Spyware

[Tanya]

Arghh there's some thing I just can NOT get out of my computer and it's really pissing me off.

I have made it by for years with just using Ad Aware SE, and then last year got SpyBot which helped out a lot too. I occasionally use HiJack This, but sometimes the issue recurs upon reboot.

I really dont feel like getting a prog that requires me to reboot and start in safe mode, is there any programs out there (even if I have to pay for it) that are REALLY good spyware removers and so simple a caveman can use it? :biglaugh:

 

[suprarx7nut]

SPYSWEEPER!!!!!!!!! Thats all, SPYSWEEPER!!!!!!
by Webroot

Its pretty cheap and REALLY REALLY simple. I've been using that and Norton Internet Security and I've never, ever gotten a virus or any type of spyware or adware.

 

[Tanya]

I think I had spysweeper before and I didn't like it for some reason, I may try it again though.

Any other suggestions peoples?

 

[Selz202]

Prevx1

I swear it is the best and ultimate. Its free until the second time you need to remove malware. Everytime i do need to get rid of some, i just pay $5 for a month of it.

http://www.prevx.com/security.asp

 

[JMDigital]

Prevx1

I swear it is the best and ultimate. Its free until the second time you need to remove malware. Everytime i do need to get rid of some, i just pay $5 for a month of it.

http://www.prevx.com/security.asp

:werd: PREVX = FTW !

 

[Selz202]

You know it good when the program its self cannot be cracked... I guarantee you it will work, and if you dont want to pay for it to fix your shit a second time, you can use it to monitor all the processes and scan. It just wont disable any malware, which it is also very smart about... instead of deleting the files, it just puts a stop on them. That way they do not come back as something else, as most malwares do.

I have used mcaffee, norton, ad aware, black ice, and a bunch of free ones and trials. None of them came anywhere close to prevx1.

 

[RacerXJ220]

Spysweeper is the best. Been using it for two years. Love it.

http://anti-spyware-review.toptenreviews.com/

read about the top ten.

It's the best.

 

[drunk_medic]

I don't get it - where the hell are you visiting? What are you doing on the web? What permissions are you setting in your web browser? I use Spybot Search and Destroy, I surf with Mozilla Firefox and the built-in Windows XP firewall. I have suffered zero virus, trojan, deltree, dropper, or macro attacks in over 5 years. I have dealt with spyware, but it's been minimal - most are taken care of by SBSnD. If it freezes while trying to fix them, I re-start the computer, re-scan, write down the registry entries, kill all unfamiliar processes in the Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run registry keys, then restart in safe mode, delete the entries of all spyware, delete the programs that were pointed to in the Run key, and it's usually all good. Just restart as regular, rescan, and it's all gone. I do that about once a year, which is a small price to pay.
I still have to ask, because I visit porn sites sometimes and never have a spyware problem, what in the hell are you looking at that you are having such a bad spyware problem?

 

[ValgeKotkas]

I like Spyware Doctor.... Spybot kinda uses the cookies and temporary files, so deleting these manually is the same?

 

[drunk_medic]

It's not just deletion of cookies and temp files - I think a lot of it is scanning resident memory, or what your computer is currently processing or holding in memory [as most spyware is resident and loads into your memory on startup, so you have to identify it and stop it. Some will know when you are trying to close it's program, and will either deny you, or will re-run itself], scanning your startup files, and/or scanning your registry for keys that are known to be associated with spyware.

 

[Satan]

Not 1 program works all that great by itself... I use several. AdAware, ZoneAlarm, and TrendMicro....

The Trendmicro one is free to run from their site and if your bugs don't let you run it, you can download the trial version.

It's kinda slow at 1st, but after it's run, it's like the PCs are new again. It definitely catches what the others miss.

Try it and let us know....

 

[Tanya]

I still have to ask, because I visit porn sites sometimes and never have a spyware problem, what in the hell are you looking at that you are having such a bad spyware problem?

Animal porn, duh!


Seriously, I haven't a clue. I am on the computer 95% of the time, the other 5% is my husband, and he's been known to surf some stupid sites, like cheatcc.com, LOADED with fucking spyware.

As for me, I usually only surf my forums
celicasupra.com, supramania.com, supraforums.com, classic-celica.com, toymods.net, supraforums.au, 7mpowered.com, celica-gts.com

and my other most visited websites are cafepress and photobucket, occasionally youtube.com.


Earlier today I said screw it, I needed to do some things. I updated my BIOS from 3.10 to 3.28 and then booted in safe mode and ran my spyware progs, I STILL get a message from spybot saying "not all of the items can be removed, do you want spybot to run on your next startup?"

I click no, because all it does is run again, and find the same fucking object that it can't remove, which is my problem

 

[drunk_medic]

Tanya, when you scan next time, try this [it's long, but works for me].
All of the ones that cannot be removed, click the + next to them and write down the long string attached to each one. In safe mode, open up the registry [hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and click "Task Manager", then click "File" and "New Task (Run...)". Type in "regedit" and hit enter. You can hunt down the individual registry keys and kill them. You can also try running msconfig and going to the startup tab to see what is running there that shouldn't. Also, in the registry, there are keys under software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/run which will make certain programs run on startup.

 

[Tanya]

Thanks for the advice, I think I did try something like that before and I ended up fucking my computer up, LOL I had to do a system restore because it kept saying registry error or something. It sucks not having knowledageable computer people to do this for me so I dont nuke my PC accidentally >.<

 

[drunk_medic]

Yeah, most of the time when I see people like you or my dad, who [no offense] "know enough to be dangerous", it's tough to give advice because you don't want to steer them wrong and make them upset, and you don't want to mess up their computer. Really, if it came down to it, the best advice I could give someone with basic computer knowledge is to:
1: Buy a copy of Norton Ghost
2: Do a fresh format and re-install of WindowsXP
3: Install all drivers and get the computer exactly how you want it
4: Install Ghost, make a perfect image and store it on an external hard drive that you store someplace safe.

Then all you have to do to get back to "zero" [even if your hard drive crashes] is re-ghost from your other drive onto the main hard drive. I used to do this in a cyber-cafe about once a week on each computer, and it only took 10-20 minutes per computer.

 

[Tanya]

Hmm sounds like I better take it to a computer shop to have someone do that for me, I would pay to not nuke my PC myself, lol.

Thanks