Useless installation

[Polly P]

I installed Antispyware. Installation went fine, but not
the first scan and twenty plus subsequent scans. In every
case the scan reported no objects found.

I know that spyware was present, but the scans failed to
find any.

In desperation I have removed the programme and re-
installed, tried updating, and the so called repair
option, all to no avail. All I get is a complete scan
with negative results.

Any help to resolve this problem will be much valued.

 

[Ed Barba]

What makes you think you have spyware on your machine if the scans do not
show any? What kind of spyware do you think you have?
Ed

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I agree with Ed Barba.

Microsoft Antispyware comes out on top in a number of reputable reviews.
There is certainly some adware/spyware that it doesn't detect however.

Please use the Tools, submit suspected spyware report in Microsoft
Antispyware to get a profile of your system submitted to Microsoft.

Then tell us more--what is the issue that you believe indicates the presence
of spyware on your machine?

 

[Mikolaj]

I installed Antispyware. Installation went fine, but not

the first scan and twenty plus subsequent scans. In every
case the scan reported no objects found.

I know that spyware was present, but the scans failed to
find any.

In desperation I have removed the programme and re-
installed, tried updating, and the so called repair
option, all to no avail. All I get is a complete scan
with negative results.

Any help to resolve this problem will be much valued.

Update the MSAS and restart the computer. Boot it in the Safe mode (F8
during boot-up process) and perform full system scan with MSAS (set this in
the scan options).

Also you can try this software:

Spybot Search&Destroy http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2471.html
HijackThis http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html
CWShredder http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3019.html
Ad-Aware SE Personal http://www.lavasoft.com/software/adaware/
McAfee Stinger http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

 

[Polly P]

Hi Ed!
Good of you to take an interest. I base my awareness of
spyware on my computer from items found by other
programmes, such as Adaware, Spyware Doctor,and some
other free trial scans. Are the other scans exaggerating
the risks, or do I live in doubt of security with MSAS?

I am choosy about the sites I visit on the net, but would
hate to be pushed into a state of paranoia through
exaggeration of risk for commercial gain.

Thanks for your trouble. Polly P

 

[Polly P]

Hello Bill

The response to my message is encouraging.
Your comments, and those of Ed Barba, lead me to think
that I may have been misled by other spyware programmes
about how serious the threats reported may be.

I endeavour to keep a clean computer. Perhaps if I knew
of a site I could visit that would pose a threat, and
have MSAS pick it up I would be more comfortable.

Thanks for your interest. Polly P

 

[Polly P]

Greetings to Mikolaj

I wish I had the knowledge about computers that some of
you fellows have. Thanks for your support.
I will follow your suggestions, but as I have indicated
to Bill Sanderson I have to be sure I have visited
somewhere that will leave behind threatening spyware.

Kind regards, Polly P

 

[Bill Sanderson]

This is definitely an area that has potential for great confusion in our
minds. The spyware companies have intentionally flooded the Internet with
applications which pretend to be antispyware apps, and there is lots of
misinformation out there.

Eric Howes reference is useful:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

However--this isn't your issue--you are checking with reputable third-party
software.

I tend to agree with your analysis--that you are being misled as to the
severity of the issue, essentially for purposes of commercial gain. There
are several issues here: There's no accepted definition of what constitutes
spyware. In fact, the current best thinking is that definitions need to be
somewhat loose, and that it is best to avoid publishing hard-and-fast lists,
so as to be able to stay ahead of the spyware vendors, some of whom are very
well financed indeed--this is a profitable business. Additionally, every
"scanner" vendor wants to make sure that the customer knows that their
choice was the right one, and their software is doing the job, etc. So
calling a cookie an elevated threat, or whatever the language is for data
miner cookies, is good for business--even if your app is distributed free.

I also periodically scan with other products, such as Lavasoft's Ad-aware,
and Spybot Search & Destroy, and when they identify cookies, I remove them.
But I don't do this daily, and I don't lose any sleep over their presence on
my machine.

It wouldn't surprise me to see this functionality available in some
Microsoft product later this year, as well.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I meant to address that point, but forgot in my earlier reply.

I'd recommend against going in search of a site that will put in spyware
that is identified by Microsoft Antispyware.

I do this myself, and it turns out to be fairly difficult--if your machine
is running an OS covered by this beta, and is properly patched and updated
via WindowsUpdate and AutoUpdate, you really have to work at it to get
things on the machine.

Actually, a relatively safe (and that's relative--not "safe!") way to do
this is to download and install Bearshare. My own practice the vast
majority of the time, however, is to do this kind of work on a VPC--a
virtual PC within another one, using Microsoft's Virtual PC software, or
other commercial software which does the same job. I really don't recommend
doing this on a production machine.

Bearshare comes with significant spyware, which is pretty clearly described
and optional--but you can choose to install it and see what happens, in
terms of detection and cleaning. You can also watch the flurry of messages
as the spyware that you've assented to then pulls in a whole raft of new
stuff from the vendor--it's pretty interesting. And you can see that even
though the items you assented to are removable via add or remove
programs--in fact, even if you remove things that way, there are still more
apps left behind that are not removable by that method.

 

[Ed Barba]

Hi Polly,
Can you tell us what the other anti-spyware programs detected on your
computer because if it is cookies or data miner cookies then that would
explain what you are seeing. I use spyware doctor, Ad-aware SE ver 1.05,
Spybot Search and Destroy ver 1.3, Spyware Blaster ver. 3.4, Webroot Spy
Sweeper for MSN, as well as MSAS. They all catch one that another might not
detect. So if you tell us exactly what is being detected with the other
products we could give you a more informed prognosis.
Ed