Drop that Spyware/Adware

2006-04-19 11:43:35

#26

King_County_Downy: shitfaced; +2,791|6816|Seattle

I've been repairing pc's for 10 years. The best advise I could give anyone is:
Get all Windows Updates the minute you get on the internet (even better if you have them on disk and install before you get on the internet).
No anti-virus program detects all threats, some are just better at recognizing wildcards and symptoms. I've seen pro's and con's for each. I use Symantec Corporate Edition because there is no subscription EVER AGAIN. I'm sure we could argue about which is better...blah blah. Pick one, keep it updated.
Use an anti-spyware program that runs actively in your system tray (ad-aware re-active, not pro-active). I use Microsoft Defender. It updates itself and scans itself...set it and forget it. Each one detects it's own "list" of spyware/adware and I've found that none of them detect them all. A good one will ask you yes or nos' when "something" is happening that may not be wanted. READ WHAT IT SAYS BEFORE YOU CLICK ANYTHING.

The trick is to get your defense on BEFORE you get hit with something. Whatever you choose, keep it updated.

/Flame away.

Sober enough to know what I'm doing, drunk enough to really enjoy doing it

2006-04-20 11:07:02

#27

meowmix4jo: Member; +5|6803

yeah id say get at least 2, maybe a paid one and a good free one of each, my friend uses 3 of each and hes never gotten anything, but if your having problems best bet is to start of clean and reformat and get all the stuff needed because if you have soemthing it can be a real pain in the ass to remove it especially if it puts itself in the registry you think you got rid of it and it keeps comin back

2006-04-20 14:31:41

#28

King_County_Downy: shitfaced; +2,791|6816|Seattle

The only software I've ever paid for is registry mechanic and I can't say enough good things about it.

Sober enough to know what I'm doing, drunk enough to really enjoy doing it

2006-04-20 14:59:16

#29

UON: Junglist Massive; +223|6872

King_County_Downy wrote:
I use Symantec Corporate Edition because there is no subscription EVER AGAIN. I'm sure we could argue about which is better...blah blah. Pick one, keep it updated.

That sounds fun, let's do it ...

IMO Kaspersky kills the competition, I've subscribed for about 4 years despite having legal copies copies of F-Secure and Symantec provided by my university. I always find those to be quite heavy performance wise, even with the fastest settings. At the mo, I run Kaspersky in High Speed and it's more or less transparent. And they release updates about once every 2-3 hours, and it's fairly priced, and with 177,000+ virus records as opposed to 72251 in Symantec. And I always go for the underdog

EDIT: I should add that peraps my advice is not too relevant for people who want software which explains exactly what's going on when you get an infection.... I have been known to deliberately infect my machine and time myself at manual removal... to be honest I code alot and know the purpose of every single process and just about every registry entry on my machine... Process Explorer is Task Manager for the obsessive

Last edited by UnOriginalNuttah (2006-04-20 15:04:07)

2006-04-20 15:05:22

#30

duk0r: Administrator; +306|6887|Austin, TX

Great post! I think this is in the wrong section tho.
Moved -> Tech

*sticky*

https://bf3s.com/sigs/a3a6d1102d14bf2f7e266fba7f728dc2cc38b316.png

2006-04-26 22:52:13

#31

sixshot: Decepticon Geek; +50|6895|Planet Seibertron ;)

For those wishing to stay on the cutting edge or just needs something a little more up-to-date, Mozilla also has continuing project called Seamonkey. It is what comes after the Mozilla suite as support for the application will eventually cease. With Firefox and Thunderbird being continually updated, the Mozilla suite is quickly becoming ancient software by today's standards. It may still run, but as with any software it has its limits.

Seamonkey

The link above should contain the latest version available and is based on similar updated foundation (Gecko) found in Firefox and Thunderbird. If you are using the Mozilla suite, it's a good idea to migrate over to Seamonkey as soon as possible.

