Safe to remove spyware?

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Guest

I have been religious in using SPybot and Ad-Aware SE Personal for a long
time now and have been happy with the results, however after trawling few
numerous posts on this site the last few days i decided to run a new check
with http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/ apprentley i have 19
infected files, most of which are tucked up in Adware somewhere, the others
are scattered in my registry, is it safe for me to remove them? Especially
this one exclean.exe.
I have the log which i can post if any wishes to see it.
Many Thanx Nightshade
 
Spybot and AdAware check for spy/mal/adware. Panda's online VIRUS checker
checks for viruses. I would take Panda's suggestion and nuke everything it
finds.

If you don't have an anti virus program, get one. Spybot and AdAware are not
substitutes for an anti virus program or a firewall.

Alias
 
Yes, Panda Scan is reliable. However, they've recently added Spyware
scanning to their on-line tool. Problem is, it will detect Spyware but not
remove it. Panda scan is still an excellent cross-check for your own AV
program. Also, a run with Trend Micro's online scan isn't a waste of time.
 
Hi guys, yep i know they have added spyware scanning and wont remove it, that
is what im asking about, is it safe for me to remove the stuff it found from
my registry? I have Norton anti virus professional and their firewall.
 
Maybe - The single biggest issue with Spyware identification is "False
Positives". Not everything indicted is really Spyware, sometimes it
will be triggered by known sites that are mapped in the Registry as a
Restricted site or a blocked Cookie. Are you asking if it's O.K. &
prudent to remove items manually ? Is so that depends, no single
tool will find 100% identical items so you have to decide which tool
to trust. Automatic cleaners backup removed items. If you do it
manually in the Registry take a moment to Export the key/Value 1st.
 
Thanx R, hm maybe i'll leave them there for now, although the scanner did
direct me to URL's with the information proving that it was spyware. Just
wish i didnt have to buy the product to make sure of safe removal lol.
 
OMG am even more confused than ever now lol, i ran the first one it found
lots and again sont know wether to remove them myself, the 2nd one had no
download link and the 3rd norton firewall wanted me to block. Dont ya just
love technology.
 
More like a Love/Hate relationship. Getting rid of Spyware can be a
difficult, time-consuming operation. It's hard to advise you further,
since we aren't able to see what items these tools are detecting. As
stated earlier you should "Tighten Up/Lock Down" the PC's security
to keep this stuff off. Of course some browsing habits & downloads
just jump over the best of software protections you might have in place.

Do you have someone who might do a Remote Assistance session to
examine your XP instance for you ? I'd offer to do it myself, but don't
know how a Trans-Atlantic session would work.
 
Hi again, i've kept a note of what has been found by the scanners, and nope i
dont know of anyone who could assist me, i wish i hadn't bothered to start
looking now my heads a bit cabbaged lol. I've run a HJT and kept that. I try
to do everything i can to keep safe but it looks like it'll never be enough.
If you have some spare time whenever, i'd be grateful for your help but don't
want it to be problematic to you. Thanx again for all you've done so far.
 
You stated in the original post that some of what was found was in Ad Aware.
If you don't delete what Ad Aware finds, Ad Aware quarantines the items.
They are no longer in use and once quarantined, you can see if their removal
has caused any issues. If not, you can use Ad Aware to delete the items.
Any of those items might also be noted in the registry.

I don't advise manually deleting them from the registry but you might open
Ad Aware, check to see if there are items currently quarantined, if there's
been sufficient time to run the system while they were in quarantine and
you've had no problems, it's probably safe to use Ad Aware to delete them.

Then scan again with the alternatives you've mentioned, you will then have a
better idea of what is being picked up by Panda and whether or not they are
things other utilities have missed or if they were just items Ad Aware had
in quarantine.

That said, never ask if it is safe do remove something without naming the
file or items to which you are referring. As others have mentioned, even
the best adware scanners and even the best antivirus software can sometimes
produce false positives. If you cannot find out here, run a search on
Google for the item as you may get more information there.
 
Thanx for that Micheal, unfortunayely, im not as careful as i thought i was
bring as i never quanatined anything in ad ware, just selected all each time
and deleted. I've removed the stuff im not sure about and have them saved on
my desktop untill i can find out more. Maybe i'm not safe to have a pc lol.
 
LOL, I think we've all said that about ourselves from time to time.
 
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