Trusting AntiSpyware Programs

[Stephen]

I run Win XP with all the updates and my day-to-day account has limited
access (not admin). I use IE 7 with default security settings and I run
AVG antivirus.

I've been running Windows Defender for a few months and so far it
hasn't found a single problem while other tools have.

1. Defender never finds anything
2. Spybot almost always reports something
3. Adware (?) free version reported a couple of .txt files in a cookies
folder as being malware. But that folder doesn't even exist on my
computer. Is it lying?
4. Ad Aware SE (?) free version almost always reports a critical
problem which it then cleans

So, is Defender reporting nothing because there really is nothing to
report? Are the other programs lying?

 

[Wesley Vogel]

2. Spybot almost always reports something

You may have Spybot S&D | Settings | File Sets | Usage Tracking
set. It will always find something. These are MRUs. There are over 30,000
MRUs in the registry. You clear them and they will keep filling up as long
as you use Windows.

3. Adware (?) free version reported a couple of .txt files in a cookies
folder as being malware. But that folder doesn't even exist on my
computer. Is it lying?

I doubt it.

Start | Run | Type: cookies | Click OK

%userprofile%\Cookies
or
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here\Cookies

should open.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In