SpyWare Blaster

[QKShooter]

I have both Spybot "Search & Destroy" & AdAware installed in my computer. They work really well & catch all of the junk that gets installed in your computer like those tracking cookies and registry keys & STUFF that really slows down my computer.
All of that AvenueA & ValueClick & DoubleClick & NexTag, Gator & all of those other doggone buggers. So you normally run Spybot or AdAware or both & then delete them.

Anyway...to my point: Recently I installed Spyware Blaster - It was a free download from (I think) computergeeks.com
So...I have had it installed in my 'puter for about 2 weeks now & it is unique because it just blocks all that junk before it even gets into your computer & not just gives you to a way to get rid of it once it's in there. It has not caused me any problems in my computer. You don't ever hafta run it ~ it just blocks it & you don't get it.

I just ran both Spybot & AdAware (just for the heckovit) and the SpyWare Blaster caught everything. Both Spybot & AdAware were absolutely clean.

Maybe somebody here might find it helpful for their own use.

I'll try to get a link put on soon.
I hate ever to suggest ANY computer downloads for anybody...so research it yourself. I can only say that so far it has worked great for me & has been SAFE in my computer.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Bumper]

I have both Spybot "Search & Destroy" & AdAware installed in my computer. They work really well & catch all of the junk that gets installed in your computer like those tracking cookies and registry keys & STUFF that really slows down my computer.
All of that AvenueA & ValueClick & DoubleClick & NexTag, Gator & all of those other doggone buggers. So you normally run Spybot or AdAware or both & then delete them.

Anyway...to my point: Recently I installed Spyware Blaster - It was a free download from (I think) computergeeks.com
So...I have had it installed in my 'puter for about 2 weeks now & it is unique because it just blocks all that junk before it even gets into your computer & not just gives you to a way to get rid of it once it's in there. It has not caused me any problems in my computer. You don't ever hafta run it ~ it just blocks it & you don't get it.

I just ran both Spybot & AdAware (just for the heckovit) and the SpyWare Blaster caught everything. Both Spybot & AdAware were absolutely clean.

Maybe somebody here might find it helpful for their own use.

I'll try to get a link put on soon.
I hate ever to suggest ANY computer downloads for anybody...so research it yourself. I can only say that so far it has worked great for me & has been SAFE in my computer.

I used to use both Adaware and Spybot S& D (the free versions). I would run Adaware first and then run Spybot. Spybot would almost always find something Adaware didn't. When I ran it in reverse, Adaware would never find anything that Spybot left behind. Later, I acquired the full (paid) version of Adaware and tried it and Spybot never found anything that Adaware had not found. That pretty much demonstrated to me that the free version of Adaware is actually crippleware. Now I occasionally run Spybot, I always run Adaware. I have heard of Spyware Blaster but never tried it. I might have to run a test one of these days....

[rfurtkamp]

For the available stuff, the Microsoft beta one works very very well in the freebie realm if you're running Win2k or higher.

For 95/98 machines, I'm partial to SpySubtract.

Spyware is an evil, evil thing, but I have some clients who can't practice safe computing practices and I know every visit to their premises means I get a new gun. :)

[Bravo3]

I have also had pretty good luck with Spybot. And free is a good price. I will have to try the SpySubtract, I have never heard of it. Thanks.

[nighthawk]

Guys take it from the Doctor here. Use Ewido. It is free for 15 days and will clean ALL spyware. Great stuff. I do this for a living and have tried them all so far Ewido has impressed me. Just ask bumper how easily I'm impressed. :1saufen:

[acparmed]

Nighthawk I must be getting too old. I just downloaded your Ewido and I'm still running Win98SE. I need Win2000 or XP apparently to run this. Nice thought, but I'm SOL

[nighthawk]

Sorry acparmed I only support Win 2k and XP etc. I forgot the first rule. Ask which OS people are using. My apologies.

[MissouriMule]

I'm still running Win98SE.

You're not alone. I'm still running 98SE and will continue to do so as long as possible. I don't see the need to upgrade or buy new equipment unti I start having problems with the current set up.

I run Spybot S&D (free) and Adaware ( free)
I also recently added Spy Sweeper ($30 at Staples) subscription.

Since I added the Spy Sweeper my problems with spy ware have disappeared.
I think!

[spacemanspiff]

i have spent untold hours trying to remove spyware from my co-workers workstations.

been putting off working on the last two that are infected, cause i know its a pain in the butt. like everyone else, whats worked for me is adaware and spybot.
i also use hijackthis to identify anything suspicious.

there are some strains of spyware that were extremely resilient to my efforts. one was a dll file that was only available in normal mode (win2000) but was always in use. safe mode it hid away and was never found. after a month of researching and googling i finally found a utility that removed it. some coolwebseach trojan is what it was.

i think i'll let the techs we just hired to maintain my network tackle these last two spyware infected machines.

as a side note, yahoos popup and spyware blocker seem to work really well.

also, if you are using spybot or adaware dont forget to run the updates regularly, and re-scan, and do whatever it is that blocks out the bad stuff.

p.s. if you choose to find hijackthis, realize that its a utility that is more for advanced users, who know enough about the windows registry and running processes. if you remove processes without knowing what they do or if they are really bad news, you could screw up your system even more.
check the forums at www.security-forums.com , their gurus will walk you through what you need to do.

[cmidkiff]

The best solution to virus and spyware issues that I've found is to run as little Microsoft software as possible. On my home PC, I'm running 0 Microsoft software, and have 0 problems. At the office, I have to run Windows, but I don't run Internet Explorer or Outlook, I have very few security problems (stability is another issue).

[Trader]

Like every one else, I run both Spybot and Adware and run these programs a couple times a day. I think they work well for freeware. I recently purchased Spy Sweeper and on the inital run several item were found that the other two missed. I don't think there is one program that does it all. Another great free one is Zone Alarm. It allow you to control what comes in and out of your PC and also gives you warning when some one is trying to access you system. You can get more information and free download at pcworld.com.

[cbswh]

I agree. Spyware problems have gone down considerably after we started using Mozilla Firefox (free download) instead of Internet Explorer. It can even be 'tweaked' to speed it up, so it's faster now as well.