Post by jq on Oct 23, 2007 15:04:06 GMT -5
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
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