Free spyware / adware/ malware recommendations?

As ane xperienced A+ Tech I can say Adaware or Panda. Panda is a virus / spywayre program, but doesnt miss a thing. Weve had cases where it scaned a hard drive for 5 days to catch everything.



Panda is numb 1!
 
Well, I thought Spybot had picked off everything, but it didn't. It got 5 versions of that damn winantiviruspro, but there must be more, they keep popping up. Of course they pop up whenever you go to a competing spyware maker's site. Ugh. So, I guess I'll go deeper with another program.



Oh, and they're in Singapore (imanine that!) Anybody in Singapore want to go kick some butt for me? Thinking about flying over there myself to do it.
 
One thing to watch out for with the different spyware programs is "false positives". Some programs will show you have false spyware just to try and sell you their product. I personally just use the freebies Ad-aware, Spybot and Spywareblaster and a free AV, then every so often run Trend Micro Housecall The good thing about Housecall is it removes viruses AND spyware, so works as a double-check for your AV and anti-spyware programs.



Two good security sites with forums: Spyware Warrior and Wilder's Security
 
kpounds said:
One thing to watch out for with the different spyware programs is "false positives". Some programs will show you have false spyware just to try and sell you their product. I personally just use the freebies Ad-aware, Spybot and Spywareblaster and a free AV, then every so often run Trend Micro Housecall The good thing about Housecall is it removes viruses AND spyware, so works as a double-check for your AV and anti-spyware programs.
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Yea, I forgot to mention Housecall. I saw it recommened on one of the PC forums I used to frequent. Good thing about it is that you don't have to download the software for it, it does it within your browser. (unless you have to download the java plug-in)
 
Ran Housecall & still have winantiviruspro pop ups. And I have Google toolbar w/ pop up blocker & it goes right through it. Ugh. Think I'm going to step up to spysweeper-it just got a good recommendation from Consumer Reports.
 
kpounds said:
You may be able to fix it yourself. I just typed in 'winantiviruspro' into Google and many people have had the same infection/popups. I saw a couple of good threads about fixing it. It might take some time and patience though. The paid programs in this thread are good too, but I always like to try and crack it with a freebie first. :lock:



(Hope this is the right fix)

http://forum.hijackthisaid.org/index.php?showtopic=139&hl=winantiviruspro
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Yeah, I saw how to do a HiJackThis! scan and get outside help. Seems like a lot of work, but I may result to doing it. Bought Spysweeper and it found another 46 Spyware programs (after running Defender, Spybot, Adaware and Housecall!). No problems so far, but we'll see how the day goes.
 
Thought I would kind of put all of my findings on this subject together - maybe it will help someone. What I learned (from here, forums and my own experiences):



First, no one (or two, or three!) programs will get everything. Adaware caught 400+ things (mostly cookies), Spybot S &D caught over 20, Housecall a few more, and Spybot Sweeper found 46. Oh- MS Defender caught zero, none, nada of these - I had been running it all along (with Trend for anti-virus). And who knows, more programs might catch even more.



Second, there are a number of good forums out there, many of them recommended in this thread. There are even ones where you can run a program called HiJackThis and post the results and people will guide you as to how to get rid of your problems. Guess there are people who like to help people clean their computers, just like cleaning cars!



The key to keeping out programs seems to be your internet settings (or using something besides IE). I use IE becasue so many of my supplier's sites won't run on Firefox. But there are ways to configure IE to protect you-good information found on the anti-spyware forums.



So, as of now, I am not getting any pop-ups. I know that doesn't mean I am totally clean, but aside from buying more programs or running a HiJackThis scan, I'm done. Thanks for everyone's help!
 
1. AVG free edition

2. Microsoft Antispyware

3. Use Firefox



that has kept me virus/spyware free...even on my "b!tch" pc that is used for P2P d/l'ing, "questionable" browsing", program testing, etc.



yes, MS Antispyware is good (so far). since it was simply a company's product they bought (Giant Antispyware)...the engine and such is excellent. until they start charging for it...it's a great product. :)
 
The FireFox is what is protecting you. The MS Anti-spyware (now called defender) isn't doing a thing (IMHO). I ran it daily on this coumputer from day 1 (only 4 months old) and it stopped / found zero threats. The other programs found a total of over 500 (and about 100 of them very bad stuff). My guess is that people have just found a way around Defender since it's MS and people love to mess with them to begin with.



Wearing a hat made of tin foil will protect you better than defender...
 
kompressornsc said:
The FireFox is what is protecting you. The MS Anti-spyware (now called defender) isn't doing a thing (IMHO). I ran it daily on this coumputer from day 1 (only 4 months old) and it stopped / found zero threats. The other programs found a total of over 500 (and about 100 of them very bad stuff). My guess is that people have just found a way around Defender since it's MS and people love to mess with them to begin with.



Wearing a hat made of tin foil will protect you better than defender...
Click to expand...



Right on! What a piece of crap. I used Defender for about 4 months. It never found anything and every time I tried to update the definitions, I was told there were no updates available.



After reading this thread I downloaded ewido and I'm very impressed. I wouldn't go as far as recommending it only because I've only had limited experience with it, but so far, so good! :)
 
kpounds said:
I'll have to try that Tin Foil hat. :-) Here's another one that seals off a few more holes - Windows Worms Doors Cleaner

For normal popups in IE, the Google Toolbar does a nice job and has some other good features.
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I was running Google Toolbar as well, and my guess is that it was hijacked. I was still getting good results from Google, but even if I had 'Popups Blocked', it would all the sudden swap to 'Popups Okay', let whatever in, and then switch back.

I'll have to try the Worms cleaner - thanks for the tip.
 
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