Major Advertisers Caught In Spyware Net (Oops, That Crud Is Profitable Alert)

Yahoo/AP News ^ | 06/24/05 | Michael Gormley

[MarkL]

I'd like to also add JavaCool Software's Spyware Blaster and Spyware Guard which can help keep spyware from being installed in the first place.

Mark

[MarkL]

There is also a msn (Microsoft Network) function in the IE browser on which many pop-ups piggyback. I can't remember what I went into and clicked (or unclicked), but that also stopped a lot of the junk. (This was a couple of years ago. Google should be able to come up with this.)

Close, it's the Windows Messenger Protocol, which is used on Windows networks for status messages. WinXP SP2 has turned this service off, but if you need another way to get it, you can get Shoot the Messenger at Steve Gibson's site. While you're there, if you've got WinXP, you also want to get Unplug & Pray and The Dcombobulator.

These are "toggle" programs. Just copy them to your computer and run them. switching the service on or off, if you ever need to. There's NO reason that a home user should ever need these. While I'm thinking about it, you also need Socket to Me, and Socket Lock. Socket To Me is a test to see if you've got a vlunerability on your computer which can make it easier to hijack and use in a "distributed denial of service attack." Socket Lock disables that vulnerability.

And while you're at Steve's web site, you might also want to take the firewall leak test, just to see how effective your firewall is.

Mark

[oldcomputerguy]

"Personally, I use Spybot S & D"

I recommend going into Spybots advanced mode and seeing what is available. This program is a lot more than what is defaulted on. Be careful changing things if you have no idea what they are controlling. It will also remove much of Bill Gates tracking s/w in advanced mode, they are called usage tracks under "FileSets"

I also HIGHLY recommend turning ON "Tea Timer" when you install it. The Tea Timer function is a mostly silent registry change monitor. If a program tries to change the registry, the Spybot "Resident" (Tea Timer for a strange reason) will ask you if this change is allowed or click the "?" for more informations about the request. I suspect it can save your bacon at times.

The TeaTimer is the 4th selection on the install wizard and is defaulted off. It can also be turned on/off in the advanced mode under Advanced/Tools/SystemStartUp/TeaTimer by checking the box. This function also allows you control of programs that run at StartUp.

There is a lot more than meets the eye in this program, most of it good from what I can tell.

[fuzzycat]

One of those totally crashed my last computer. The new one is running AdSubtract and it works very well. I still am paranoid about those lyric sites tho.

[psychoknk]

All too often it seems the only value that counts in Corporate America is the bottom line.

I wasn't aware of any other values that counted in corporate America.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

XP SP2 and Zone Alarm holds off most of the bad guys.
ZA asks when something tries to install and you just deny it.
Norton, AdAware and Pest Patrol kill the ones that get through.

[Free Vulcan]

Outpost firewall
Avast antivirus
AntiVir antivirus
Spyware Blaster
Spyware Guard
Adaware
Spybot S&D
ID blaster
Opera browser
Mailwasher spam filter


All of these are free. I have zero problems. AVG is good too, but doesn't run well on my older Win 98 computer.

[MarkL]

Yup, lots of really cool stuff that Spybot does, and you're right, as with all powerful tools, they will give you all the rope you need to hang yourself with! Same with HijackThis... Heck, I used to program in C, back in the "first edition" days of the K&R white book... Way before any C compiler had any silly stuff like "array boundery checking." It was fun to try writing something to the 100th element of a 10 element array, just to see what would happen! lol

Mark

[Diligent]

Backing up data often is important, but once you get your system to a stable state, I recommend using imaging software to either *image* the entire hard drive to DVDs, or use the imaging software to *copy* to another hard drive (they are getting cheap), or perhaps both. Keeping this form of backup off-site is another thing to consider.

I had a hard drive crash and this save me a ton of time in restoring my system.

Although Macs have few of these problems, they can still have hardware go south, so backups and images should be considered too, IMHO. :-/

[Randy Papadoo]

Yo, Booka......did you get enough? ;-D

GJ, Mark, with the good info.