Which is best adaware program out there?

Ghosthunter · Post by **Ghosthunter** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 10:06 am

Want something that wont cause any issues with my PC?

XP Pro?

Wife downloaded some stupid toolbars by mistakes and even though IN stalled it want to make sure it is all out

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 10:23 am

Ad Aware & SpyBot, they both find things the other misses so both are a must.

SICMF · Post by **SICMF** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 10:37 am

Webroot Spy Sweeper, Always finds things that both Adaware Pro and SpyBot miss.

blebs · Post by **blebs** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:13 am

First law of nature:Self Preservation=Shoot the wife!

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:28 am

Originally posted by PãradØxDêit¥™
Webroot Spy Sweeper, Always finds things that both Adaware Pro and SpyBot miss.

Thanks for the tip, I haven't used SpySweeper but I do like Webroot's software.

SICMF · Post by **SICMF** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:32 am

Originally posted by mnosteele52
Thanks for the tip, I haven't used SpySweeper but I do like Webroot's software.

Yeah, I love it. Yeah it's not free but worth it. With it guarding in the tray, I have not found SpyWare in any of the three apps.

Ghosthunter · Post by **Ghosthunter** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:32 am

Originally posted by blebs99
First law of nature:Self Preservation=Shoot the wife!

lol

pisst me off because we have 2 pc and i tell her to use her pc since all she does is web surfing and is a p3 866 dont need anymroe

my machine is my gaming machine...but she used mine last night because it was on and hers was off.

get this i asked her what did she install, she said nothing oh yeah some toolbar but it came from some chrsitian radio site i go toooo i figured it must be safe

go figure

hayc59 · Post by **hayc59** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 12:58 pm

Ad-Aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
SpywareBlaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
you cant go wrong.

stevejrc · Post by **stevejrc** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 1:23 pm

yer ad-aware, spywareblaster, spywareguard (safest to use)

checkout http://www.webattack.com loads of stuff like this.

I also got spysites which adds a list of sites to restricted sites zone. and mru blaster to removed recently used lists (only links) for privacy (although turned off cookie and internet files deletion)

I just set too block all cookies in advanced tab (IE6), then allow sites that i know are ok like SG, hehe.

Ghosthunter · Post by **Ghosthunter** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:47 pm

Thanks all

I ended up using Spybot search and it found 20 entries 4 of those was that stupid hotbar my wife installed

and a few others

qball15j · Post by **qball15j** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 9:28 pm

What's up with wemon and that hotbar?
Back at the office I've uninstalled that freakin thing off every workstation on the network!

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 6:36 am

Originally posted by qball15j
What's up with wemon and that hotbar?
Back at the office I've uninstalled that freakin thing off every workstation on the network!

Now you need to run Ad Aware & SpyBot to remove the spyware it leaves behind. I have encountered Hotbar numerous times and one thing it does is disable your firewall.

qball15j · Post by **qball15j** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 6:41 am

Yea, I used Ad-Aware to get rid of it. Along with informing everyone in the office what HotBar does that they don't see.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 6:57 am

One thing I've noticed about comparing Spybot S&D vs AdAware...sure one may find stuff the other doesn't...but I've found them to fairly equally remove stuff that's actually bad. As for the other things reported that the other one supposodly missed....do you ever look at the details of that those items are? It's usually little things that for some reason are is someones opinion of what could be bad, and made the hit list. Such as the recent opened PDF list of Adobe Acrobat. A lot of little useless stuff like that. I mean, comon, I'm not going to lose sleep if someone can hack into my computer, and find out that I opened a PDF file downloaded last week. When one runs a removal program on a computer...it finds 130 items or so...OK...but how many of those 130 items are actually mal/spy/adware. Probably 1/4 of them at the most.

qball15j · Post by **qball15j** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 7:08 am

That's absoutely right. Spybot is more known for stuff like that than ad-aware.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 7:57 am

Originally posted by qball15j
Spybot is more known for stuff like that than ad-aware.

True. I've noticed that. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I've been just using SB S&D lately though.

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 8:04 am

It seems that SpyBot removes ANY trace of an app that has spyware, even the folder that contained the spyware where as Ad Aware just removes the malicious code. Problem is I have seen one find something that the other found no trace of.

Also SpySweeper did find 4 things on my pc that Ad Aware, SpyBot & PestPatrol missed.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 9:22 am

Originally posted by mnosteele52

Also SpySweeper did find 4 things on my pc that Ad Aware, SpyBot & PestPatrol missed.

What were those 4 items? Actually bad programs that ran in the background (like hotbar or gain or some process)? Or must some traces of something or items as useless as the history of your opened acrobat files or winzip files?

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 9:34 am

Sorry 3 things.

Bonzia Buddy - How it got there I don't know.

DAP - Uninstalled a LONG time ago.

Remeye - Says it was a trojan.

Thing is I'm meticulous about staying spyware and virus free.

SICMF · Post by **SICMF** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:03 am

Another thing i like about Spy Sweeper is that it gives you indepth details about the traces, Where you getit, what it does, and what type of treat it is, Low,Medium, or high.

fredra · Post by **fredra** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 12:57 pm

OK guys....nice informative thread.
Although SPYSWEEPER works very well, it appears to me that it uses a lot of resources when all three shields are active.
Home Page Shield
Cookie Shield
Memory Shield
Just my .000002 cents worth.
If you use Javacool SPYWAREBLASTER, it changes the CLSID so the 'spy' will not load and the program doesn't use any resources.
Now I am not telling everyone to use it, (although it does work)...my only concern is the amount of resources being used by different programs.
I will continue to use Spysweeper as a "on demand" scanner to find its merits as pointed out by PãradØxDêit¥™ and mnosteele52.
Thanks for bringing the program to my attention.....I am always willing to try another application.

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 1:07 pm

I agree fredra, I don't use any of the options that run in the background, SpywareBlaster takes care of most of that. But SpySweeper is good to scan with.

lazer · Post by **lazer** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 11:50 pm

I use both Adaware and Spybot S&D and between the two of them everything seems to be found and eliminated.

SICMF · Post by **SICMF** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 11:52 pm

Originally posted by lazer
I use both Adaware and Spybot S&D and between the two of them everything seems to be found and eliminated.

I thought the same thing, Try running Spy Sweeper and i bet it finds stuff.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 6:57 am

Originally posted by mnosteele52

Bonzia Buddy - How it got there I don't know./B]

Heehee...you not the only one that uses your computer?

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 8:46 am

I'm the only user and I scan with Ad Aware, SpyBot & Pest Patrol all the time, beats me how it slipped by.