Ad / Spyware utilities ?

[Lance]

Gooday all, I hope you are all making the most of your weekend.

Looking for some thoughts and advice on ad/spyware utilities.

I am currently running Adaware and Spybot which have been pretty goood to me in the past but I am haveing some junk get through to my screen over the last week or so. I do regular updates on both but something is still getting through.
I was wondering what everyone else is using.
I felt I might try something different and see what happens.
Any thoughts ?

Best

Lance

:thumb: :Australia

[Cadmn]

Gooday all, I hope you are all making the most of your weekend.

Looking for some thoughts and advice on ad/spyware utilities.

I am currently running Adaware and Spybot which have been pretty goood to me in the past but I am haveing some junk get through to my screen over the last week or so. I do regular updates on both but something is still getting through.
I was wondering what everyone else is using.
I felt I might try something different and see what happens.
Any thoughts ?

Best

Lance

:thumb: :AustraliaLance I have used a product from webroot now for many years & have been very happy with it It is called webroot spy sweeperI have learned that sometimes software fights each other & they miss certain issues they kinda set & go "You get it" "No, You get it" Kinda like the kids when ya ask them to take out the trash. My .02

[Lonely Fisherman]

Cadmn brings up a good point. I've had personal experience with both Ad-
Aware and Spybot fighting with each other on my computer. After running them independently it became apparent that Spybot did a better job of the two.

I'm running Win2k on just about everything except my laptop (XP Pro). Microsoft offered a product to clear spyware from your computer and I've had it running on this computer for about 5 months now. Since day 1, the Microsoft product has cleared everything from the computer without any problem. Running Ad-Adware or Spybot since installing the Microsoft Anti-Spyware program is a waste of time.

In addition to the anti-spyware program I use a few other helpful programs to keep some of the garbage off my computer and to keep things humming.

Grisoft AVG for virus detection
CCleaner for registry cleaning and tweaking
Microsoft Defrag Utility
Hijackthis to identify hijack programs
CasperXP to do complete harddrive backups

Good luck with your computer!

Fish...

[GraphixCALC]

I used the MS anti-spyware for a while and it NEVER caught anything. I also had Adaware and would run it periodically, and it caught several things that the MS software never did. As a result, I uninstalled the MS one and only use Adaware now, along with Norton Internet Security.

[theroq]

Use microsoft's beta spyware cleaner it's the best. www.microsoft.com (http://www.microsoft.com)

then go to window washer and download their 30day trial version of their cleaner work really really good.

your done...

[Zardoz_Canada]

Being that I also repair computers I find that removing ad & spyware are now topping the list of incoming problems.

For free programs you can't beat ad-aware & spybot. The M$soft program is useless right now but perhaps will improve over time.

But, to really get rid of spy/ad ware your going to have to shell out a few bucks. The free programs really don't get rid of everything.

My recommendation is counterspy if your in the market to buy a program.

I have also had to use a program called HijackThis which allows you to see what programs are being loaded on startup of your computer. But beware, remove the wrong programs from startup & you'll be cursing why you printer won't work or why your palm won't sync.

I wish you luck. Unfortunatly, spyware and ad software have replaced viruses and worms in causing the most amount of problems with your computer.

Regards,
Zardoz

[Cadmn]

Hard to believe your a Tech & cantype with a straight line that M$soft might improve over time HAHAHA 95 98 xp better each time LOL sorry Man just couldn't resist whe some one mentionsM$& Improvement in the same sentence.

[WVB]

I use avast! for anti-virus protection(Free, Pro available). Also I use sbybot search and destroy (free, taking donations) along with adware (free, pro available). You are going to have to use both inconjunction with one another. Run spybot then run adware. Adware has a pro version I think its around $30 ZoneAlarm Pro (Free, and Pro version available) for firewall protection inconjunction with my Linksys router. Don't leave your router stock by any means....

[Cadmn]

Guys some M8s of mine( other Techs/builders) run across this & said its the best 20 bucks for protection you'll ever spend you can get free 15 day trial at their website just do a google for counterspy & the links will get ya to the trial download try it before you buy it it finds keloggers too & those are dangerous , used to get paswords & info like that

[NullWolf]

Malware is a constant problem for everyone, whether they know it or not.
All the programs listed below are available FREE, and if you have trouble with malware (virus, spyware, adware etc...), contact your local tech, or if you're comfortable doing it yourself (with help) check out some of the good free support sites like Geeks to Go (http://www.geekstogo.com) and SpywareInfo (www.spywareinfo.com)

Necessities
Spybot S&D (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download)
AdAware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware)
Firewall <- This is a must either the firewall that comes with WinXP SP2, or a good free one like Kerio (http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_download.html), Sygate (http://soho.sygate.com/default.htm) or Zonealarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?lid=dbtopnav_za)
Antivirus <- Only one please, AVG (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5) or Avast (http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html) are both good ones.

Good programs to have also:
BHODemon (http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm) This little program will show ALL Browser Hijackers, good and bad, and tell you when one is installed.
Spyware Guard (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html)
Spyware Blaster (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html)

Someone said HiJackThis (http://www.merijn.org/files/hijackthis.zip) to "check for hijacks".
HjT is a great diagnostic tool and can be used by experienced people to help you with your malware problems. You would be amazed how many people actually download HjT and then simply "Fix" everything it lists, which is NOT a good thing.

Also consider using an alternate browser. Mozilla's Firefox browser is fantastic; it is much more secure than Internet Explorer, immune to almost all known browser hijackers, and also has the best built-in popup blocker (as an added benefit!) that I have ever seen. If you are interested, Firefox may be downloaded from here:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

As a final note, there are several good articles regarding malware and how it infects people: Tony Klein's How I got Infected in the First Place (http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=3051)

There are also a LOAD of online scans available from places like TrendMicro , Pandasoft etc... Just google em. :cool: