How tell bad vs. good "spyware"

[George]

Could a few MVP's or other pro's help with these newbie questions...

I'm using WinXP-pro and just installed Lavasoft AdAware, for starters. Of
course I know there's no such thing as "good" spyware, but what I mean is...
when it comes up with a list of 50 things and asks if I want to quarantine
them...

a) how do I decide (based on the scant line item phrase presented for each
thing found) *which* ones to quarantine vs. which ones might actually do
something useful and

b) the last time I quarantined, it seemed to turn into "delete" just after
that and they were gone... is there a way (or would I want to) "park" the
questionable items (I thought that was what quarantine meant) and maybe wait
a few days and see if something isn't going to work anymore, and

c) if there is a way to "park" things and I later find out they are needed,
how can I put them back.

Pls excuse the newbie questions, but I would greatly value any suggestions
offered. Sure I can try the Adaware board next, but WinXP wiz bangs seem to
have a broader perspective about these things.

Thanks,
George

 

[David H. Lipman]

Adaware weights them. For example, Alexa is weighted a low risk. Those that are rated
medium and above should be removed. Those that are rated as low risks are questionable but
it is worth removing them as well.

--
Dave




| Could a few MVP's or other pro's help with these newbie questions...
|
| I'm using WinXP-pro and just installed Lavasoft AdAware, for starters. Of
| course I know there's no such thing as "good" spyware, but what I mean is...
| when it comes up with a list of 50 things and asks if I want to quarantine
| them...
|
| a) how do I decide (based on the scant line item phrase presented for each
| thing found) *which* ones to quarantine vs. which ones might actually do
| something useful and
|
| b) the last time I quarantined, it seemed to turn into "delete" just after
| that and they were gone... is there a way (or would I want to) "park" the
| questionable items (I thought that was what quarantine meant) and maybe wait
| a few days and see if something isn't going to work anymore, and
|
| c) if there is a way to "park" things and I later find out they are needed,
| how can I put them back.
|
| Pls excuse the newbie questions, but I would greatly value any suggestions
| offered. Sure I can try the Adaware board next, but WinXP wiz bangs seem to
| have a broader perspective about these things.
|
| Thanks,
| George
|
|

 

[Rock]

Could a few MVP's or other pro's help with these newbie questions...

I'm using WinXP-pro and just installed Lavasoft AdAware, for starters. Of
course I know there's no such thing as "good" spyware, but what I mean is...
when it comes up with a list of 50 things and asks if I want to quarantine
them...

a) how do I decide (based on the scant line item phrase presented for each
thing found) *which* ones to quarantine vs. which ones might actually do
something useful and

b) the last time I quarantined, it seemed to turn into "delete" just after
that and they were gone... is there a way (or would I want to) "park" the
questionable items (I thought that was what quarantine meant) and maybe wait
a few days and see if something isn't going to work anymore, and

c) if there is a way to "park" things and I later find out they are needed,
how can I put them back.

Pls excuse the newbie questions, but I would greatly value any suggestions
offered. Sure I can try the Adaware board next, but WinXP wiz bangs seem to
have a broader perspective about these things.

Thanks,
George

Use google to search for them and find out more information on what they
are to decide if you want it.

 

[Kelly]

Hi George,

For XP, there isn't anything needed to save using AdAware SE, Spybot or
HijackThis. I use these daily in my business here and have studied the keys
extensively. Alexa, true is one, but one you can live without and then DSO
Exploit which can be corrected as a false positive. After running the
cleaners, then the MRU list appears, which will remove your Run keys. Other
than watching for that, the only other points to ponder are you Run key
items as: Messenger, AIM, etc..... Again, not detrimental.

--
All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Steve N.]

Hi George,

For XP, there isn't anything needed to save using AdAware SE, Spybot or
HijackThis. I use these daily in my business here and have studied the keys
extensively. Alexa, true is one, but one you can live without and then DSO
Exploit which can be corrected as a false positive. After running the
cleaners, then the MRU list appears, which will remove your Run keys. Other
than watching for that, the only other points to ponder are you Run key
items as: Messenger, AIM, etc..... Again, not detrimental.

Just some additional info. In Spybot S&D if you elect to immunize the
system it can disable some things you might want to use. For example, I
immunized my wife's PC and then none of her Excite pages would load
graphics and she was not pleased. Fortunately the undo function
corrected that <whew>.

Steve

 

[Alias]

: Kelly wrote:
:
: > Hi George,
: >
: > For XP, there isn't anything needed to save using AdAware SE, Spybot or
: > HijackThis. I use these daily in my business here and have studied the
keys
: > extensively. Alexa, true is one, but one you can live without and then
DSO
: > Exploit which can be corrected as a false positive. After running the
: > cleaners, then the MRU list appears, which will remove your Run keys.
Other
: > than watching for that, the only other points to ponder are you Run key
: > items as: Messenger, AIM, etc..... Again, not detrimental.
: >
:
: Just some additional info. In Spybot S&D if you elect to immunize the
: system it can disable some things you might want to use. For example, I
: immunized my wife's PC and then none of her Excite pages would load
: graphics and she was not pleased. Fortunately the undo function
: corrected that <whew>.
:
: Steve

I have the inmunize feature enabled and I just went to excite.com and all
the graphics loaded nicely ...
--
Alias

Use the Reply to Sender feature of your news reader program to email me.

