By now most of you are protecting yourself with an anti-spyware tool. (And you're crazy if you're not.)
You might want to dig into more about spyware protection. Read Spyware Stoppers Still Improving. A few months earlier, PC World ran CounterSpy against a couple of other products, and it knocked 'em flat.
While you're clicking, also check out PC World's Spyware & Security Info Center. And what are the experts doing about this, you might ask? Read Industry Group Tackles Spyware for insight into the workings of the Anti-Spyware Coalition.
Bass's Favorite Spyware Killers
I have my favorites -- Sunbelt's CounterSpy with Webroot's Spy Sweeper a close second. I haven't had to use it, but I like knowing that Counterspy's $20 yearly fee includes a toll-free line for tech support (with tech people in Florida, no less); Spy Sweeper's support is also toll free, but I had to spend time on their site finding the number.
You can download the latest version of CounterSpy from Sunbelt Software. We've also got a trial version of Spy Sweeper on our site.
Anti-Spyware Smarts
I received an e-mail from a reader who finally got around to buying and using an anti-spyware program. He watched as the program scanned his PC and found tons of spyware and ad-ware.
He clicked on his anti-spyware program's "remove" option and blasted each and every threat to smithereens. Cool, right?
Nope. IMHO, that was the wrong move.
My advice is to use the quarantine option. That's because a spyware program may use a DLL (a helper program) from a legitimate program. If that happens, there's a chance the legit program won't load. If you chose quarantine, the DLL can be restored--along with the spyware, of course; but you could deal with that later.
Kill Some Time
If you know someone with a birthday (anniversary, or other special occasion) coming up, and have a spare $5, take a look at InstaSong. Choose from a list of occasions -- love song, Mother's Day, Christmas, and others. Answer half a dozen questions about the recipient, and the song is created and sent, along with a card, via e-mail. I have to admit, it's corny -- but cute.
Hello Steve, Really think it's a nasty thing for these companies placing something in my PC, with out my knowledge or permission. Just completed my first build. I have a lot of money in this computer. After a week of working all my bugs out. My brother in law out in Santa Cruz. Told me about Spyware doctor. I purchased the download. Then ran a complete system scan that turned up over 250 bits of this of spy programs. Talk about feeling violated! This pc was less than a week old. After every time I go on line. I scan my computer. It never fails to find no less than 3 problems each time.
Without the context of other major software products in this field, this article is nothing but a thinly veiled ad. There is nothing here to convince me (or perhaps warn me) that my eTrust Pest Patrol is not up to the task.
Bottom line: not particularly useful as information and a time waster since its headline implied it would.
it did sound more like an add than real information. please try to use more discretion next time or at least let us know how much your getting piad to sponsor a product
I use the Yahoo! Toolbar with Anti-spyware. I do a scan at least once a week and it does the job for me. And its free!
I've used the Yahoo Anti-Spyware tool and it hardly ever finds anything that the other dedicated anti-spyware tools find. I wouldn't count soley on this for your protection. If you don't want to pay for an anti-spyware app. you should at least use one of the free ones like Spybot S&D and or Ad-Aware.
weld387, if you're getting at least 3 spyware hits every time you boot your computer up, then something else is wrong- there's a piece of spyware/malware that's dug in so deep it's practically breeding. Some variants are really good at doing this, like VX2, so you may want to look deeper.
Using an anti-spyware program shouldn't be that hard. It's really the same as using an anti-virus program.
If you really want to get a firm grasp on whats going on with your system you should be using sysinernal's freeware tools such as regmon, filemon, procexplorer, and some other good tools like hijackthis and utilities that pull "strings" from files like bintext, strings from sysinternals, etc.
weld387, the problem might be that you got really nasty spyware that can regenerate itself. Or, you have a trojan horse on your computer. Try downloading a trial of Counterspy 1.5. It includes a new feature called DNR (do not resuscitate). I have had good experiences with this. You should also get Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware SE, and maybe even Yahoo Toolbar with Anti-Spy. They have been very good on my computer. You should also get a firewall like Zone Alarm (the free version) and anti-virus, like AVG Anti-virus (the free version). If you have high speed internet, then check to see if they offer a security suite free with your subscription. Also, read the PC World article "Best Defenders". One more thing: if you are using Internet Explorer, DON'T! Instead, use something like Opera, Maxthon, of Firefox. Opera is a really cool browser, and Firefox is just plain speedy. If you like to add different functionality to your browser, Firefox is perfect. If you would prefer not to have to switch browsers at IE only sites, Maxthon is good because it is IE- only with more security and speed, so things like ActiveX work right there. Or, read the PC World article "Four Tips to Make IE More Secure".
