Question about Spyware Cleaner

[Mitchell]

Last night I purchased Spyware Cleaner for my computer. I just ran a scan tonight, with the cleaner finding, and removing, 144 files of spyware/adware. My question is, as Iam a novice at this, how often am I supposed to do a Spyware Scan for my computer, and remove these files? If anyone has advice about this, it would be appreciated.

Mitch

 

[Ronley]

I'm not sure what the recommendations are for spyware scanners, but most virus scanners recommend running a scan about once a week. Depending on the software you might be able to set it up to run automatically, if you leave your computer on most of the time it can be set up to scan while you're asleep for example.

 

[amk714]

I'm afraid you wasted your money on that program, Mitch. I use SpywareBlaster, SpywareGuard, and Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta). They're all free and are available online for download, and once you install and use them, I guarantee adware and spyware won't bother you ever again, or my name isn't Alex. 😀 Here are the links for them:

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

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

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

There are many freebies out there that are just as good as the ones for sale. I hope the one you bought has a feature for backing things up before deleting them. Some spyware and adware programs will pick up on stuff that you don't want to dump. If you simply scan and trash without looking things over, you can end up dumping stuff that your computer needs to run properly. If you've trashed things without looking them over and then find that there are programs that are not running properly, try doing a system restore to before that scan. (Just a bit of advice in case you end up needing it.)

Ann

PS - To answer your original question, I run all my security programs on a weekly basis...and an extra run if anyone other than Drew or I goes online with our computer since they tend to allow things that we don't.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

In addition to AMK's excellent recommendations (Although the second link, to Spywareguard, is slightly less good since they stopped updating that one some time ago), I'll note two other freebies:

Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE
Spybot: Search & Destroy

I personally keep Spybot, Ad-Aware, Microsoft's Antispyware BETA (Mentioned by AMK), and Spywareblaster (Mentioned by AMK) active and updated. I also keep Winpatrol around to control what is in my startup list (As many malware/spyware programs can work by placing themselves in the list of programs that load when the computer boots up.) and use CCleaner and the old and free JV16 Powertools to keep my registry and other frequently cluttered portions of my computer free. I scan every few weeks and, for the past six months, have found nothing each time.

The best way to protect yourself if you don't want to or know how to safely tweak settings to shut out spy/ad/malware before it can infect is to do what Ann does and scan on a weekly basis, being sure to update all your anti-spyware programs as frequently as possible. If you ever think you are infected (Popups that appear at random times, inexplicable slowdowns, etc) a scan can never hurt.

 

[amk714]

In addition to AMK's excellent recommendations (Although the second link, to Spywareguard, is slightly less good since they stopped updating that one some time ago), I'll note two other freebies:

Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE
Spybot: Search & Destroy

I personally keep Spybot, Ad-Aware, Microsoft's Antispyware BETA (Mentioned by AMK), and Spywareblaster (Mentioned by AMK) active and updated.

Thanks for the additional info, Ann and HDS. I've also noticed that Spywareguard hasn't updated in ages, for whatever reason. I have Spybot and Ad-Aware, but I didn't recommend them because they haven't been much help since I started using the other three programs. Since it's better to be safe than sorry, though, I've kept them around just in case. 😀

 

[Mitchell]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Gee, amk, now I feel gypped. Oh well, I'll use the program for a while, and see how it goes. So far it has found and deleted 144 spyware, and adware, files. The program cost me $49. However, in a bizarre turn of events, I did something today that I almost never do, and won $100 on a scratch off lottery, so now I almost dont feel so bad about spending that $49! lol! If I find that it is deleting files I need, or not working properly, I will check back with this thread, and try to find some of the ones that were recommended to me by people who posted here. Again, thanks for the replies, everyone. It is appreciated.

Mitch

 

[Dionysus]

This is an excellent and well timed thread. I was just thinking the other day about how I need to get more anti spyware programs. I will definitely go through the freebies listed by AMK and HisDivineShadow first and see what results they yield.

