Posted on 10/09/2004 4:23:45 PM PDT by GreatOne
Go to this page of Major Geeks, and let me know what free spyware/adware you in-the-know recommend. It has the following:
About:Buster - A removal tool for Home Search Assistant, ie; res://random.dll/index.html#12345
Ad-aware Messenger Service Plugin - Plugin for Ad-aware that will help with the Messenger Service pop-ups.
Ad-aware OE/WM Control - Enable or disable the Windows Messenger which loads with Outlook Express.
Ad-Aware SE HexDump Plug-in - Find out the URL of the originator of a cookie in Ad-Aware SE.
Ad-Aware SE Personal - Scan your system for ad-supported software components and remove them.
Ad-Aware SE Personal (Executable Only) Update - Update Ad-Aware to 1.05 with the executable only and retain your settings.
Ad-aware SE referencefile - Manually update your copy of Ad-aware to recognize the latest spyware.
Ad-Aware SE Tweak SE - Alter and "tweak" settings as well as make GUI alterations to Ad-Aware SE.
Ad-Aware VX2 Cleaner Plug-In - Detects the malware VX2 and removes it.
Adware T.V. Media Removal Tool - Tool from Microsoft to remove the adware T.V Media.
Anti-Windows Messenger - Stop Windows Messenger whenever it is launched.
BHODemon - Protects you from unknown Browser Helper Objects (BHOs)
BHOList - Downloads, sorts and makes searchable TonyKleins's BHO collection.
Browser Hijack Blaster - Protects your IE from browser hijackers and spyware.
BugOff - Disable 3 exploits that browser hijackers commonly use, including CWS.
CoolWWWSearch.SmartKiller (v1/v2) MiniRemoval - A fix for CoolWWWSearch.SmartKiller if that has disabled your spyware removal tool(s).
CWShredder - Final release for some time of this utility for removing CoolWebSearch browser hijacks.
GIANT AntiSpyware - Search and destroy existing spyware on your computer by scanning or on the fly.
HijackThis - A homepage hijacker detector and removal tool.
HJTHotkey - Speed up researching words found in your Hijack This! log files.
HSRemove - A removal tool for Home Search Assistant, ie; res://random.dll/index.html#12345
InstallSpy - Track any and all changes to your registry and file system.
Internet Spy Hunter - Monitors and blocks spyware, cookies, scripts and more.
Kazaa Spyware Removal - Remove the spyware that comes with Kazaa.
KazaaBegone - Scans and removes all elements of all Kazaa versions and its spyware.
Kill2me - A removal tool specifically for the Look2Me parasite.
LSP Explorer for Ad-Aware SE - [View active Layered Service and Name Service Providers on your system.
PrcView - Removes new spyware strains of CoolWebSearch with the hidden dll.
Spybot Search and Destroy Updater - Update your Spybot S&D detections without the need for the included WebUpdate.
SpyBot-Search & Destroy - Searches your hard drive for so-called spy- or adbots.
SpywareBlaster - It doesn't scan and clean for spyware - it prevents it.
SpywareGuard - A real-time protection solution against spyware.
StartPage Guard - Detect and prevent changes to your browser's Start and Search pages.
StartPage Spyware Removal Tool for IE - Remove such 'SEARCH FOR...' spyware from your Internet Explorer start page.
Toolbarcop - Eliminate malware toolbands, toolbar icons and browser helper objects in IE.
WinMaid - Check your startup program and registry for various hijacks.
WinPatrol - Sniff out Worms, Trojan horses, Cookies, Adware, Spyware and more.
XP-Antispy - Disable all the known 'Suspicious' Functions in WindowsXP.
Also, I have XP Pro, do I need something to protect against hijacking, or does the SP2 pack (or one of my other programs) protect me?
I don't dowload or go to sites that require me to have a lot of spyware "stuff". I mean if NPR and and CNN and the Washignton Post are sending spyware to my 'puter I wouldn't go there.
techsupportforum.org vet's seem to favor Ad-Aware and Spybot. HiJack This as well as Cool Web Shredder(along with trendmicro.com's house call free virus scan) are tools of their trade as well.
I've had 100% success with them and helped a few people with them as well.
Whow! 42 anti-spyware and anti-adware progams and not one of them runs on a Mac.
The critics are right... there is more software for PCs than for Macs.
Of course, not one of them needs to be run on a Mac...
Hackers don't really target Mac owners anyway. There's too few to bother when you have such a massive base of victims on the Windowz platform.
