Anti-spyware Beta

[Guest]

Not convinced of the usefullness of msas Beta due to its inability to find
spyware. I run MSAS Beta (the most current version) every day and rarely does
it find any spyware as opposed to Ad-aware, spybot search and destroy and
Spyware avenger all of which locate a multitude of spyware on just about
every scan, whereas MSAS may detect 1 or 2 spyware in a week if that, and
were not talking cookies either. Ive seen other similar comments at various
places and then i see someone that says it works great. Whats the deal with
MSAS beta. Is it just not a good program?
bloke53

 

[R. McCarty]

The problem with all "Malware" detection/removal software is the
definitions of what is and is not Malware. There is no Clearinghouse
or organization that establishes criteria for it. I think Defender does
a good job in it's primary function which is "Real-Time" protection.
I would prefer something that blocks Malware, in deference to a
detection/cleanup after it's already in place on a PC.

 

[Andre Da Costa]

Could you also send in a Spyware report on some of the things MSAS is not
detecting?
--
Andre
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
FAQ for MS AntiSpy http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm

 

[Guest]

I also have noticed for the past sevaeral months that MSAS has only
identified 4 intruders, while Ad-Aware picks up several each day. Most are
tracking cookies such as the following (which I picked up via Ad-Aware
immediately after running MSAS):
bj[16]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[17]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[18]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[19]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[20]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[21]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[22]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[23]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[24]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[25]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[26]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Microsoft Antispyware does not selectively scan for nor remove cookies.

--

I also have noticed for the past sevaeral months that MSAS has only
identified 4 intruders, while Ad-Aware picks up several each day. Most
are
tracking cookies such as the following (which I picked up via Ad-Aware
immediately after running MSAS):
bj[16]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[17]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[18]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[19]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[20]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[21]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[22]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[23]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[24]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[25]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[26]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/

Could you also send in a Spyware report on some of the things MSAS is not
detecting?
--
Andre
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
FAQ for MS AntiSpy http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm

 

[Guest]

Thank you for that information Bill. I am left with the question: "Why not?
Are tracking cookies not considered malware?" I am not a very technical guy
but I was of the belief that tracking cookies provide information to unknown
third parties as to my PC use habits. Help me understand if/why i should not
be concerned with tracking cookies, if you could. Thank you.

Microsoft Antispyware does not selectively scan for nor remove cookies.

--

I also have noticed for the past sevaeral months that MSAS has only
identified 4 intruders, while Ad-Aware picks up several each day. Most
are
tracking cookies such as the following (which I picked up via Ad-Aware
immediately after running MSAS):
bj[16]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[17]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[18]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[19]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[20]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[21]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[22]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[23]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[24]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[25]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[26]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/

Could you also send in a Spyware report on some of the things MSAS is not
detecting?
--
Andre
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
FAQ for MS AntiSpy http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm

Not convinced of the usefullness of msas Beta due to its inability to
find
spyware. I run MSAS Beta (the most current version) every day and
rarely
does
it find any spyware as opposed to Ad-aware, spybot search and destroy
and
Spyware avenger all of which locate a multitude of spyware on just
about
every scan, whereas MSAS may detect 1 or 2 spyware in a week if that,
and
were not talking cookies either. Ive seen other similar comments at
various
places and then i see someone that says it works great. Whats the deal
with
MSAS beta. Is it just not a good program?
bloke53

 

[Bill Sanderson]

We'll need multiple viewpoints to get the whole story here.

Here's a pretty sensible viewpoint, I think:

http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_delete_cookies_and_just_what_are_cookies_anyway.html

One view is that it is probably impossible for Microsoft to objectively
differentiate between "bad" cookies, and cookies that they themselves
support and make use of.

I haven't yet read whether the antispyware.org folks have talked about
cookies or come to a position about them.

Everyone agrees that cookies that store PII--information which can identify
you as a person--are bad. It's the category that anonymously allows a given
vendor to track users movements across multiple sites that are the issue, I
think.

I'm neutral about cookies, myself--expressed as follows: I don't worry
about them. However, when I do run Ad-aware or some other app that offers
to remove cookies that it classes as "bad"--I allow it to do so, and have
never noticed any ill effect.



--

Thank you for that information Bill. I am left with the question: "Why
not?
Are tracking cookies not considered malware?" I am not a very technical
guy
but I was of the belief that tracking cookies provide information to
unknown
third parties as to my PC use habits. Help me understand if/why i should
not
be concerned with tracking cookies, if you could. Thank you.

Microsoft Antispyware does not selectively scan for nor remove cookies.

--

I also have noticed for the past sevaeral months that MSAS has only
identified 4 intruders, while Ad-Aware picks up several each day. Most
are
tracking cookies such as the following (which I picked up via Ad-Aware
immediately after running MSAS):
bj[16]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[17]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[18]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[19]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[20]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[21]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[22]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[23]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[24]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[25]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/
obj[26]=IECache Entry : Cookie:[email protected]/



:

Could you also send in a Spyware report on some of the things MSAS is
not
detecting?
--
Andre
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
FAQ for MS AntiSpy
http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm

Not convinced of the usefullness of msas Beta due to its inability
to
find
spyware. I run MSAS Beta (the most current version) every day and
rarely
does
it find any spyware as opposed to Ad-aware, spybot search and
destroy
and
Spyware avenger all of which locate a multitude of spyware on just
about
every scan, whereas MSAS may detect 1 or 2 spyware in a week if
that,
and
were not talking cookies either. Ive seen other similar comments at
various
places and then i see someone that says it works great. Whats the
deal
with
MSAS beta. Is it just not a good program?
bloke53

 

[Guest]

We'll need multiple viewpoints to get the whole story here.

Here's a pretty sensible viewpoint, I think:

http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_delete_cookies_and_just_what_are_cookies_anyway.html

One view is that it is probably impossible for Microsoft to objectively
differentiate between "bad" cookies, and cookies that they themselves
support and make use of.

I've posted this before but the thing that I don't get is
that the original Giant Company version did and still does
report tracking cookies. I have that version on my
system at home and it works fine. I'm not sure why
MS removed it in the beta version. As a consequence,
I need to run the ms one and ad-aware.

The amount of applications running to protect a pc is
getting insane - virus scan, firewall, spyware detect,
spam filters. I don't need to run another one.

 

[Dave M]

....and you didn't mention Anti-Trojan:

Not all Trojan Horses are detected by anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. So
you should have software that specializes in the removal of Trojans
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Roll_your_own_Free_Security_Suite