Spybot S&D 1.6 being pushed, and Teatimer pop-ups

[Pat Willener]

Most of you who have not already upgraded to SS&D 1.6 have probably been
auto-updated during the 2008-08-06 update. I bet that the update went
smooth, and perhaps some of you didn't even notice that you were upgraded.

Some of my friend and acquaintances didn't notice that they were
upgraded, but what they all *did* notice was Teatimer's new behavior -
popping up process scanning notices every few seconds. Over and over,
the same processes all over again. I advised them to stop Teatimer if
it becomes too irritating.

I will check in the Safer Networking forums if there are already
discussions, and/or perhaps a solution. (I personally don't use
Teatimer, so I haven't noticed it myself.)

 

[gene]

Most of you who have not already upgraded to SS&D 1.6 have probably been
auto-updated during the 2008-08-06 update. I bet that the update went
smooth, and perhaps some of you didn't even notice that you were upgraded.

Some of my friend and acquaintances didn't notice that they were
upgraded, but what they all *did* notice was Teatimer's new behavior -
popping up process scanning notices every few seconds. Over and over,
the same processes all over again. I advised them to stop Teatimer if
it becomes too irritating.

I will check in the Safer Networking forums if there are already
discussions, and/or perhaps a solution. (I personally don't use
Teatimer, so I haven't noticed it myself.)

I also notice that unlike with the previous version, TeaTimer is
running for a long time at the end of startup.

Gene

 

[Pat Willener]

OK, it seems quite easy to get rid of the Teatimer pop-up ballons:
right-click on the resident icon in the Systray, then uncheck "Show info
balloons". Some people in the forum claim they needed to restart the
resident, but I didn't - the pop-ups stopped immediately.

 

[Alan]

Hi Pat,

I HAD upgraded to v 1.6 on my own last Monday. After the installation, I
began to notice a slight lag in my PC's performance.

For example, when I clicked on a folder in Windows Explorer, there was a
very slight hesitation before the files would display. Additionally, Web
pages loaded more slowly as did applications such as Word, Excel, etc.

I uninstalled v 1.6 and went back to 1.52 on Friday evening. My PC is
working the way it used to.

I don't plan on upgrading to v 1.6 unless I absolutely have to.

Alan

 

[gene]

Hi Pat,

I HAD upgraded to v 1.6 on my own last Monday. After the installation, I
began to notice a slight lag in my PC's performance.

For example, when I clicked on a folder in Windows Explorer, there was a
very slight hesitation before the files would display. Additionally, Web
pages loaded more slowly as did applications such as Word, Excel, etc.

I uninstalled v 1.6 and went back to 1.52 on Friday evening. My PC is
working the way it used to.

Where did you find 1.52? Ever since around the time of installing 1.6
there's been weird things going on with my computer, including Yahoo
signing itself out just by using it or trying to attach a file to an
email (with Opera), and repeated mouse and keyboard freezes. I don't
know that it's Spybot, but given TeaTimer's behavior going back is
worth a try.

Gene

 

[Alan]

Hi gene,

I'm a packrat.

I pretty much have all version of software installation files that I've ever
downloaded.

So, for me to go back to my Spybot v 1.52 setup file, all I needed to do was
to open my C:\download\Spybot folder and there was the spybotsd152.exe
installation file. :>

I'll be happy to send it to you, but I'm not sure if I can attach any files
in this newsgroup.

Alan

 

[Dave M]

Although I save the prior version of all installed software like Alan does,
Spybot is not one of my tools. However, you can find past releases of
Spybot, including 1.52 here:
http://www.filehippo.com/download_spybot_search_destroy/

 

[gene]

Although I save the prior version of all installed software like Alan does,
Spybot is not one of my tools. However, you can find past releases of
Spybot, including 1.52 here:
http://www.filehippo.com/download_spybot_search_destroy/

Thanks. During the installation 1.52 (and 1.60), it asks (checed box
by default) if TeaTimer should be installed as a permanent system
monitor. I saw that in 1.60 but never really noticed it in the earlier
versions. What happens practically speaking if the user leaves that
unchecked?

Gene

 

[Dave M]

You risk potential conflict with other installed real-time security
products. Although I don't use Spybot, others here do and I'll let them
comment to you, but as long as you're aware of the potential and watch for
evidence of it, I think you should be alright. One way this shows up is in
elevated task manager CPU levels for two different security products
running for inordinately long intervals. Forcing one of them to end should
frees up the other's higher than normal use of CPU cycles. If that
happens, then you know that one or the other should be removed from your
system.

 

[Pat Willener]

Alan,

I am curious what version of 1.6 did cause you these problems: 1.6.0.30
or 1.6.0.31?

 

[Alan D]

> I don't plan on upgrading to v 1.6 unless I absolutely have
to.

I'm still on 1.4, which I use purely for the immunisation protection (in
conjunction with Spywareblaster). After the problems caused for so many by
1.5, and the problems now apparently beginning to emerge with 1.6, I just
don't feel able to trust the Spybot guys (nor the AdAware guys) to get it
right, any more - sad though that is, and grateful though I am for their
protection in the past.

 

[Alan]

Pat,

As I no longer have SpyBot v 1.6 on my computer, the best I can do is to
give you the version of the installation file.

I installed SpyBot v 1.6 using spybotsd160.exe, whose version is shown as
1.6.0.0.

Alan

 

[Alan]

Hi Alan D,

I hear you.

I stopped using AdAware a long time ago.

I never upgraded SpyBot v 1.4 to v 1.5 because of its reported problems,
although I finally did go to v 1.52, which I'm quite happy with. As we know,
I wasn't too thrilled with v 1.6.

I stopped using AVG when I was more or less forced to switch from v 7.5 to
version 8.0.

Instead, I now use Avast!

And I stopped using Zone Alarm in April -- long before the recent debacle
with the Microsoft update in July -- and now use the native XP firewall.

Alan