Spyware!

[Anonymous]

What's up with the all spyware on this site? Who's doing all the spying? Why?

[adrianspeeder]

Here is what ya do

Go to google.com and download their toolbar. That will stop popups.

Search for spywareblaster on google and download that and use it

Search for Ad-Aware Personal on google and download that and use it

Then go buy a good antivirus software (i like symantec)

Those four things keep my network fast and trouble free.

Adrianspeeder

[Anonymous]

Thanks.
I do use Ad-aware & now Spybot now,So far so good,My computer hasn't crashed YET.

[Modelcar]

Adrian......Have a question on Ad-aware personal. I have and use that but every time I turn on the unit and run Ad-aware I find the same 11 parisites back. Is there a way to further rid these programs out for good....Like quarantine them....Would you or anyone who might know comment please.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

Adrian......Have a question on Ad-aware personal. I have and use that but every time I turn on the unit and run Ad-aware I find the same 11 parisites back. Is there a way to further rid these programs out for good....Like quarantine them....Would you or anyone who might know comment please.

Yes! Ad-aware is free, but they also have a version you can purcahse which will block any spyware that it knows to look for.

Or you can dump IE and switch to Mozilla Firefox Browser. I have been using it for about 2 months now and have virtuality eliminated both spy and ad ware. This progran is free, it has google search built in as well as the google pop-up blocker.

[Overmod]

Modelcar -- there's a separate step in Ad-Aware to actually get rid of some of this stuff. If you don't actually delete some of the programs, they keep self-installing... some programs (versions of Gator are an example) load a redundant copy in the registry (or elsewhere) and run an "innocuous" routine to re-install themselves from there. There's an ongoing 'war' to design clever ways to keep the $$$$pyware up and running before LavaSoft or others build an appropriate heel for each new cockroach... ;-}

Be aware also that not all "spyware" is actually something you don't want. Many of the utilities (IIRC Weather Bug is one) use the same machinery, and Ad-Aware will gleefully flag them for deletion. If you're running one of those hokey OSes with 'automatic healing', and Ad-Aware deletes something that has made an "appropriate" registry entry, it might be put back in at the next boot time. (This is a reason that sometimes, when you have hives, you itch uncontrollably and can't seem to keep it scratched... ;-})

There is a way to get Ad-Aware to tell you about each piece of software it flags -- I believe you still have to double-click on each line to get this to happen (I wish it would use something like ToolTips to pop up the information for each item as I use arrows to go up and down in the list). This is helpful (but not always helpful 'enough').

I note that my accesses to the forum posts in the last several days are now referring to statse.webtrends.live as they load -- which they did not do formerly. I have also encountered numerous irritating 'freezes' of the forum access -- always when trying to connect to "ads.kalmbach.com" I will state here, for the record, that while I don't mind running a data-mining client for a good cause (and Kalmbach Publications counts in that category, in my book), I do NOT tolerate third-party unrestricted use of harvested data (and especially unrestricted release of access data to further third parties, presumably for "marketing opportunities" (i.e. spam).

Make it a regular practice, Ad-Aware or not, to go through your browser cookies and delete anything not KNOWN to you to be a legitimate application. It is a common practice for companies to use euphemistic names -- when in doubt, figure out what a company's Web site is, go there, and see what they do. I never tire of how much of this cruft accumulates from even a few hours of Google searching.

[Anonymous]

That new bill to be introduced in congress stalls regarding "spyware".

[Modelcar]

talbanese and Overmod.....Thanks for the comments....It is a real pain to see this stuff reappear every time one turns the machine back on....All the items that have just been removed are right back again enjoying their return to one's computer....All this probably is a little too complicated for me to fight....

[Anonymous]

I know the feeling,Unless you want your computer to crash all the time. Also......
Spyware is getting more and more violent now!

[Anonymous]

Adaware I find is the best program, go to google.com and type Adaware, it is a free program for personal use

[oskar]

yeah,my other computer that I have MSTS and other games like NHL 2002 NHL 2003 NHL 2004,RRT3 and other games has spyware[V][banghead][censored][soapbox]





kevin

[Modelcar]

Right, Kevin....I do have Ad-aware, have had now for some time. It takes it out but each time I turn back on and run a scan I find the same 11 parasites have returned and I must run the program again....

[Hugh Jampton]

have you tried spybot?

