# Spyware



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

My father's computer is full of spyware! He has been battling with it for months without saying anything









Can anyone suggest a good downloadable Spyware programme? I don't mind paying for the download.

Thanks


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## scottishcammy (Jul 11, 2003)

John,

I would use:

Bitdefender 9 Professional Plus

http://www.bitdefender.co.uk/bd/site/buy.php

and

Webroot Spysweeper

http://www.webroot.com/

That's what I use and I'm very happy with them. Bitdefender gets an excellent write up in the industry.

Good luck mate.

Adaware is also good and spybot (both free).

In the first instance you could go to Trend online scan & fix called HouseCall (also well thought of). It's online so will get things going straight away.

http://housecall60.trendmicro.com/en/start_corp.asp


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## andy100 (Dec 18, 2005)

Hi JoT,

Good to see you back again!









I use Lavasoft 'AdAware', Spybot 'Search & Destroy' AND HijackThis for our computer. (You can find all of them at Download.com). The best thing is they're all free!









AdAware and Spybot should pick up most (if not all) of the Adware and Spyware, and then if you run Hijack This it'll tell you in a quick list all of the programs that are running on your Dad's machine, so if anything looks dodgy you can Google it and if it's bad, just mark it for deletion from the registry. Just be careful you don't delete anything essential that you can't put back in!







Of course, there's plenty of computer forums out there where you can post your logs for AdAware and Spybot and seek advice on anything suspect.

We've had plenty of infestations in the past thanks to sharing a house computer and certain individuals that I've lived with looking at the wrong 'adult' sites!







Thankfully now, by using Firefox it seems to have solved a lot of the problems, as it's harder to download and install spyware without realising it.

Best of luck with it anyway!

Andy


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## Julian Latham (Jul 25, 2005)

JoT said:


> My father's computer is full of spyware! He has been battling with it for months without saying anything
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ad-Aware (please note **NOT** Adware), Spywareblaster and Spybot (Search & Destroy) are three good freeware programmes which, if used in tandem, provide very good protection for free. I have run them for a long time without issue. Also use the free version of Zone Alarm and AVG since I got fed up with high annual fees for other firewall and anti-virus products. No known issues to date.

Julian L


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## andy100 (Dec 18, 2005)

Julian Latham said:


> Also use the free version of Zone Alarm and AVG since I got fed up with high annual fees for other firewall and anti-virus products. No known issues to date.
> 
> Julian L


I echo that! As long as you keep them up-to-date they're great free Firewall and Virus checkers respectively. Well thought of in the industry too









Andy


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

best way to run these programs is in safe mode -by pressing f8 on boot-some spyware is memory resident and will not be removed,also make sure to turn off system restore or you will just keep reinfecting everytime you boot.


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## Marky (Sep 29, 2005)

I went through this little lot a few months ago as my Dads pc had hundreds of nasty things on it. Some of this maybe useful to you, worth a read anyway. Majorgeeks


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

Don't forget to check for Rootkits









Rootkit Revealer from SysInternals

Blacklight from F-Secure

Both free, although the standalone version of Blacklight is still in beta testing.


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## hotmog (Feb 4, 2006)

Like Julian, I can recommend Ad-Aware SE, Spybot and Spywareblaster. In addition I use Ewido, X-Cleaner and Avast anti-virus software. All of these are versions that are available as free downloads. Some, like Avast, will update themselves automatically when a new database is available. With most of the others you need to run a manual check ideally at least once a week to see if there are updates ready to install.


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Thanks for the advice guys ..... I will give some of these a go at the weekend











pugster said:


> best way to run these programs is in safe mode -by pressing f8 on boot-some spyware is memory resident and will not be removed,also make sure to turn off system restore or you will just keep reinfecting everytime you boot.


pugster I know about safe-mode but how do I turn off system restore??


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

Right-click My Computer, select Properties and then, from the System Restore tab, tick the "Turn off System Restore" check box:










[EDIT]Sorry pug, didn't think you were around so chipped in  [/EDIT]


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

> pugster I know about safe-mode but how do I turn off system restore??


right click my comp ,select propertys, and you will see the 'restore' option ,uncheck it.

personally i dont use it at all and use another back up program,it takes up disc space when you can just do an image on disc,any probs let me know.


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Control Panel

System

System retore tab

Check switch off box.


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

lol beat me too it while i was typing


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

OK guys - did I tell it right?


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

...and three different answers too









Yes Mr.C, you told it right. With Windows there're usually about half-a-dozen different ways of accomplishing the same task.


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

yes mrcrowley you were right







,as stated theres lotsa ways to get to it


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