How to kill SPYWARE!

[leftyandproud]

This is a shameless ripoff of a Free Republic post, but since it was non-partisan, I figure it wouldn't matter if I posted here. It's good computer advice for every political affiliation. I think these programs are great, so I'm sharing them with you folks too.
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Hey Freepers DU'ers, you gotta keep those computers healthy, so I thought I'd post these links together for those of you without good spyware protection on your computer. These programs will clean your system out and get rid of a bunch of nasty little programs that have installed themselves on your PC over the years without your knowledge. This is a great combination of products (100% FREE!) that can deal a knockout blow to spyware and bad computer viruses.

To eliminate spyware, use these.

Ad-Aware 6.0:

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10319876.html?tag=lst-0-2

and

Spybot Search and Destroy:

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10289035.html?tag=lst-0-2

If you don't have a good Antivirus program installed, make sure to download this one!:

AVG Antivirus 7.0 (Free)

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/1/

After installing these, I recommend you navigate through the menus and UPDATE them for the latest spyware/virus definitions, then run a complete scan with each program. This should kill a LOT of bad stuff hiding on your PC.

I also highly recommend using the Mozilla Firefox browser instead of Internet Explorer. Firefox has a built in pop-up blocker and automatically prevents spyware from being installed while you surf the web. (In my experience, it also loads web sites much faster!) You can import all of your settings and bookmarks from internet explorer, so you really have nothing to lose. Give it a shot!

Firefox 1.0 http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Finally, if you are a broadband, you MUST have a firewall.
This is a very good one (free too:!)

Sygate Free Firewall http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Spy Sweeper

Found stuff that Spybot didn't.
I deleted Spybot.

http://www.webroot.com/

[CBGLuthier]

10. Spysweeper is one of the best for the money

I use the free version to polish up customer's machines but then I remove it since they can not update it anymore.

But it is worth the $30.

[leftyandproud]

12. I think Spybot + Ad-Aware get everything there is to get...for FREE.

Save your cash. Spybot + Ad-Aware + Firefox = a brick wall against spyware.

[progressiveBadger]

2. SpyBot AND Spyware Blaster

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Spyware Blaster stops a lot more programs from being installed in the first place. The two programs work together very nicely.

[lucabrasi]

3. Get a mac

problem solved :)

[BlueEyedSon]

5. Or run Linux, it's FREE. (I use Suse)

[lucabrasi]

6. yep

I run debian on my PCs

[Mike L]

4. I found that if you "immunize" with Spybot, it will keep a lot of stuff

out.

[neonplaque]

7. Use Mozilla Firefox

after you are disinfected of your spyware:

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

[BlueEyedSon]

8. That helps too, IE is quite virus-friendly!

[CBGLuthier]

9. I suggest Antivir instead of AVG

You can download it without having to register and it works great. I have used it on 50 or more machines and it gets stuff that Norton and Mcafee can't touch.

http://free-av.com

Also, an important thing left out of this is to be sure and do all Windows critical updates.

The 5th post in this thread has my own basic procedures for cleaning them up.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=242x359

[mcscajun]

11. Another good firewall...

...and it's Free!
Zone Alarm http://www.zonelabs.com

And the most important thing to do with all of these programs, is: Keep them updated! Run them often; once a week is barely a minimum effort if you spend much time online.

[Kurovski]

13. what is W32.Spybot.Worm?

Anyone know?

I've got ad-aware and Norton anti-virus, but it's not destroying or otherwise dealing with it.

EDIT: I'll try another one of the programs listed here

EDIT2: It didn't get rid of it.

[City of Mills]

14. Try booting your computer into safe mode

if you're running Windows for an operating system. Then run the Ad Aware and Norton, sometimes spyware loads itself as a service that the spyware can't stop in normal mode.

[Ima]

15. here ya go

There are 2 options: You can try automatic removal with Trend Micro System Cleaner (http://www.trendmicro.com/download/tsc.asp) or you follow the manual removal instructions:

Because W32.Spybot terminates task manager and regedit you need another tool to terminate the malware processe(s):
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml

This is a freeware tool and has similar features like Windows built in task manager.

This is the removal description from Trend Micro's homepage (http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=WORM_SPYBOT.GEN):


http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:FMmVorOwjKwJ:www.experts-exchange.com/Applications/Viruses/Q_20777095.html+W32.Spybot.Worm&hl=en

[Bossy Monkey]

16. Those up-to-the-minute freepers! They've quit updating Ad-Aware 6

It's Ad-Aware SE now. On the other hand, I'm stuck on AVG 6.0, so that'll show me to keep my neener-neeners to a minimum.

[dethl]

17. Might I suggest...

http://www.mozilla.com
Solves all your spyware problems. And has tabbed browsing!

[leftyandproud]

18. Firefox doesn't actually "solve" your problems..

All of those spyware programs are still on your computer, consuming memory and CPU time. They can really slow things down overall, so even if you have a browser that blocks pop-ups (like firefox), you should still download the ad-aware/spybot combo to kill the bad stuff on your system. You should get a nice performance boost afterwards.

[leftyandproud]

19. weekend BUMP!