I have found that a lot of the programs bought in stores are basically useless. You run it once, and it finds a crapload of spyware, but after that NEVER EVER finds a single file, or finds a lot of spyware but when you click on delete it only deletes a portion of what it found and in some cases directs you to a subscription website asking you to pay even more $$ on top of the small fortune you paid for the initial software......and not to mention how all that programming takes up more and more computer memory......

I will say though that I am still less than impressed with Microsofts antispyware utility, I downloaded it some time ago, but it has yet to find a SINGLE spyware item.....even though my other programs including my isp anti spyware are constantly picking up bugs

 

[His Divine Shadow]

One thing I've noticed with all anti-spyware programs (And indeed, some antivirus programs) is that none of them seem to be able to find everything and, quite often, one will find things no other seems to be able to see. They do overlap on some things (Nearly all scanners will locate coolwebsearch variants and VX2 variants for instance) but on many they do not. This article gives a ranking of top programs and, from my experience with these and from reading many rankings across the internet, it gives a fairly accurate one. Webroot's program, ranked at the top here, is consistently the best or nearly the best tool in rankings.

If you're going on a quest to protect your computer and you have some knowledge of it, I highly recommend visiting the Gibson Research Corporation, home to many useful tools for testing the strength of your defenses, especially your firewall. And in the end, no amount of cleaning will save your from a bad firewall.

 

[Storm_Cat]

I'm afraid you wasted your money on that program, Mitch. I use SpywareBlaster, SpywareGuard, and Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta). They're all free and are available online for download, and once you install and use them, I guarantee adware and spyware won't bother you ever again, or my name isn't Alex. 😀 Here are the links for them:

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

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

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

I use SpywareBlaster, SpyBot, and Ad-Aware SE Personal, but I'm curious about SpywareGuard and the MS Beta.

I have Norton Internet Security and SystemWorks, and as you probably know Norton will disable the Windows firewall to put it's own in place. Will the MS Spyware Beta conflict with Norton as well?

Off-topic ? ... Does anyone know the tool free number to Dell Software Support? My laptop is stuck in safe mode ... it just sits there ... the desktop screen won't come up ... ggrrrrrr .... I will NEVER buy another Dell again ... !!

 

[amk714]

I use SpywareBlaster, SpyBot, and Ad-Aware SE Personal, but I'm curious about SpywareGuard and the MS Beta.

I have Norton Internet Security and SystemWorks, and as you probably know Norton will disable the Windows firewall to put it's own in place. Will the MS Spyware Beta conflict with Norton as well?

Off-topic ? ... Does anyone know the tool free number to Dell Software Support? My laptop is stuck in safe mode ... it just sits there ... the desktop screen won't come up ... ggrrrrrr .... I will NEVER buy another Dell again ... !!

SpywareGuard is good, but as HDS has already pointed out, it hasn't been updated in some time. I use both Norton and MS, and they don't conflict, as far as I can tell. As for Dell support, call 1-800-WWW-DELL.

 

[Storm_Cat]

SpywareGuard is good, but as HDS has already pointed out, it hasn't been updated in some time. I use both Norton and MS, and they don't conflict, as far as I can tell. As for Dell support, call 1-800-WWW-DELL.

I installed the MS utility yesterday afternoon, and was happy to see that it found old Bearshare and Kazaa shite that didn't uninstall, and deleted it upon my instruction to.

Thanks for the Dell number ... the laptop is really buggered up now ... I even tried to re-install, and that didn't work either. It really pisses me off how some mfg's don't provide the proper discs these days ... none came with this one ... I had to make my own, then they want you to download everything from their navigational nightmare of a website! Support ... wtf is THAT ...!! The only good thing about all this is that it's still in warranty .. maybe I can get a replacement ... but I don't think I should hold my breath ... !!

...and I'm still paying for this bastard ... !!!