Hey all this is what is good to use i'm a I.T. Tech not saying i knwo more then all yal either/
Firefox is great +for scanning spybot S&D is great ad-aware se/ + Yahoo Anti-Spy, Spyware Doctor, Microsoft AntiSpyware, & zone alarm is good but not great you should get Norton Internet Security/ & some say its gay and easy to get through but if you know how to set it up then its good plus / i think what i feel like doing is Hacking or doing ddos on these spyware sites and hacking sites i mean can i get into trouble since their also breaking the law far worse then i would ??????? some1 help me on that Thx
I think it is evident by the above comments, that there is no single product that does it all, and there are lots of spyware out there. Whether it is free or fee, you have to invest a lot of time and energy to protect your PC from attack. It is a real shame.
Using Webroot's Spysweeper picks up what all the formentioned freebie's do not. This is a great product at a great price, and also has memory resident protection to keep the nasty stuff off your pc in the first place. Best Buy has a speacial on Spysweeper for only $19.95. Can't beat that for one of the best anti-spyware software package. The freebie's DO NOT catch it all! This is from experiance.
This is rather inane and irresponsible advice from a person with such a breadth of computer experience! Telling someone to merely quarrantine spyware so they can unleash it again later because it might negatively affect a "legitimate" program is to advise those who might not know much better to court possible disaster!
I do not (and no one should) consider any program to be legitimate if it contains spyware. If a program I use "breaks" because I remove the malware that rode in on it, the only reason to remove it from quarrantine would be in order to uninstall the program itself and kick it directly and swiftly to the curb! There are literally tens of thousands of programs out there, and I seriously doubt that it would be terribly difficult to find a really legitimate program to do what I need.
As far as pitching this CounterSpy product, enjoy your kickbacks, but please note that your own testing department awarded SpySweeper the highest overall rating. In reality, I believe that almost any COMBINATION of a couple or three of the five or six top rated products will do the job, regardless which one PCW's reveiwers decide to nod to this month or next month or three months from now.
The thing that ruined this article for me was the last paragraph, advertising something completely unrelated to anti-spyware. I guess this is just a blog after all, but .. I ended up here on the hopes that the advice would be legitimate. Now I'm not sure whether to take the above stuff seriously, or if I should just get a corny song written about it.
Toulinwoek, a spyware program might use a legitimate file, such as a DLL, that other programs use. Say, for example, you get Norton Internet Security, and maybe a month down the road you get a spyware infection, and that piece of spyware uses a DLL that Internet Security. The system then shares the DLL with both programs instead of using 2 different ones. If you were to remove the legitimate DLL that Internet Security was using, then you would solve the problem of the spyware, because it can't run. On the other hand, then you have a new problem with Internet Security not running because you removed the DLL. Then, you have another problem on your hands: a program doesn't work. If you quarantine the spyware, you have the DLL and don't need to reinstall Internet Security. The program will usually tell you what DLL is missing. Then, you look through the quarantine list, you find it, restore it, and delete the rest of the spyware. And that is the importance of quarantining vs. deletion.
This sure can be overwhelming trying to protect your computer,especially for those of us who are not a computer whiz. I use Microsoft Antispyware,AD Aware SE, Spyware Blaster,Spybot search and destroy, CWS shredder and now I am trying Counterspy trial. Is this overkill? Should I also use Counterspy since I use all those others?
All this time I have been deleting what these find rather than quaranteen. I have not noticed any problem from doing this, at least not that I am aware of.
