and stops 95% of rubbish out there on websites today.
As for Ad-aware and Spybot: Search & Destroy you need to run both to be sure to get rid of all infections since they cover slightly different areas. Ad-aware will find stuff that Spybot ignores, and vice versa.
Hijack this is the tool of last resort that helps you in getting rid of real bad hijacks and infections, but you need to know what the hell you're doing in order to use it. If you dont know what is running in the background on your PC normally, you're not going to be any good with this tool.
Final shout out goes to ERD Commander, which is basically a cut0-down version of windows that runs direct from the CD, so that even if your windows installation is completely fritzed you can get your PC up and running to work on it. We use it here to circumvent some of the spyware files that refuse to be moved or deleted when windows is running. Run ERD Commander and they have no defence, you can delete the offending files and stop them reinstalling the hijack you found using Hijack this. Highly recommended tool for a lot of situations.
First off go get yourself Spywareblaster, which is a great little free tool that runs in the background and stops the more common malware even getting a toehold. It updates regularly and stops 95% of rubbish out there on websites today.
As for Ad-aware and Spybot: Search & Destroy you need to run both to be sure to get rid of all infections since they cover slightly different areas. Ad-aware will find stuff that Spybot ignores, and vice versa.
Hijack this is the tool of last resort that helps you in getting rid of real bad hijacks and infections, but you need to know what the hell you're doing in order to use it. If you dont know what is running in the background on your PC normally, you're not going to be any good with this tool.
Final shout out goes to ERD Commander, which is basically a cut0-down version of windows that runs direct from the CD, so that even if your windows installation is completely fritzed you can get your PC up and running to work on it. We use it here to circumvent some of the spyware files that refuse to be moved or deleted when windows is running. Run ERD Commander and they have no defence, you can delete the offending files and stop them reinstalling the hijack you found using Hijack this. Highly recommended tool for a lot of situations.
Anti_Hypeman
Graduate Poster
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2005
- Messages
- 1,007
I have a very simple and effective solution. I dont install crap on my computer. It amazes me the number of people who will destroy their machines to get a $7 mahjong game for free or to make their email do backflips. Is getting Coolio's latest CD for free really worth giving Kazaa or whoever ownership of your machine?
Despite having no anti virus/spyware software installed I have never had spyware on my home machine. Bonzi Buddy does not install itself people and those free poker sites are free for a reason.
Despite having no anti virus/spyware software installed I have never had spyware on my home machine. Bonzi Buddy does not install itself people and those free poker sites are free for a reason.
Kenny 10 Bellys
Critical Thinker
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2005
- Messages
- 290
If you are connected to the net, then you are open to spyware.
We have all sorts of firewalls and blockers at work, and still the record set was 2900 pieces of spyware on a security machine. Not installing anything and not clicking on pop-ups is a start, but if a pop-up can pop-up at all then you are vulnerable. It only makes sense to run something like Spyware Blaster in the background to prevent these things installing themselves without your intervention.
We have all sorts of firewalls and blockers at work, and still the record set was 2900 pieces of spyware on a security machine. Not installing anything and not clicking on pop-ups is a start, but if a pop-up can pop-up at all then you are vulnerable. It only makes sense to run something like Spyware Blaster in the background to prevent these things installing themselves without your intervention.
luchog
Neo-Post-Retro-Revivalist
Re: Re: Spyware fixers re-visited
I recommend Opera http://www.opera.com/
Similar features to Firefox, but more advanced and customizable. Tab navigation is far superior, pop-up blocker is more effective, and somewhat customizable (unlike Firefox), very powerful cookie-manager, and a number of other useful features that Firefox doesn't have, or had only in rudimentary form. And it's available for more platforms.
I've never had an issue with spyware/malware/hijacks on Opera. It won't support Active-X, and doesn't handle broken proprietary JS/Java code, so there may be times where you need to use another browser, but I've found that to be very rare. Some sites will not let you in if you're using Opera, but if you set it to spoof IE6 you'll generally be fine. (It can spoof Mozilla too, but i've found that it renders the IE-specific pages better.)
As for actual spyware/malware cleaners, I also use the Adaware and Spybot combo; with the CoolWebShredder handy; though I've never gotten CoolWebSearch. I've used HijackThis for a few problem pieces; but as others have said, you really have to know what you're doing or you could toast your system, badly.
Because Firefox supports Active-X, as well as some other proprietary stuff with major security problems, it is still prone to some types of malware/spyware and browser hijacks. Plus, it's still a fairly primitive browser, overall.kevin said:
I recommend Opera http://www.opera.com/
Similar features to Firefox, but more advanced and customizable. Tab navigation is far superior, pop-up blocker is more effective, and somewhat customizable (unlike Firefox), very powerful cookie-manager, and a number of other useful features that Firefox doesn't have, or had only in rudimentary form. And it's available for more platforms.
I've never had an issue with spyware/malware/hijacks on Opera. It won't support Active-X, and doesn't handle broken proprietary JS/Java code, so there may be times where you need to use another browser, but I've found that to be very rare. Some sites will not let you in if you're using Opera, but if you set it to spoof IE6 you'll generally be fine. (It can spoof Mozilla too, but i've found that it renders the IE-specific pages better.)