2006-04-27 22:10:24

#32

Maj.Do: Member; +85|6971|good old CA

for antispyware i just use Spy sweeper, ad-aware, and spybot. works great

2006-05-01 10:07:51

#33

JahManRed: wank; +646|6847|IRELAND

[DRS]ChurchSt wrote:
Or you could just use a Mac for day to day shit, and a PC to play games on. Jeez, wind0ze is a train wreak. Now let the flames begin. But the fact still remains, my Macs never let me down and my PC needs to be babied worse than my sisters kids.

I hear you. I use my G4 for everything bar gaming. Far better kit.

2006-05-01 14:03:37

#34

sixshot: Decepticon Geek; +50|6895|Planet Seibertron ;)

JahManRed wrote:
[DRS]ChurchSt wrote:
Or you could just use a Mac for day to day shit, and a PC to play games on. Jeez, wind0ze is a train wreak. Now let the flames begin. But the fact still remains, my Macs never let me down and my PC needs to be babied worse than my sisters kids.
I hear you. I use my G4 for everything bar gaming. Far better kit.

My Linux lappy will pwn your G4 any day of the week! *evil-laugh*

2006-05-06 02:56:17

#35

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6991|PNW

PC Bug Doctor is another decent piece of software, and so is Registry Mechanic.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-05-06 02:56:42)

2006-05-08 10:50:30

#36

acdc: Member; +37|6795|SEATTLE, WA

I have the Lavasoft Firewall installed. I was wondering how I update it? I don't see an update option anywhere on the program, does it do it automatcially? Or does it update the firewall program when you update the ad aware program?

2006-05-13 14:29:03

#37

mr.widdim: The Second Apostle Of Chuy; +78|6924|Flaming_Maniac = pwnd.

I am sorry, but Norton is not the best prog for virus protection, even mcafee is better...

2006-05-16 19:33:03

#38

k1LLr_M: Prone to Own; +118|6812|Houston, TX

Zonealarm FTW.
Hasn't failed me yet, another great firewall.

2006-05-18 19:49:11

#39

acdc: Member; +37|6795|SEATTLE, WA

I've had HORRIBLE experiences with Zone Alarm.

First, one time I was upgrading from the free version to like Pro, and the installation messed up. After that, everytime I try to access the internet, a note on the browser comes up saying your computer is most likely invaded by a intruder blah blah blah, basically, I could only access the internet for like 2 mins before it would lock up each time...

I looked on the Zone Alarm website and many others had the same problem and their tech support was garbage, I ended up reformating, I needed to anyways, but that's not the point.

Also, I heard the only way to get RID of Zone Alarm is to reformat completely, just uninstalling it doesnt work, I swear that program is a virus.

2006-05-18 21:56:12

#40

kilroy0097: Kilroy Is Here!; +81|7063|Bryan/College Station, TX

As a network admin at a school let first say that unless your computer exists in a network hot spot of hackers and computer criminals that the addition of a 3rd party Firewall is not really needed. The built in Windows XP firewall as long as your updates are kept up to date will do just fine. Maybe a router security firewall built into most "good" routers will also be fine. Zone Alarm and similar 3rd party firewalls only seem to screw up networks to no end. So if you are a private user in your home then go ahead however if you plan on going to the dorms then I would be wary.

As for a free anti-virus program I suggest: Avast!

I myself use Norton and due manual updates via file extraction. But I guess I'm a more advanced user.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

2006-05-19 04:10:20

#41

JahManRed: wank; +646|6847|IRELAND

I havent used a firewall in years and I have 6pc's in my office and 2 at home all without firewall and online all the time. Still no viruses or hacks or spyware to date.

My secret................ switch cookies & active X to prompt all. Its a pain in the arse as you have to keep blocking cookies, but its scarry to see how many cookies try to get on your machine and how many little programes want to install. A decent anti virus and spyware is all you need.

