Spyware Scanning

Up until now I have never really given checking for spyware as much attention as checking for viruses on my pc. Is this a mistake? Are there any good (reliable) spyware tools out there and are they really neccessary if you buy genuine software from reputable dealers?

Jason.

Adaware and something else. These days scanning for adware/spyware is as vital as scanning for viruses to avoid stuff like browser hijacks.

Adaware, Spybot Search and Destroy and Spyware Blaster are common ones. Also Winpatrol for watching your system/registry settings. Not forgetting Microsoft's very own anti-spyware app.

In a nutshell - I have spotted very little in the years I have been online. Most viruses I have spotted have been of the trojan variety - I've not yet know a destructive virus to come to my PC.

In terms of spyware - mainly keyloggers I have detected.

So, while the threats are low - the fact that it has been mainly trojan and keylogger software is concerning.

One of the problems is complacency - more than one person on this site admits to not using anti-virus/spyware. One day they will probably be infected and the only way they might know is when a friend with protection tells them when they send them something.

At the end of the day - I say run anti-virus and antispyware software - you can shut it down when playing games. Except Norton AntiVirus 2005 - I have that on one machine and I can't stop the tasks - so I lose 50MB of ram.

Yeah and be careful what spyware/anti-virus apps you install as some are actuall spyware themselves! True.

I use Microsoft Antispyware, Ad-aware, and Spy-bot Search & Destroy here, all seem to work fine with one another when installed, which is a good thing since each one detects stuff & has their own features the other doesnt.

There was an article in PC Answers/ PC Plus lambasting Microsoft and their Anti-Spyware software.

Apparently M$ are or were trying to buy Claria the makers of GATOR among others and removed all the automatic warnings downgrading them to neutral. I will see if I can find the article and post more details.

Here be a link: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1834607,00.asp

Cheers

Garion

Thanks guys for the info.

Jason.

In my opinion spyware/adware/malware are much the same thing, and from what i've seen of friends and families PC's the non-destructive malware (adware) is more common than virus'. Personally I get hit by it very rarely, but that's mostly because I stick to browsing a few programming boards rather than general surfing.


Quick answer no, the word reliable does not apply to any anti-malware software. The first time you run adaware for instance it will claim to have found around 800 dangerous spyware installs, most of these will be cookies holding empty preference settings for adverts on banner sites. Yet it will still miss a substantial amount of genuinely malliscious software. No single tool is reliable, just like the anti-virus industry. Some are incompatable with each other, just like the anti-virus industry. And just like the anti-virus industry - the only sure fire protection is to know your task manager applications intimately and know how to remove the stuff by hand - as invariably that's what it will boil down too.


Not specifically rellevent but the point is in another context. It's more about what web sites your surf. P2P software is probably the most common source for malware infection.

some spyware will destroy your .b3d file associations, thanks to Brilliant digital also having used the .b3d extension for their software in the past.