SpywareBlaster and Spybot Search & Destroy.

[Charryl Chessman jr.]

For reasons I don't understand the original message dated 1 March 2007
together with a response from PA Bear has "disappeared" from this
newsgroup.

Be that as it may and for the benefit to others, I am re-posting this
message as the friendly people from Wilders Security Forums have come up
with a fix. It is also suggested that a bug may exist in IE7 causing this
behaviour.

The link to the post can be found at the bottom of my original message
--
" In IE7 I have 'hardened' the Internet Security Settings considerably,
including disabling Active Scripting. Scripted websites which I absolutely
trust are added to Trusted sites. Among these are websites from highly
reputable financial institutions and Microsoft/Windows update sites.

This arrangement has been working for me just fine for a very long time.
However, recently some of these trusted websites do not open in the Trusted
zone anymore but instead trying to open in the Internet zone. Needless to
say that since Active Scripting is disabled in the Internet Zone the
websites won't open correctly.

I reset IE7 numerous times, always followed by enabling all (updated)
protections SpywareBlaster and Spybot S&D have to offer. The problem did not
go away.

Well, I reset IE7 again but this time without utilizing either
Spywareblaster and Spybot S&D and was pleasantly surprised that the websites
I added to the Trusted zone do open in accordance with my original settings.

I tested this arrangement by applying the protection/immunization facilities
(one at the time) provided by SpywareBlaster/Spybot S&D and same problem
recurred. To be sure, I conducted this test three times with the same
results.

Based on this, I am pretty certain that the protection/immunization
facilities of both Spywareblaster and Spybot S&D are causing this
occurrence.

I posted a write-up with respect to the above to
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/ and still awaiting a response.

In the meantime, could experts in this newsgroup please advise if it is
deemed to be essential utilizing applications such as Spywareblaster and/or
Spybot S&D for adding website to the Restricted zone?

What are the downsides for not using these services?

Are there other alternatives available?

TIA,
Charryl Chessman jr. "

 

[Charryl Chessman jr.]

oops - I checked in the 'wrong' n/group, sorry about that.

 

[Heather]

Yeppers....I was just going to suggest that very thing....wrong ng.

However, have you not considered removing IE7??? I had it on here for
about 4 days and turfed it. I could see absolutely NO advantages and
plenty of disadvantages. I just stick to Firefox......works better.

There is a news group handling the gazillion IE7 complaints called
microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general which can be found by clicking
on the following link......

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general

There were approximately 23,000 posts when I checked.......not a very
happy bunch of people!!

Heather

 

[Charryl Chessman jr.]

In-line response.

However, have you not considered removing IE7??? I had it on here for
about 4 days and turfed it. I could see absolutely NO advantages and
plenty of disadvantages. I just stick to Firefox......works better.

Actually, I was pretty happy with IE7, but will give Firefox a try.

There is a news group handling the gazillion IE7 complaints called
microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general which can be found by clicking
on the following link......

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general

There were approximately 23,000 posts when I checked.......not a very
happy bunch of people!!

I knew about the IE n/g; (I plainly fouled-up by sending a message to the
wrong group, oh well ). Yes, it's demoralizing to read the various posts
therein...definitely not recommended for the clinically depressed

CC jr.

 

[Rhonda Lea Kirk]

In-line response.



Actually, I was pretty happy with IE7, but will give Firefox a try.

IE7 has its uses. I use both.

I knew about the IE n/g; (I plainly fouled-up by sending a message to
the wrong group, oh well ). Yes, it's demoralizing to read the
various posts therein...definitely not recommended for the clinically
depressed

If you go to http://www.mozilla.org/support/, you will find instructions
for using mozilla's newsgroup.

I found more than 48,000 posts at mozilla.support.firefox, so I don't
think Firefox advocates should make the claim that the number of posts
on a dedicated ng is an indication that something is wrong with the
browser.

 

[Bullseye]

In the meantime, could experts in this newsgroup please advise if it is
deemed to be essential utilizing applications such as Spywareblaster
and/or
Spybot S&D for adding website to the Restricted zone?

What are the downsides for not using these services?

Are there other alternatives available?

TIA,
Charryl Chessman jr. "

There are a couple of other alternatives that I didn't see mentioned on
the Wilder's Post. One is to use a program called "Zoned Out" along with
IESpyad, which places bad sites in the restricted zone. The information
is listed at Eric Howe's (Sunbelt Software) website:
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/resource.htm. Another alternative is
to use your Hosts file to block ads, which is a method that has worked
wonderfully for me the last couple of years. Info on how to implement
this as well as the Hosts .zip file is here:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm. The best alternative, IMHO, is
to switch browsers. Using Firefox with Adblock and NoScript is a great
combination. There is also an add-on now for Firefox that operates the
same way as IE's zone method. For me personally, I use the Opera browser,
the MVPS Hosts file and eDexter with an editable PAC file. If you never
want to see another ad (which I do not) then copy my method, and you
won't. The Hosts file is also good at keeping you from accessing bad
sites, especially when you click on a bad link (but you don't KNOW it's
bad). If you want to get heavy-duty, you can also use Peer Guardian which
blocks literally millions of bad IP addresses. Lot's of options for those
wanting to stay safe. With these methods, Spybot & SpywareBlaster are
unnecessary.

 

[Charryl Chessman jr.]

There are a couple of other alternatives that I didn't see mentioned on
the Wilder's Post. One is to use a program called "Zoned Out" along with
IESpyad, which places bad sites in the restricted zone. The information
is listed at Eric Howe's (Sunbelt Software) website:
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/resource.htm. Another alternative is
to use your Hosts file to block ads, which is a method that has worked
wonderfully for me the last couple of years. Info on how to implement
this as well as the Hosts .zip file is here:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm. The best alternative, IMHO, is
to switch browsers. Using Firefox with Adblock and NoScript is a great
combination. There is also an add-on now for Firefox that operates the
same way as IE's zone method. For me personally, I use the Opera browser,
the MVPS Hosts file and eDexter with an editable PAC file. If you never
want to see another ad (which I do not) then copy my method, and you
won't. The Hosts file is also good at keeping you from accessing bad
sites, especially when you click on a bad link (but you don't KNOW it's
bad). If you want to get heavy-duty, you can also use Peer Guardian which
blocks literally millions of bad IP addresses. Lot's of options for those
wanting to stay safe. With these methods, Spybot & SpywareBlaster are
unnecessary.
--
Thanks for informative response, Bullseye.
I'll give your suggestions a go

Kind regards,
CC jr.