MIke said:
Hi, Can someone advise me as to why I have to run Spybot every day to
clear the same, identical 5 pieces of spyware?
Because it's a bug in SpyBot S&D.
Is there something I can
do to prevent it?
Configure SpyBot S&D to ignore it.
If I deactivate the WINXP Fire Wall, and run Zone
Alarm's Firewall, would I still get the stupid spyware?
No, this would have absolutely no bearing on this issue, or on few,
very few other spyware problems.
Neither adware nor spyware, collectively known as scumware,
magically install themselves on anyone's computer. They are almost
always deliberately installed by the computer's user, as part of some
allegedly "free" service or product.
While there are some unscrupulous malware distributors out there,
who do attempt to install and exploit malware without consent, the
majority of them simply rely upon the intellectual laziness and
gullibility of the average consumer, counting on them to quickly click
past the EULA in his/her haste to get the latest in "free" cutesy
cursors, screensavers, "utilities," and/or wallpapers.
If you were to read the EULAs that accompany, and to which the
computer user must agree before the download/installation of the
"screensaver" continues, most adware and spyware, you'll find that
they _do_ have the consumer's permission to do exactly what they're
doing. In the overwhelming majority of cases, computer users have no
one to blame but themselves.
The usual is: DSO EXploit -I delete it per the program, then re-
immunize, and sign out.
The DSO exploit was patched long ago by IE Cumulative Update
MS02-015, in March of 2002. If you've installed this specific patch,
or any subsequent IE Cumulative Updates, IE Service Pack 1, or WinXP
SP2, you're safe. It would appear that the latest version of SpyBot
S&D is only checking for Internet zone settings in the registry that
could be used as work-around protection, and not for the presence of
any corrective patches. Hopefully, the makers of SpyBot will soon fix
this bug.
MS02-015 March 28, 2002 Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;319182
If you like, you can test your system for this particular
vulnerability at this web site:
http://www.grey.com/security/advisories/gm001-ie/
The makers of SpyBot S&D have acknowledged the problem and will
fix it on their next update:
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=paragraphs&detail=currentfaqs
In the meantime, in SpyBot S&D, click Mode > Advanced > Settings >
Ignore Products > Security > DSO Exploit, to turn off the false alarm.
Some people have reported that the SpyBot Detection rules dated 30
Aug 04, or newer, when used with SpyBot S&D 1.3.1TX, will fix this
problem. However, I've had inconsistent results with that particular
detection update; sometimes it reads clean, then later it will once
again find the DSO problem, and then it will read clean again, all on
the same machine, with no other changes made.
--
Bruce Chambers
Help us help you:
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
