Posted on 12/30/2004 9:13:24 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Spyware ping
And that's probably the most insidious issue with spyware: having to waste the time and effort, not to mention the resources, to nuke your own equipment.
I hate these people.
lol He installed the full verion of KaZaA. I remember back in the good ol' days of file grabbin' when kazaa didn't have any adware. Version 1.3 was the best, and Morpheus was still on the fast track network.
Then they sold kazaa, nuked Morpheus, and went with all the bloatware and spyware they could get their hands on.
I used to be one of the mods on the old Kazaa forums when it first came out. There were only 15k users, and it was all fun. Then it launched to over a million users and they did away with the forums, and in came the spyware. That's when I stopped using it.
Now we have BitTorrent!
Windows and Internet Explorer are such a soft target.....
What's the story on BitTorrent?
I know some of the sites are being shut down.....
Some journalist. There's freeware that could have taken care of all of this without a reformat, and all information has been posted on various threads on FR.
To review:
1. Ignore Norton. Buggy and doesn't work very well. Download Avast Anti-Virus and that will do the job.
2. Install Firefox and make it your default browser. It will work in virtually all cases.
3. Download CleanCache and run that. It will clean up all IE temporary internet files and other things that are slowing the computer down.
4. Adaware SE and Spybot should waste just about any spyware lurking on your system.
Some of these programs have commercial licenses that cost, but can be used free for personal use. Decide accordingly. The whole process isn't that hard to correct.
Two of my home systems were infected with some really hideous spyware. Sure, I've been hit before but usually AdAware and/or SpyBot Search & Destroy would quickly and cleanly remove unwanted stuff. Not this time. It tried and tried with those tools, downloaded a few more, but no luck. I finally tried Giant Anti-Spyware and it worked great on both systems. It figures that Microsoft just bought them out. Try it yourself at www.giantcompany.com.
I also love Cookiewall.
Had not heard of Giant before....
Microsoft Acquires
Anti-spyware Leader Giant Company Software Inc.
**************************************************
From the website:
********************************
There’s a GIANT difference between everyday anti-spyware programs and GIANT AntiSpyware. Not only does GIANT AntiSpyware search and remove existing spyware on your computer, it also alerts you when potential dangers arise, stopping most spyware before it can install. This prevention helps to keep your computer up-to-date and helps protect your personal information.
On December 16, 2004, Microsoft announced its acquisition of GIANT Company Software. Microsoft plans to make available a beta version of a spyware protection, detection, and removal tool, based on the Giant AntiSpyware product, within one month for Microsoft customers.
I can agree with everything in your post except the comment about Norton. It's worked like a charm in every way over the years I've had it.
There are a lot of people making some big money over all of this, I would bet things are gonna get interesting in the courtrooms.....
See above.
That was his first mistake. Kazaa is spyware, and will not run when its' spyware components have been removed.
...after I had deleted Kazaa and installed Norton AntiVirus 2004...
Norton AV is as worthless as tits on a boar. It misses things. There are a number of FREE anti-virus products that are far superior (see table below).
A combination of AVG or AntiVir, Tiny Personal Firewall 2 (even if you're on dial-up), along with a bit of common sense, can go a long way to keeping your computer safe.
And here's the table: (Recommendations for additions are welcome.)
| PC security-related links & software. All software listed is freeware/open source. |
| Alternatives to Microsoft Internet Explorer, Outlook & Outlook Express: Mozilla.org Mozilla & Firefox browsers, E-mail/Usenet client(s) Off By One The world's smallest and fastest web browser Popcorn E-Mail E-Mail client Pegasus Mail E-Mail client Xnews Usenet client |
| Anti-Virus: AntiVir® Personal Edition AVG Anti-Virus Antidote SuperLite Screenshot On-demand virus checker MicroWorld AntiVirus Utilities Tookit |
| Anti-Adware/Spyware: Ad-Aware SE Spybot Search and Destroy |
| Firewall: Tiny Personal Firewall 2 (Last freeware version) |
| Miscellaneous: Ping Plotter Internet diagnostic tool |
| Links: Spyware/Adware/Malware FAQ and Removal Guide Firewall Test, Security Test and Security Scan Shields Up Firewall Test Test Your Firewall at Hackerwatch.org OldVersion.com Because newer is not always better |
$ uname -a Linux zprc 2.6.8-1.521 #1 Mon Aug 16 09:01:18 EDT 2004 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux $ |
Oh yeah! That's right. I use Linux! My computer just works without having me live in fear of infection, worms, spyware, and God knows what else.
Ernest--
Does one run into fewer spyware problems with a Mac? Thanks-Mom
I reformatted just the other day. Once a year reformatting is not the worst idea in the world. I did it mostly because I wanted to make a clean WinXP install with SP2. Prior to that I made a CD disc from my copy of XP that has SP2 slipstreamed into it.
I used this program -SlipStreamer2Beta21- to do the slipstreaming operation. Making the new XP/SP2 CD bootable is a little tricky but not that hard. After installing my new XP/SP2 I was pleasantly surprised to find only 4 Windows updates were needed.
The major factor that keeps me away from Linux and with XP is the cleartype option
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