replies inline....
LewB said:
I have Microsoft Antispyware Program on this computer, apparently
there
since 2006. Was this the predecessor of the MSE program and needs to
be
removed before downloading MSE? I should be able to disable the
McAfee and
then run the MSE to see how the two compare?
By "Microsoft Antispyware Program", I assume you mean Windows
Defender....no? If so, no, you don't have to uninstall it or disable it
to install MSE. MSE installs some updated versions of Defender files,
and disables the Defender interface automatically, so you don't have to
do anything with it.
I do NOT recommend installing MSE or any other AV with McAfee still
installed. Even if it is disabled, it can still cause issues. You
should not install any AV while another AV is installed. Although you
can disable McAfee's resident scanner, its drivers and services are
still loaded, and they can interfere with another AV's drivers and
services.
I haven't tackled the somewhat involved process recommended by Glen
and
for home use question if this is a bit of "overkill"?
Hey, that's me! I assume (again) you are referring to my suggestion to
run an AV scan from outside the operating system, using a bootable CD.
If you consider ensuring the system is clean to be overkill, then I
guess the process is overkill. You've already stated that you've gotten
more than one report from Avast and from technicians that you had
malware on-board. You've run some programs from within Windows, and
each is finding something after the other has "cleaned" the system. The
ONLY way to ensure you do not have a root kit or other hidden malware is
to run a scan from OUTSIDE the OS. I can't make it any clearer than
that. "For home use" is exactly what it is for....it is home users that
pick up root kits more than any other user type. Most corporate /
business systems have group policy restrictions that prevent users from
installing things and /or they the users work in limited user profiles
without admin privileges. Home users by and large run in an admin
account and get the drive-by malware that brings in root kits.
Also I downloaded, installed and ran Malwarebytes and it came up
with
two items after hours of full scanning and these were removed. I also
downloaded and installed and ran SuperAntiSpyware and it found three
items
from AdWare. What do you folks think about the Spyblaster program and
AdWare?
I don't know if this thread is being followed by all so will copy
this
comment to the others. Thanks.
MBAM is usually all you need...you can run SAS if you like. I do
suggest spending the one-time fee of ~$30 to get the full version of
MBAM that includes auto-updating and resident protection...but that's up
to you.
SpywareBlaster sets kill-bits in the Registry to block known malware,
and it's updates add to its list. It does not "run" in the
background...it just adds items to the registry and quits. You must
update it regularly and then manually enable protection against the
newly added items after each update. It also has an autoupdate option
that I believe costs $10. For XP it is a good addition to your arsenal.
By AdWare, do you mean the Ad-Aware program from Lavasoft? It used to
be a frontrunner but nowadays it does not detect enough newer malware to
be worthwhile IMHO. MBAM and SAS are far better, and I don't think
there is an advantage to adding Ad-Aware.