2006-05-19 04:44:42

#42

k1LLr_M: Prone to Own; +118|6812|Houston, TX

lol, you live dangerously....
I didn't know ZA was so bad...I just have the trial version, don't update it or anything so it works fine as far as blocking intrusions just gotta be a responsible internet user and you'll be fine.

2006-05-23 04:58:51

#43

G3|Genius: Pope of BF2s; +355|6845|Sea to globally-cooled sea

I've been using norton for YEARS. It's become progressively more and more invasive.

If you've ever seen I, Robot: Norton seems to protect your computer the same way the robots protect the humans. Norton became so debilitating that it was more like a virus than a virus protector.

I completely removed it, and I use a little program called Pest Patrol. It's nothin special, but seems to do the trick. I like it.

IE pissed me off once because of the way it downloads files. I was downloading EF and chatting on AIM. The download finished while I was typing, and the little window popped up right as I was pressing the spacebar. BOOP! all gone. start the download all over.

I was late for work. that pissed me off so bad that I switched to Firefox right then. Firefox is great, except that some sites still don't let you pay bills/etc on them.

regardless. Pest Patrol and Firefox work for me...never had any problems.

2006-05-23 05:01:06

#44

G3|Genius: Pope of BF2s; +355|6845|Sea to globally-cooled sea

I also recommend backing up your data on a DVD-RW once a week. it's free, and, like I've always said:

There are two types of people in this world: Those who have lost data, and those who have not.

2006-05-23 14:20:36

#45

acdc: Member; +37|6795|SEATTLE, WA

I've been using Firefox for about three weeks now and my computer runs A LOT slower than when I used IE.

Sometimes I'll look at the task manager and firefox.exe will be taking 70% of the CPU but the browser is just sitting on google.com's main page DOING NOTHING

I seriously have a setting wrong or I have a virus in firefox.exe because, when I compared load times and searching times to IE, IE is much faster.

My computer is a slow pos laptop but still, if it ran IE fast and good, shouldnt it be able to run firefox?

2006-05-25 20:13:46

#46

mr.widdim: The Second Apostle Of Chuy; +78|6924|Flaming_Maniac = pwnd.

acdc wrote:
My computer is a slow pos laptop but still, if it ran IE fast and good, shouldnt it be able to run firefox?

You should try emailing them.

2006-05-25 20:21:09

#47

Sgt. Slaughter: Member; +0|6831|Bartlesville, OK

For those of you who use Norton or Symantec Anti-virus, you might want to read this:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/05/25/antivirus.flaw.ap/index.html

2006-05-27 00:18:14

#48

JimKong: Member; +31|6861|Ohio

acdc wrote:
I've been using Firefox for about three weeks now and my computer runs A LOT slower than when I used IE.

How to make Firefox run faster

Extensions (not just handy for porn...)

When I was in Korea I had IE problems on a daily basis. Failures to connect, crashes, pop-ups, images not loading. I switched to Firefox and have had no complaints. The download manager is +1.

FIREFOX FTW!!!

*Comcast subscribers get free McAfee AV and firewall.

Last edited by JimKong (2006-05-27 00:20:11)

2006-05-30 17:08:40

#49

Snowmanimal: Not so unique forum title; +30|6762|My head

I have been using firefox now for about a year and a half. It is much easier and a little more problem free (in my case) than IE. The many addons make it that much better.

Snow

2006-05-31 08:47:36

#50

T0tal-Annihilation: Member; +6|6905|Marietta, GA (near Atlanta)

Get Spyware Blaster...
it's free and blocks a lot of crap, it's good if you don't wanna play for ad-aware.
It's a bit weird that none of you guys mentioned HijackThis...though I guess it could be a bit of a fuss for the non-tech savy people.
Oh yeah... don't forgot to customize ad-aware options like write-protcting system files after scanning.

BF2S Forums Drop that Spyware/Adware

King_County_Downy wrote:

[DRS]ChurchSt wrote:

JahManRed wrote:

[DRS]ChurchSt wrote:

acdc wrote:

acdc wrote:

Board footer