Losing the Spyware Battle

[Steve N.]

Thanks for your addition, Steve....much appreciated! )

As per your comments, what are you calling startup reg files (example if you
could)? I am very interested. )

I'm sorry, they are not necessarily "startup" reg entries, just reg
entries for various programs/files that HT doesn't seem to track. When
dealing with infestations using HT I delete the nasties that HT finds,
then run jv16 RegCleaner and find more entries for the same nasties in
the "Software" area.

As for HT, it just takes a bit of common sense and being familiar with your
settings. A bit different can be said for a registry cleaner, even though
HT does remove from the registry and does make changes.

I agree, but the same can be said of any registry tools, that is my
point. If you are unfamiliar with what you've got, etc., they all can be
dangerous. The good thing about HT is there are knowledgable folks in
the forums that advise on HT results. I still worry that someone runs HT
and starts deleting thing unknowingly, just as they would using another
reg tool.

That said, users of the program seldom know to use the Config option, which
can preset the home page instead of ending up with About:Blank and having
them all checked, once ran. Also included within that arena: there is
nothing there that can't be removed (this statement does not apply to Win98
nor ME).

What runs upon boot is clearly listed within msconfig/startup. It does not
remove any installed programs, just the bootup process which can be easily
corrected. The rest is added toolbar, etc items via IE that commonly relate
to Alexa, Messenger, Yahoo, etc. Those added buttons are seldom used anyway
and the user wouldn't miss them for the grand part.
Agreed.


As for the rest, HT can solve immediately what users suffer from without
knowing where else to turn. I have been impressed with this small utility
for a great while now.

Oh, I'm impressed with it alright, too. I didn't mean to poo-poo it at
all. I've just found that for some persistent nasties it is not
sufficient alone. I can't cite any hard examples right now, sorry.

Steve