Spyware Tool Beta crashed my machine

[Robyn Williams]

I work on an IT helpdesk and so have admin privileges on
our system which had inadvertently allowed me to download
spy and adware, so I installed the Beta Spyware Tool on my
Windows 2000 SP4 (with latest updates) Dell Optiplex
GX150.

Before it had finished deleting the adware files it
crashed and then continued to crash every half hour with a
dramatic stripey screen display until I uninstalled it
again.

Now using Mozilla.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Can you give any details of the "dramatic stripey screen?"

Check the system event log--anything recorded there about those crashes?

I'm lost--you ran Microsoft Antispyware, cleaned some stuff in place, and
had crashes in the process of cleaning.

Uninstalling Microsoft Antispyware then made these crashes go away?

I'm tempted to ask what was cleaned, but that information wouldn't tell me
much, I'm afraid.

It'd be interesting to see whether the crashes come back upon
reinstallation, but this doesn't sound like something I would want to try on
a production machine.

I'm inclined to say--Thanks for the report--please try the next beta build,
if possible--but I do hope that if there's stuff about the crashes in the
logs you could pass that on.

 

[Guest]

Umm... Which part of your job puts you at risk for
spyware? And then you clean your production PC with a
Beta product? Ouch. Better stick to your scripts: (To
caller) Is your PC plugged in? Script: Yes - then
escalate (because you have no more value to add).