As for actual spyware/malware cleaners, I also use the Adaware and Spybot combo; with the CoolWebShredder handy; though I've never gotten CoolWebSearch. I've used HijackThis for a few problem pieces; but as others have said, you really have to know what you're doing or you could toast your system, badly.
Anti_Hypeman
Graduate Poster
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2005
- Messages
- 1,007
Kenny 10 Bellys said:
I have removed gator from countless systems and heard all the excuses its amazing how nobody ever installs it. It does not just happen. Somebody opened a J-LO naked email or maybe one of your admins uses the network at night to download movies, not at all unusual. Maybe you have a severly out of date machine running a fresh unpatched IIS install I dont know but human error is involved somewhere. Software cannot just appear on a machine.
If you can tell me exactly how to do it PM me and I will legally make us both millionaires by the end of the week. Im serious as a heart attack give me the technical details or point to a specific progam that can do it for study.
Give me the technical details on how to install software on a patched windows machine without any kind of permission or human error required using popups or any other means. Just one example I could study should be enough and we will be rich.
Point me to any website that does it, I will go there and see for myself. With thousands of companies doing it how come not a single person can point me to one of these sites that will automatically infect my machine just by browsing alone?
I ran adware and it only found the usual cookies somehow my machine is immune to all this crap despite only being protected by the built in XP firewall. I must be very lucky practically everyone else I know's machine is loaded with junk.
I dont know maybe the fact that Im carefull what I install and I dont steal anything has something to do with it. Im tired of this urban myth that stuff just installs on your system and you are helpless to stop it. Take responsabillity people.
luchog
Neo-Post-Retro-Revivalist
Anti_Hypeman said:
There is no such thing as a secure computer, particularly with Windows. There is at least one new minor security flaw found every couple of weeks; and major ones every few months.
I have gotten worms on computers that were "fully patched" according to Microsoft Update, but the current patch level didn't cover all existing security holes. Including one that set up a rather nasty backdoor (of course, that was back when MS was denying that certain vulnerabilities even existed).
And anytime you're using a browser that supports Active-X, all it takes is a cleverly crafted redirect or typo, and you could have all sorts of **** installed on your machine without realizing it, if you are using the default security settings. Unless you completely disable all Active-X. Vulnerabilities seem to pop up much faster than patches.
Kenny 10 Bellys
Critical Thinker
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2005
- Messages
- 290
http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/hijacked/prevent.php
This site has a link to software which institutes a block list of malicious sites designed to try and add spyware to your PC. You are free to download it and check out the sites listed.
http://doxdesk.com/parasite/prevention.html
This is a fine site with a little script built in that detects the most common parasites, as well as lots of descriptions and links to spyware forums, genuine removal tools and technical forums. If you want more technical detail, go there.
Yes, the biggest way they get stuff on your PC is to trick you into downloading it, and they get better at it every day. Bundling with other software is common (and the reason I got rid of ICQ) and offering it with stuff like atomic clock programs, browser skin programs, etc is also another way. I've now seen them disguising their active-X downloads as Media Player-9 updates and other complete fictions which the unwary might download. I have seen professionals caught out by some of these, they are more and more invasive and inventive as each day goes by.
The other way they get on is from supposedly safe web browsers downloading and running things like active-x components and javascripts, and exploiting security vulnerabilities in these technologies. You can protect yourself by patching and by shutting down as much of this functionality as you can, but you cripple the browser too. Also you must remember that patches tend to be reactive, made once they actually find a hole that's been their all the time, and once it starts to be used.
I for one would not even begin to surf until I'd cranked up some security settings, got a router or firewall between me and the net, got a good anti-virus and spyware program running and had disabled MS Messenger. I almost never get anything either, but I have been infected and I am well aware the next innovation might be the one that gets me, so I take precautions.
This site has a link to software which institutes a block list of malicious sites designed to try and add spyware to your PC. You are free to download it and check out the sites listed.
http://doxdesk.com/parasite/prevention.html
This is a fine site with a little script built in that detects the most common parasites, as well as lots of descriptions and links to spyware forums, genuine removal tools and technical forums. If you want more technical detail, go there.
Yes, the biggest way they get stuff on your PC is to trick you into downloading it, and they get better at it every day. Bundling with other software is common (and the reason I got rid of ICQ) and offering it with stuff like atomic clock programs, browser skin programs, etc is also another way. I've now seen them disguising their active-X downloads as Media Player-9 updates and other complete fictions which the unwary might download. I have seen professionals caught out by some of these, they are more and more invasive and inventive as each day goes by.
The other way they get on is from supposedly safe web browsers downloading and running things like active-x components and javascripts, and exploiting security vulnerabilities in these technologies. You can protect yourself by patching and by shutting down as much of this functionality as you can, but you cripple the browser too. Also you must remember that patches tend to be reactive, made once they actually find a hole that's been their all the time, and once it starts to be used.
I for one would not even begin to surf until I'd cranked up some security settings, got a router or firewall between me and the net, got a good anti-virus and spyware program running and had disabled MS Messenger. I almost never get anything either, but I have been infected and I am well aware the next innovation might be the one that gets me, so I take precautions.