ANY COMMENTS ON BEST SPYWARE REMOVAL-PLEASE!

[Guest]

Someone please tell me what are the best pay and free versions of software available that will do it all...find, fix/remove, and prevent/block spyware?

Also...if you have any comments on the best antivirus program that compliments it and if it should be with or without firewall protection.

I had a real battle with Ad-aware(Lavasoft) and Panda.

 

[Burt]

Sean,
First off, you shouldn't be having any trouble with Ad Aware 6... Works
great, but here is some further info for you.

http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
For more updated information.

Spybot Search and Destroy (Free!)
http://www.safer-networking.net/

Lavasoft AdAware (Free and up)
http://www.lavasoft.de

CWSShredder (Free!)
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

Hijack This! (Free)
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/
( Tutorial: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.html )

SpywareBlaster (Free!)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/

IE-SPYAD (Free!)
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm

ToolbarCop (Free!)
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/toolbarcop.htm

Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner (Free!)
http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/index.html

Browser Security Tests
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

The Cleaner (49.95 and up)
http://www.moosoft.com/

HTH,
--
Burt
The Old Alaskan
MVP's listed on TECKPAGE
http://www.cvinternet.net/~smokydog
http://www.cvinternet.net/~smokydog/teckpage.htm

Someone please tell me what are the best pay and free versions of software

available that will do it all...find, fix/remove, and prevent/block spyware?

Also...if you have any comments on the best antivirus program that

compliments it and if it should be with or without firewall protection.

 

[RayO]

I usually like to remove them manually, after identifying
the parasite. The best site for that info is the Symantec
site: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/ A good
search there will usually find what's you're looking for.

For prevention, firewall and virus-scans are really
not the best protection for this. The best protection
is an informed user. You need to know what an
activeX install prompt is, and whether the site that
prompts you for an activeX install is trustworthy.
Prompts for activeX installation are sorta like a very
large popup alert, with a grey background, with a Yes, No
option at the bottom, very unlike ad pop-ups that open a
new smaller IE window. Don't click on Yes willy nilly.
And in general, you need to be careful about installing
software from untrustworthy sources.

Short of an informed user, you can disable
activeX options in IE's Internet Options, Security tab
section for the Internet Zone, and perhaps disable Java
applets as well. But this may reduce functionality
on various sites, so there is a tradeoff there, with more
security comes less functionality. In the end there is
no good substitute for an informed vigilant user.


RayO

Someone please tell me what are the best pay and free versions of software

available that will do it all...find, fix/remove, and prevent/block spyware?

Also...if you have any comments on the best antivirus program that

compliments it and if it should be with or without firewall protection.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Burt!

I think it's probably more the Panda AV. On one of the other computers it's starting a fight with SpyBot. I bought three of Panda's versions for our different computers...Titanium 2004, Internet Security Platinum 8.0, and Platinum 7.0 alone. I like the older Platinum best. It allows more control over that stupid bear warning you about every move PAV makes. It's really annoying! Other than that, it seems to be pretty good. One of the Dell tech support guys told me that's what they use at the "office". It seemed like a good recommedation to me.

 

[Guest]

Great advise Ray! I couldn't agree more. I too am very cautious about downloads and used to always use Norton AV, until the renewal fees went from $3.98 a year, for all my computers, to $19.95 each! It's probably fair but kinda sits wrong after being their loyal customer for years. I have never had a problem until this week. I had taken precautions but man did my laptop go crazy. Ad-Aware found 241 infected files/folders.

Oh well, I'm sure you you have a few war stories of your own, so I"ll quit boring you with mine. Thanks again for your reply.

 

[RayO]

You're not going to be believe this, but I've never
ever used any anti-virus software on my home systems,
not in ten years of heavy Internet use, and never had
a virus or worm of any kind. That may not be the best
option for most people, but just goes to show that an informed
user is really the best protection.

I have seen Ad-Aware on a relatives machine. It was
completely useless in preveting or removing a number of
his parasites. I've also seen virally infected computers with
virus-scans installed and running. They're of limited use,
because new viruses, worms and parasites evolve all the
time, and also because users can be tricked into installing
what they shouldn't.

What I do use is a NAT router (it's essentially a firewall, though
technically it's not), absolutely critical, especially with broadband.
I also run MS Win update religiously, again, absolutely critical,
even for informed users. And I backup regularly, just in case.

RayO

Great advise Ray! I couldn't agree more. I too am very cautious about

downloads and used to always use Norton AV, until the renewal fees went from
$3.98 a year, for all my computers, to $19.95 each! It's probably fair but
kinda sits wrong after being their loyal customer for years. I have never had
a problem until this week. I had taken precautions but man did my laptop go
crazy. Ad-Aware found 241 infected files/folders.

Oh well, I'm sure you you have a few war stories of your own, so I"ll quit

boring you with mine. Thanks again for your reply.