Utiliza Responder al Remitente para mandarme un mail.

 

[Steve N.]

: Kelly wrote:
:
: > Hi George,
: >
: > For XP, there isn't anything needed to save using AdAware SE, Spybot or
: > HijackThis. I use these daily in my business here and have studied the
keys
: > extensively. Alexa, true is one, but one you can live without and then
DSO
: > Exploit which can be corrected as a false positive. After running the
: > cleaners, then the MRU list appears, which will remove your Run keys.
Other
: > than watching for that, the only other points to ponder are you Run key
: > items as: Messenger, AIM, etc..... Again, not detrimental.
: >
:
: Just some additional info. In Spybot S&D if you elect to immunize the
: system it can disable some things you might want to use. For example, I
: immunized my wife's PC and then none of her Excite pages would load
: graphics and she was not pleased. Fortunately the undo function
: corrected that <whew>.
:
: Steve

I have the inmunize feature enabled and I just went to excite.com and all
the graphics loaded nicely ...

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I may look into it further. She is
using Win2K Pro, not XP, and Netscape, not IE. These may be the difference.

Steve

 

[Alias]

: Alias wrote:
:
: > : > : Kelly wrote:
: > :
: > : > Hi George,
: > : >
: > : > For XP, there isn't anything needed to save using AdAware SE, Spybot
or
: > : > HijackThis. I use these daily in my business here and have studied
the
: > keys
: > : > extensively. Alexa, true is one, but one you can live without and
then
: > DSO
: > : > Exploit which can be corrected as a false positive. After running
the
: > : > cleaners, then the MRU list appears, which will remove your Run
keys.
: > Other
: > : > than watching for that, the only other points to ponder are you Run
key
: > : > items as: Messenger, AIM, etc..... Again, not detrimental.
: > : >
: > :
: > : Just some additional info. In Spybot S&D if you elect to immunize the
: > : system it can disable some things you might want to use. For example,
I
: > : immunized my wife's PC and then none of her Excite pages would load
: > : graphics and she was not pleased. Fortunately the undo function
: > : corrected that <whew>.
: > :
: > : Steve
: >
: > I have the inmunize feature enabled and I just went to excite.com and
all
: > the graphics loaded nicely ...
:
: Interesting. Thanks for the info. I may look into it further. She is
: using Win2K Pro, not XP, and Netscape, not IE. These may be the
difference.
:
: Steve

I used Firefox to visit Excite. I just tried IE and no problems with the
graphics.
--
Alias

Use the Reply to Sender feature of your news reader program to email me.

Utiliza Responder al Remitente para mandarme un mail.
:

 

[Al Smith]

Could a few MVP's or other pro's help with these newbie questions...

I'm using WinXP-pro and just installed Lavasoft AdAware, for starters. Of
course I know there's no such thing as "good" spyware, but what I mean is...
when it comes up with a list of 50 things and asks if I want to quarantine
them...

a) how do I decide (based on the scant line item phrase presented for each
thing found) *which* ones to quarantine vs. which ones might actually do
something useful and

Good rule of thumb, if it is flagged as spyware, delete it. Sure,
it may have some useful function, but it is spyware! You don't
need this crap on your computer. Get a similar program that isn't
spyware.

 

[Ian Hoare]

Salut/Hi Al Smith,

le/on Sat, 08 Jan 2005 19:20:19 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

Good rule of thumb, if it is flagged as spyware, delete it. Sure,
it may have some useful function, but it is spyware! You don't
need this crap on your computer. Get a similar program that isn't
spyware.

I think that's a little black and white.

For example, I use Eudora. It has three modes, fulkl (paid for) ads (free,
and fully functional until the 6.xx series) light (cut down). I'm perfectly
happy to have it send me ads from time to time, to get the functionality of
the full version.

As long as the Adware isn't acting as spyware, or messing around withe my
browser etc defaults, I don't see it as any worse than the Ads that help to
pay for a magazine.

 

[Kelly]

First I've heard of this, Steve. Thanks for the info.

--
All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Steve N.]

First I've heard of this, Steve. Thanks for the info.

Well, Spybot S&D does warn that disabling ad-bots may disable the
functionality of some programs that contain them, and it does classify
Excite cookies as using tracking cookies, so it does sort of add up in a
way, although I don't see any ill effects of my wife using the features
in her Excite account and I don't know that I'd classify Excite as using
ad-bots, but then I haven't looked into it that deeply.

Steve

 

[Al Smith]

Good rule of thumb, if it is flagged as spyware, delete it. Sure,

I think that's a little black and white.

For example, I use Eudora. It has three modes, fulkl (paid for) ads (free,
and fully functional until the 6.xx series) light (cut down). I'm perfectly
happy to have it send me ads from time to time, to get the functionality of
the full version.

Does AdAware flag Eudora? I'd be surprised to hear that it did.
AdAware doesn't mess with my AOL Instant Messenger client, but
that sucker sends me ads like you wouldn't believe. I don't
particularly mind them, either -- I've been debating with myself
whether to run the hack to disable the ads in AIM, but don't know
if it is worth the trouble to do so. Anti-spyware is targeted at
annoying software that sneaks on to your machine behind your back
and refuses to uninstall gracefully.