I would assume if a program has not told me something is missing I do not have to worry?
You also have to be careful with some of the Anti-spyware products that charge money. Winfixer 2005 is one that causes the problem to begin with and then tries to "fix" it for you for $29 bucks! I run a few of the free ones, SpyBot, AD Aware SE, Microsoft Antispyware and Win Patrol. It works and its free!
I hate to say but at what point do just pull the internet out.I have two teen kids three computers i just spent 12 hours on the laptop trying to get rid of winfixer 2005 what a poblem i have all the free adware programs because there isnt a program that can do it all or i would pay for it.It is getting time consuming,costly,and not fun anymore going from one computer to the next fixing things.Can you imamage our tv spying on us or our home phone.People would not stand for it Write you congressman lets all do something write to you ISP let them know you might pull the plug.Thanks
I use Ad-Aware, spywareblaster, and spywareguard and i haven't had any adware or spyware in eight months. Most of this is do to Mozilla Firefox and the extension "NoScript". NoScript blocks all java script on websites.
Tom - Don't pull your plug just yet. I'd bet most of what you're cleaning off is being downloaded by your teens. My two pre-teen daughters do the same. A lot of this stuff gets "bundled" with a lot of popular downloads. Try cleaning one of your systems and keeping it to yourself. If you notice the ones they use getting infected more often, you can work with them on the problem. Or motivate them by letting them learn to fix it. I run AdAware, Spybot S&D, and SpywareBlaster and I haven't been hit in over a year. (Side note: I don't run antivirus. I use a free on-line scanner if I need to.) Two other things I find very helpful are doing a little research on programs I download BEFORE I have them installed and running on my system, and watching where I go on the net. Just because there's a link to it, doesn't mean you want to go there.
You use a free online scanner for antivirus? Well, c'mon Mark..........be nice and share with the rest of your classmates.........what is it??
My computer is free of spyware and virus for a long time already(6 months)...i use ADSL and online almost 24hrs a day. The secret? i guess i am just LUCKY and also trying my best to protect my pc.
1. i update my win2k regularly
2. i use firefox/opera
3. i use spywareblaster and windows antispyware tool
4. i read reviews first before i install ANY programs
5. i don't download music/movies from BT..i got virus from that before~
by the way, i don't have an anti-virus scanner too...hate to use it coz it usually slow down my pc
sorry guys, i forgot to mention that i use zone alarm and a broadband router also. It seems not being connected directly to the internet(coz i am using a router) did help to keep the bugs off my pc...(i guess). Is the cost of extra hardware justify? Well, yes if u want to network ur home's computers and don't mind spending extra $26 for a broadband router.
In addition, i also disable tons of unwanted Services(Command: services.msc) on my win2k. That will make my pc use less memory and less chances for hackers to hack in..
About deleting nasty spareware, i didn't encounter any problem before by just clicking "delete". I didn't notice any noticeable effects on other programs.
However, i think steve made a good point when he suggested we should choose the quarantine option.
To "Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 12, 2005, 11:13 PM (PST)"
In response to your comment about quarrantining because of possible DLL's shared with legitimate programs; I believe I already said that, and in far fewer words.
Online virus scanners are absolutely wonderful. I use the Panda Active scan, and the Trend micro house call. These are as good as the actual pay-for program itself; the only difference is that you don't get real-time file scans. If you're still not satisfied with the Panda active scan or the trend micro housecall, use the Bit Defender online scan. Why buy a anti-virus package when you can do the same exact scan for free online? Use AVG for real-time protection, and a free online scan for a second opinion. You should then be safe from viruses.
Bazooka (from kephyr.com) is a tiny free program that finds EVERYTHING bad on my computer in 2 seconds. Then I use the also free Ad-Aware from Lavasoftusa.com to remove the spyware. This way with the Bazooka I know right away if I must run the slower Ad-aware, that bogs down the machine. My free Anti-virus runs constantly without slowing down the computer at all (it's the AVG Antivirus).
AVG has warned me a few times when I was on a bad site that a virus was just loaded on my machine, and removed it.