What do people use for adware/spyware/trojan/etc removal?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

Just a random poll. Since people here *are* actually a little more computer savvy or have someone who sets it for them. I can get a good idea of what people are using with this group.

If "Other" please list.

[liberal N proud]

1. I also use WinPatrol to alert me when ever something is trying to

change a BAT or System file.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

2. I've heard of it but haven't tried it. How do you like it?

[liberal N proud]

8. The only issue is it alerts you every time you start the PC for

McCaffe virus protection.

Other than that it sits there in the background and every time something is trying to change the system the dog barks. You are prompted to click yes or no for the change and then go on.

I was alerted to Adaware and WinPatrol by the IS dept at work.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

10. Spybot, Microsoft and Spysweeper have that feature too.

[liberal N proud]

21. At this point, I will not purchase anything Mickysoft unless necessary

If I can get a product that is not create by the Gates cartel all the better.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

23. It's a Beta Edition and be free until Jan 1, 2006, I think.

[ellie]

3. I had this horrible

Trojan on my computer, I even posted about it here. I had to go to computercops.com to have someone help me remove it. My computer is owned by the company I work for and I was unwilling to answer questions as to why I had a Trojan horse on it. After it was clean, I contacted my IT department and they installed Microsoft antispyware along with a Symantec firewall and I haven't had a problem since. It even alerts me when a Trojan horse is trying to connect to my computer, and it blocks it. Good luck

[Crazy Guggenheim]

5. As to why you got the Trojan on there all's you have to say is

you don't know. Symantec has a good firewall. Symantec is bloated but it's good.

[Moochy]

4. And since I switched to Firefox

Keeping an eye on Hijack this seems to work on my new rig.
And since I stopped using IE for anything, I've gotten nothing new.

Go figure!

[Crazy Guggenheim]

6. The problem with IE is its default settings. I changed the settings

and do not have a problem with it.

On Edit:

It's know on the IT Community that Microsoft has *bad* default settings in IE. Also change to Java and don't use Microsoft's VM (?)

[Moochy]

25. Browser helper objects

But Browser Helper Objects are not a setting that I could *NOT* find in settings, and no matter what I was getting driveby installs, even with the plug-ins that blocked the installation of BHOs, and running AdAware & spybot.

I just recently converted to FF so excuse the evangelism, it will wear off soon, I'm sure. :hi:

[Crazy Guggenheim]

27. Interesting. I haven't had that.

I might start a new thread on "show your IE Internet Options" and we can decipher them.

[JimmyJazz]

7. I currently have ad-aware and microsoft beta and I use

cclean(?) to clear all my cookies and temporary internet files <--- I use this OFTEN now. :D

[Lady Effingbroke]

9. AdAware, Spybot, SpywareBlaster, MSAS, A-Squared, HijackThis, CW Shredder

[Crazy Guggenheim]

11. Good! Watch out what you delete in Hyjack This! lol. I haven't

of A-Squared. What is it?

[Lady Effingbroke]

17. A-Squared is a free program that scans/removes spyware and trojans.

Here is a link to their web site: http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

It has been updating several times a week lately -- last update was today.

[catmandu57]

51. I just download asquared yesterday

I've been fighting this nasty little bug called FindSpy.A I used Spybot S/D that found it didn't clean it, Adaware didn't find it, neither did coolweb shredder.
So far today I haven't seen a whisper of it and it's protecting my system now as well. On a scale of ten I'd give it a ten.

[bridgit]

12. enigma ~

http://www.enigmasoftwaregroup.com

[Crazy Guggenheim]

13. Thanks Bridgit! I was going to try that some time ago but the

software wasn't signed or something. How do you like it?

[bridgit]

66. i like it very much, it is quick & easy...

you can run it through your whole registry but after the initial-run, your compu is pretty much clean, i run it mostly every day & if i have more than 15~17 entry's it is a surprise, plus it will give you a synop of what the scourge is & just how intrusive to your deck :hi:

[FuzzySlippers]

14. I just installed Bitdefender and Spyware Eliminator.

Is that supposed to be any good?:shrug:

[Crazy Guggenheim]

20. I heard BitDefender is good. But I'm not sure about Spyware

Eliminator.

[haktar]

15. You mean ad-aware aren't you ?

Personally i don't usually get spyware or viruses.
If i intentionally let a windows machine be infected, i clean it up afterwards with powerquest driveimage. :-)

[JPZenger]

18. Use More than One

Everyone should have a reliable firewall, an anti-virus program, and a couple anti-spyware programs. Each anti-spyware program catches different things. Be very wary of any anti-spyware program that you find advertised and offered for free on the web - there are many fake anti-spyware programs that actually add spyware to your computer. They use names that are similar to reliable programs. Stick with the anti-spyware programs by companies you know well.

A number of computer mags recommended Spysweeper, which I use.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

24. I recommend to my clients to use at least four.

[haktar]

32. A little hint

Look at my avatar ;-)

My firewall consists of a set of iptabels rules that i generated with fwbuilder.

Also while i don't get viruses or spyware, i often have to remove them on other computers. In my experience all tools for spyware or virus removal are not up to date enough. normally it takes them more than a week to recognize the newest malware.

I personally prefer to detect windows malware with sysinternals Process-explorer and netmon and remove them with regedit and a command shell.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

34. The big problem with a lot of users is they don't update their

security.

[haktar]

39. All the security in the world is useless with a 12 o'clock flasher

I even once had a Linux webserver where someone tried to install bofu (an irc bot) They came in not due to lacking security (i sat this thing up) but because the company had stupid user-password combinations where a simple dictionary attack succeeded.

