Spywares

[jq]

Okay, here is the thing. I used to have a great spyware detector called Spyware doctor. I paid for their premium package, and then, they updated their software and....the software became way too hard on my computer. (IT sucked up so many resources that I might as well have had 200 viruses on my computer.) So I canned it.

Then I also used Ad-aware a lot. Then they updated the software to ad-aware 2007. It still works fine on my computer, but the new software is shit! IT has yet to ever detect ONE SINGLE CRITICAL OBJECT. I have used it multiple times, and the only thing it finds are "tracking cookies," which any spyware/adware detector can find. So I still use it, but it doesn't seem to do any good.

Then I have spybot-- search and destroy. This is a so-so detector. It seems to always find something, but often I can run it three times in a row and it finds the same exact thing it found before that it said it removed. That happens, not every time, but a lot of the times I use it. Also, I question whether or not it is catching the bad stuff, because it too generally doesn't find much more than tracking cookies.

Then I found out that a-squared made a comeback. I installed it, used it, and again and again it kept finding trojans and other malicious malware on my computer....and then, for the past month, it has stopped finding anything besides tracking cookies.

My fear is that I have more than tracking cookies on my computer, and that they just aren't being detected by any of my three spyware detectors. (Maybe spywaredoctor found false positives-- because it was finding malicious stuff on my computer EVERY SINGLE DAY. Finding any critical objects with these three detectors is a rarity.)

So I am wondering if there are any other tried and true mthods of eliminating spyrware that anyone can recommend. I prefer free, because I don't have a lot of money right now. I blew some money on a program called "Spywall" which is probably the shittiest program ever known to man, and I have tried "spyware terminator," and would find 1 tracking cookie in an entire scan, (and then I would find 17 in A-Squared.)

It is possible that I am just not getting maliciuos software on my comptuer these days. I do use more than one firewall. I have the McAfee firewall (but I believe McAfee is probably crap,) whatever protection or firewall firefox uses, and I use the microsoft firewall. Still, I am not so sure these firewalls are actually protecting me.

Please let me know if you have any recommendations for software that doesn't suck up resources but gets the job done. Or if there are other methods to preventing spyware from getting on my computer, please let me know. Thanks a bunch

JQ

[Ess2s2]

Well, I would recommend AVG, but they just went full paid and canned their awesome free solution. So, so much for Grisoft getting the thumbs up from me. I'm currently searching for a new free Virus/malware solution. If anyone has any good tips, I'd be very appreciative.

[jq]

WEll, as I was saying, both Spybot and A-Sqaured are O-K. There isn't anything wrong with them, and they don't take up many resources to use. I just question if they are catching everything or not.

Also, curious, when you say AVG isn't free anymore, do you just mean their spyware detector isn't free, or their anti-virus, too? Reason I ask is, I still rely on AVG for virus detection.

EDIT: Also I should ask, are you sure? Because I just checked mine for updates and it had some and it appears to still be online.

[Kizzume]

SpyBot Search and Destroy--the reason why it keeps finding the same site is:

Every time you go to yahoo, a piece of spyware is installed--it may be the equivalent of a cookie, but it's still a piece of spyware.

Every time you go to msn, two pieces of spyware are installed.

Make sure that you have done an immunization, and also, if you want to absolutely get the latest updates, make it get the beta versions of the definitions--you can adjust that in advanced settings.

If you're tired of it coming up with the same ones though--block those sites with your hosts file. If you don't know what a hosts file is, ask, and I will explain.

SpyBot is the only one I've been able to find that doesn't seem like it's going to turn into a product I'll have to purchase that actually does its job well.

[Kizzume]

jq said:

WEll, as I was saying, both Spybot and A-Sqaured are O-K. There isn't anything wrong with them, and they don't take up many resources to use. I just question if they are catching everything or not.

Also, curious, when you say AVG isn't free anymore, do you just mean their spyware detector isn't free, or their anti-virus, too? Reason I ask is, I still rely on AVG for virus detection.

EDIT: Also I should ask, are you sure? Because I just checked mine for updates and it had some and it appears to still be online.

AVG is now a useless piece of popup window. I'm currently using NOD32. I was using McAfee VirusScan 8 Enterprise Edition from when I worked at the helpdesk at University of Washington. I may end up switching back if I ever start running into issues of NOD32. What I really liked about McAfee VS8, and VS7, is that it can be disabled almost instantly without hassle, and it NEVER brings up popup windows unless it has actually found something.

[jq]

WHen you say it is now a useless piece of popup widnow, do you mean that it is no longer protecting my computer or that it has becometoo invasive? (Or both?)

[Kizzume]

The new free version doesn't protect very well, and it has become WAY too invasive. It's as bad as Norton now.

[jq]

Do you use a free version of NOD32 or did you pay for the two year subscription?

[Kizzume]

I'll tell you all about it in a pm...

[jq]

THank you sir. I now have some interesting options to consider

[Hackfest]

Are you no longer using the University McAffee that Dale has? That's what I use, but I don't want to continue to use it if it is beat. Also, I use Spybot. Is there better that I should know about? Thanks.

[Kizzume]

That McAffee is just fine. I was only trying NOD32 to see if it was as good. I'll probably switch back to McAfee in a couple months.

[Hackfest]

Coolness.

[Kizzume]

As far as SpyBot--when you get the beta spyware definitions (advanced options), for ME, it has still been the most thorough.

[jq]

Okay, little update.

Tried Spyware doctor again-- and as specified in other thread, seems to do funny things to my computer. May only be me, I don't know. Having said that, I had ran spybot AND a-sqaured first, and lo and behold Spyware doctor still found a good amount of bad stuff. Its definitions still are the best. So hopefully I can work it the same way and just keep it on a flash drive so it isn't constantly running (fucking with my comptuer) in the background.

Just tried a new one a friend showed me. It is called pest patrol. I had never seen any advertisements for it before nor is it available from download.com, so I was a bit doubtful. Let me just say, that it is THE FASTEST EVER scanning process I have ever seen. It scans for under 5 seconds! It found 5 "pests," but one of those pests was my limewire, which makes me wonder if the others were false postivies too. Still, I didn't recognize the others, and after quaranteening them it seems that everything is still running fine, in fact, better, (but as stated in my other thread I did just uninstall a couple things which may be part why my computer seems to be running so smoothly right now.) So I am going to hang on to pest patrol and use it as part of my scanning process JUST BECAUSE it is so fast, if for no other reason. I MIGHT AS WELL scan with that too since it is so ridiculously fast.

I tried the free version of norton that is free from google packs. Let me just say-- lame. It found ONE, that's right ONE tracking cookie. Afterwards, my usual programs pulled up way more along with some actual potential threats.

So I am sort of back to the same ol' same ol' with one addition and one occasional addition. I run spybot twice a week, a-squared almost every day, and will now be using pest patrol every day and spyware doctor (if its possible to run from my flash drive) once a week. Hopefully that will give me PLENTY of protection. It freaking SHOULD considering how many programs that is.

But it is worth noting I still have no background protection. Those seem to really screw up my computer so I am not convinced they are worth having. I currently have the standard windows firewall along with the mcafee firewall though, for what those are worth.