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...
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.)
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.
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.
I love SpyBot S+D coupled with McAfee and RegRun I hardly ever have problems with spyware.
How about not running IE at all? Mozilla anyone?
Agree with Great One.
Vanity bump.