So even if you only use the XP firewall, on an dialup connection, the security is sufficient. But this doesn't help against stupid clicks.

I usually recommend my clients to upgrade to XPSP2 and use the firefox thunderbird combination for web/mail. People that insist on a full scale
outlook i recommend after a combination of ad-aware, spybot, norton etc.
to put away some money for my next visit :-)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

40. Did you know there are password cracking software to guess

at the most commonly used passwords. For example birthdays, names also spelt backwards and of course with special characters added to them.

[haktar]

41. Don't you have one?

I assume you mostly work with windows. Fyi: a windows tool to do that would be "Cain" and "wordlist" to build the dictionary.
I recommend sysadmins to use this to test their security.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

42. I just PM'd you.

[haktar]

49. no need to search

I'm just packing some windows stuff. :evilgrin:
when i'm ready i'll pm you how to get it.

[haktar]

56. you've got mail n/t

[Crazy Guggenheim]

19. I've got Ad-Aware there. lol.

Mine doesn't get infected either.

Oh, so you just re-install with Powerquest. Hmmm.

Welcome to DU.

[toey]

16. hi CG

:hi: how's ur day?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

22. Hey! You had excellent manners. lol.

What do you use for Spyware/Adware?

[toey]

29. spybot and ad-aware

plus i have McAfee virus protection and a firewall. but here at work, nothing gets through our filters, very impressive, but very expensive.

btw, thanks for complimenting me on my manners :applause:

[LSK]

26. i look for weird stuff running in task manager

And then hunt down stuff in the registry and then delete them in safe mode. Pretty advanced method and dont do it without knowing what you are doing.

Also mozilla eliminates 90% of trogans. Rarely do I use IE.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

28. The best way to catch stuff is in Safe Mode.

[toey]

30. ok don't slam me, but what is "Safe Mode"

i do check my task manager and delete pesky lil buggers

[Lady Effingbroke]

31. Start tapping F8 as soon as you boot up your computer.

This will get you into Safe Mode, where it is easier to hunt down and get rid of viruses and spyware, since only essential processes run in Safe Mode.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

33. Ok I won't. Here's how you do it.

Start - Run - type msconfig - Ok

Click the Boot.ini tab - in the middle click on Safe Mode

Click Apply - Ok. It will ask you if you Reboot, click Yes or Ok.

On Reboot it will Start up with basic looking screen etc. Run all you stuff, delete out temp files, etc.

Then to reboot into normal Windows:

Start - Run - type msconfig - Ok

Click the Boot.ini tab - in the middle *unclick* on Safe Mode. Then reboot.

[leftofthedial]

35. I have a different approach

Every couple of months, I just smash my computer to bits with a hammer and go buy a new one.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

37. That's an unusual solution.

[Redstone]

36. A Mac running System 9.

Redstone

[Crazy Guggenheim]

38. Do you use any of the detection software?

[Redstone]

65. Odds and ends of agax, virex, etc but no real concerns

because there are damn few meanies that affect System 9, or even Microsoft applications that run on System 9.

I do run Windows in emulation (VPC 6), but that's not a concern either. If I get a baddie on Windows, I just replace the infected VPC with the clean one from yesterday's backup.

Redstone

[Napoleon Dynamite]

43. Adaware, Spybot, and a Norton Utilities program

In my experience, just one program doesn't seem to get everything. Even after just running one, I can switch to another and get more removed. I recommend using more than one.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

44. Welcome to DU Napoleon Dynamite. True, one is not enough.

You need at least four.

[Caleb]

45. OS X

On a Mac.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

46. What do you use for detection. And don't say that Macs don't

get it either. lol.

[Caleb]

50. Nothing for detection

I'm new to using a Mac, and I was told Macs can't get spyware or viruses.

But, on my Windows computer I use a great free program called Ad-Aware. You can download it for free at http://www.download.com/

[Crazy Guggenheim]

52. I have all that stuff. And also ........

Macs do get viruses! Every system can get them. There are a lot of security applications for Mac.

[Caleb]

53. Yah, you're probably right about Macs

I better go get a virus scanner!

[walldude]

47. I use a combo of SpyBot Adaware and Pest Patrol.

Pest Patrol seems to get a few that the others miss...

[Crazy Guggenheim]

48. I have that one! That's Spy X-terminator right?

Though it is over sensitive on a couple of things it's very good!

[Misunderestimator]

54. Trojans?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

55. Yes. They seem to be harmless programs that can to a great

great deal of damage to your system.

:popcorn:

[Misunderestimator]

57. Oh, yes... they are quite harmless from what I hear...

You should definitely not worry about protection.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

58. Self delete.

[Misunderestimator]

59. Now why on earth did you remove that?

;)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

60. That's true. The quicker you take out the Pests, the better.

Since they attach onto other files the detection software doesn't pick up.

[Misunderestimator]

61. Hahaha....

Now our conversation makes no sense....

[donheld]

62. Nothing ever seems to be enough for me

I may have to have my laptop serviced.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

63. How's that?

[donheld]

67. There's always some trojan or other thing

My ad-aware, Norton, etc won't get rid of.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

68. Ok. Go here.

www.pcworld.com and search for spyware/adware removal. Take a look at the list in the OP and download it. Also, I hate to say this but, when was the last time you backed up your systen and reinstalled?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

64. BTW with Spybot, by default, they have "checked" to exclude

New.net. To uncheck it Open SB - Settings - Ignore Products - PUPS.sbi

You can uncheck it from there. I think there is one more that it doesn't search for but can't remember it.