I'm tired of spyware and pop-ups so I ..

**PocketPlayer** · July 12th, 2004, 09:29 PM

Blame double post on Spyware!

[ July 12, 2004 06:30 PM: Message edited by: PocketPlayer ]

**mja61** · July 12th, 2004, 09:38 PM

Thanks for the tips, Steve. I agree....the popups have been getting out of control lately.

I've been using Spybot Search and Destroy for about a year. I've found it be a great tool. It cleaned up a couple of viruses that commercial anti-virus software couldn't even remedy!!

Two comments regarding S&D:

1. It's freeware, which is great, but there hasn't been an update in several months (meaning an update to the database, not necessarily the application itself). I wonder if the author has stopped supporting it. If it's not getting updated regularly, it eventually becomes less and less relevant to current security threats.

2. A word of caution. Be VERY careful with the "advanced" mode. I loused up my hard disk BIG TIME by cleaning some things that showed up in advanced mode (mostly Windows Media Player security warnings).

PS - Those Mac videos were great!

[ July 12, 2004 06:49 PM: Message edited by: mja61 ]

**Steve Holmes** · July 12th, 2004, 09:50 PM

Pocket:
Be careful with the startup utility! As I said, if you're not sure what something is, Google it before making any changes!
You uncheck something to disable it, then hit APPLY. Deleting the file itself is also an option. OR, you can rename an exe as well. Like renaming qttask.exe to qttask.bak will prevent it from running no matter how hard QT tries to <strike>add it's bloated crap to my startup</strike> run when I reboot.

**MethodAir** · July 12th, 2004, 10:28 PM

Lastly, with Spybot-Search & Destroy, I always get the following problems;
_ DSO Exploit 5 entries
_ CoolWWWSearch 3 entries

Lots of stuff can get past Spybot SD if you don't have folders protected. PocketPlayer, Hijack this cleared up some stuff Spybot missed on one computer (404 redirects to an exe download page).

**FuseU1** · July 12th, 2004, 10:52 PM

I wish I'd seen this topic just yesterday.

I spent last night & today transferring all the mp3s, mpegs, & STG shows that were saved on my HD as torrents/flacs/shn's to disc, so that I could DESTROY & re-boot [format & recover] my system [img]mad.gif[/img] , which was completely bogged down with spyware, self-loading site pages, pop-ups, & other vastly annoying garbage. I lost practically everything. Syst resources were down to the 40 & 30 %'s; some bas**** site had loaded itself as my homepage & search functions, & these were constantly shutting down my other windows & causing errors everywhere. All as a result of opening the wrong e-mail. Duh. Rule of thumb, never open an e that looks suspicious or from an addy you don't recognize [another 'duh']. & this is the 2nd time in the last 2-3 months.

All better [for now [img]eek.gif[/img] ]. Now I just have to go to all the places & re-DL all my accessories, like WMP, divx, & what not... [img]graemlins/grrr.gif[/img]

If I am out somewhere like a restaraunt, bar, or anywhere FTM, & overhear someone bragging about their latest design in super-aggressive spyware/mole/worm/virus software, I'm gonna introduce them to a nice dental bill, via invasive spyware that I like to call a right cross. The 'cross' part makes it quite the 'religious experience' for them.

Thx for the info here anyway, Stv & the rest of you guys. I've saved the info on this page as a text file for future ref.

[ July 12, 2004 07:56 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]

**Dazzler** · July 12th, 2004, 11:57 PM

With regard to pop ups and banner ads etc, my Norton Internet Security pop up blocker works a treat so I don't bother with any other prog.

As for spyware, what about AdAware at http://www.lavasoft.de I use the free version and it's it's great. Very easy to use too!

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