[Rick Gates]

Most adware and spyware work as Overmod has stated and as he said has redundant registry back-up so they appear each time you reboot. Most of them are harmless and you accepted them when you clicked "I agree" when downloading a program with ad sponsors or updates. Most programs with virus scan and firewalls such as Symantec or McAfee can also run these spyware scans and can be configured to "clean your tracks" each time before you shut down your pc. This will delete all cookies, and recent histories of what you are doing while on the pc. I believe the new windows firewall ( SP2) can do this also and it is also free.

[miniwyo]

I do not get much spyware off this site just one every now ans then I use Adaware SE Personal and it helps alot. I have found out that spybot is IMO the most worthless piece of junk out there to remove spyware. Spyware is just annoying and whoever makes It should be shot. There is always somone who has to ruin thing for everyone.

[Overmod]

Just to add a brief note (and sorry if folks already know this) -- be careful when deleting cookies if you have any automatic logins (such as the ones for this forum) as the information is stored as cookies that are not always 'obvious' from their filenames or content. There was a time -- not very long ago -- when service providers thought an automatic-login cookie represented a fine opportunity to put in some click-tracking links for "e-commerce" (insert self-serving buzzwords, etc. from the pre-dot-bomb era here). In a perfect world, one would, of course, want the two functionalities to be kept strictly separated, but this may be too much of a temptation for providers to resist -- like what happens with required registration for newspaper sites.

[Anonymous]

Will this Firewall work for Windows98?
What is the web site so I can download Fire wall?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by miniwyo

I do not get much spyware off this site just one every now ans then I use Adaware SE Personal and it helps alot. I have found out that spybot is IMO the most worthless piece of junk out there to remove spyware. Spyware is just annoying and whoever makes It should be shot. There is always somone who has to ruin thing for everyone.

I do and must 100% must agree on that.

[Anonymous]

Depending on how much you surf, you can also use IE's security zones to control what sites can do what. W2003 Server almost reverses how the zones are set up. The normal Internet Zone is set for high security, almost as tight as the Restricted Sites zone. For sites where you want to store cookies, run scripts, etc, you add them to the Trusted Sites zone. Setting the Trusted sites to Medium Security will duplicate the default settings other versions use for the Internet zone, but you could also use the Restricted Sites zone for intermediate levels of sercurity. The zone names are just arbitrary and the normal defaults are high, medium, and low secuirity for Restricted, Normal, and Trusted, but you can set them anyway you want and customize them further using the Custom button. For corporate networks, you should check with the sysadmin in case some of the zones are set-up for internal apps or security.

There's a web accesory called pwrtwks.exe you can download from Microsoft that adds Tools menu options to add the current site to the zones, otherwise you have to type them in manually. You also need to add Microsoft Update plus any other automatic update sites to the Trusted zone, otherwise they may not work properly. It's fairly common practice to have Outlook Express set up to open HTML using the Restricted Zone settings, so that might need to be changed as well.

This probably works best for people who visit a regular set of sites, and don't mind restricted functionality for other sites they surf or search on. You'll still get spyware from the trusted sites, but it will generally be the the benign kind. It's still a good idea to run Ad-Aware every once in awhile. I do it before doing a backup.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSF railfan.

Will this Firewall work for Windows98?
What is the web site so I can download Fire wall?

I nice free firewall is Zone Alarm. It will work with windows 98. Zone Alarm will not block spyware.

[kevarc]

I run both Adaware and Spybot. I run Spybot and CWshredder on my wife's computer, plus a suit of other spyware tools on both. The game demo download sites are some of the worst offenders. My son hasn't found a game demo he hasn't tried.

I would recommend Spybot as a first line of defense. It is a free program and the forums are heads above the rest as far as help and support. While the program is free, it does ask for donations - if you use it, please make one. I did and do not regret it at all. It take money to supprt the site and the work the folks do over there.

One thing that people do not do - after running the spyware programs, you MUST, I REPEAT, MUST delete ALL file in Temp folders. It also doesn't hurt to clear the cache. Many of the programs stick a reinstalling exe in the temp folders and will reinstall the program. Deleting the temp files will stop this.

I have been on the net since it was text only and it getting more dangerous everyday. You MUST defend yourself 24/7 or you will end up with all kinds of crap on your computer. Keep you anti-virus software and spyware up to date. It only takes a couple of minutes, but it can save you days while you reformat and reinstall.

[Anonymous]

I don't work for Mozilla nor do I get a commission...but I have been using Mozilla Firefox Browser for about 1 mth now. I really like it. My spyware levels have dropped about 90-95%. Most of the spyware out there takes advantage of issues with IE. Now this will not stop spyware but it does help. Firefox is free to download and use. Just check it out. Here's a link to the site, read up on it.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/