Spyware is usually low threat data miners. Web browser hijacks are a bit worse.
I use BHODemon, which runs in the background and will alert me if a toolbar or searchbar tries to install itself. I run adaware and spybot search and destroy once every few weeks. That's about it. The google toolbar has a built in popup blocker, which works nicely. I would probably have a popup blocker installed seperately if it weren't for that.
I'd also recommend a firewall like Sygate or Zone Alarm. Not sure how good Windows XP's new SP2 firewall is yet.
It's nice to have full control of what gets access and doesn't. I like the attack history too. It let's me know if I've been port scanned also(I use Sygate and a router in tandem). I've never been hacked.. Knock on wood, hehe..
Definitely run HiJackThis. It will keep certain spyware from re-routing your IE browser start-up page.
I use Ad-Aware daily.
I also run a little program called WinPatrol. It notifies me if any program tries install an executable. Most executables are legit from newly installed software, but some vial websites and viruses can plan their own .exe on your hard drive. (A couple of years ago I had acquired a virus that hid itself in the recycle bin, of all places; ended up having to reformat the hard drive to get rid of it.)
I have just started running AVG Anti-Virus (free home version). I have been running a Micro-Trend AV but its auto updates run out in a couple of months. I don't know what the cost of the new AV will be. If the free AVG seems to work, I will go with it. (It already found one virus hidden in a zipped file that the Micro-Trend didn't see.)
Do you know if Norton's does the job of WinPatrol? Part of my purpose for posting is to learn about some these more obscure programs (virtually everyone has the programs I do).
The XP Pro SP2 firewall's better than nothing , but not much more than that. Also, most common consumer-level 'firewalls' won't do much at all about spyware.
For spyware eradication/prevention, WebRoot is pretty good, as is Spybot S&D.
For a workstation-level firewall, I highly recommend ZoneAlarm Pro and Kerio Personal Firewall. Kerio delivers a lot of useful, realtime info on your current connections, and it is highly effective. ZoneAlarm now bundles a fairly effective anti-virus agent. Both are inexpensive and worth investigation.
AVG anti-virus is one that I highly recomemmend.
But nothing beats a two-way active, stateful anti-virus / anti-spam / content filter gateway. Stop that garbage before it even gets into your network. For most of my clients, I use a combo of WinProxy running on a dedicated host with a SonicWALL firewall (check out the TX 170 series. Boffo stuff). Later on nect week, I'm impelmenting one of these setups using a SonicWALL 3060 with all of the goodies and a dedicated WinProxy box set up in a 'firewall sandwhich' config.
I'm currently evaluating Kerio's WinRoute Firewall 6. Looks promising. Transparent, policy-based NAT. Not too expensive, either.
House Call from trendmicro is free and their virus definition tables are kept up-to-date. I've never owned or paid for a virus scanner(but I'm vigilant). When I have had virii or worms I just search Google for the removal tool if House Call couldn't quarantine/delete the infected file(s).
Hijackthis is for advanced experts. The average user will get heartburn from it.
As far as a firewall, I use ZoneAlarm w/ Virus checker and am very happy with it. I also have Spybot S & D, but it couldn't remove Gator (which IS spyware) but maybe I don't know how to use it. Talk about heartburn...
I have XP with SP2 (just installed the latter), and I don't know if SP2 helps, but it seems to have better security than before... but that could be a smokescreen. I don't know enough about computers to know. However, I do recommend ZoneAlarm w/VirusChecker (reasonably priced). It can be trained as to what programs you want to have access to the internet and automatically updates its Virus list. I also have Spybot S & D but don't know how effective it really is. My best advice is to seek out a computer expert.
Oh. And, everyone seems to use IE exclusively. I use Netscape, which has a pretty good pop-up blocker, and I have never had my homepage hijacked.
I love SpyBot S+D coupled with McAfee and RegRun I hardly ever have problems with spyware.
I'm pretty happy with my Norton's (I perform the trendmicro.com anti-virus scan to make sure), so I'm not looking at another anti-virus program. That being said, do you think that Virus Checker is better than Norton's?
XP Pro? I had no such conflict with SP2 and ZoneAlarm.. I don't know how to answer that question. I did receive a notice from SBC Yahoo that SP2 might have conflicts with ZoneAlarm and gave me a web address to download a 'fix', but I didn't have any reason to. If you want, I will post the link, but I am leaving for a while, so it will have to be tomorrow. FReep-mail me to let me know if you want the link.
How about not running IE at all? Mozilla anyone?
Agree with Great One.
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