Spyware and Limited user on XP Pro

[bbford]

On my XP Pro pc, all web surfing is done on the limited user account. I
restricted drive c: to be read only and denied write. I also denied any
registry editing tools through gpedit.

Would this alone be adequate to protect my pc from spyware, hijackers, etc,
without using any other 3rd party applications like Spybot?

 

[edubbs]

In my experience, no.

At my work, I've locked down all of the sets pretty tight,
limited users, no access to c:\, no permission to install
programs, edit registry, etc...Spyware and hijackers still
find their way onto pcs.

I've used Spybot and really like it. The immunize feature
works well. Make sure you run the updates before using it.
Spyware will still make it on though.

Another good technique is using a hosts file and taking
advantage of IE's restricted zones feature. These 2
articles provide some great info:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/restricted.htm

Hope this helps.
E