Thought I'd put this sticky up for all those that need to detect and clean spyware from their PC's Arguable the best free cleaners are : Ad-aware and Spybot Use them both as the will each pick up what the other misses. Edited by: gbolton
Thats a good idea gav! Also try this Avg Anti Virus Free And this Zone Alarm Free Firewall Anyone else got anything to add here ??
based on my own experience. maybe its got better since i last tried it, but if used to be seriously under-featured.
Adaware isn't the best spy ware cleaner. Its the most popular cos its the easiest to use. I would the best one is spysweeper <-- google it, first link. Why to i say its the best cos it has been proven to pick up and remove the most spyware than any other + its free. Also zonealarm is good, not a lot else out there. The inbuilt winXP is a pile of SH1T so do not rely on that as it will not stop spyware from commumicating. Zonealarm will if you are prepared to setup permissions your self. AVG is a good free virus scanner, i've not had any trouble with it. Bitdefender is supposed to be the best but it uses a lot of CPU so slows your system down. Norton Anti virus is just the best known and is not really worth paying for when AVG uses the same virus database. AVG also updates daily. Hope this helps Buzz
Are these all antivirus software?? Apologies for my stupidity but i knwo absalotely nothing about this....... I currently have Nortons Antivirus 7.0 on my home pc and i have hgad to disable it because it was causing the pc to slow right down and crash all the time. Can i uninstall Nortons and use one of teh one listed above instead?? cheers
so which one would be best to use?? My home pc is really sh1te, 312meg ram (upgraded from 64meg), 10gig hd and running Windows 98...........
Nowt wrong with that PC. All the above are ok , AVG is good and its free, regular updates. For an alternative to ZoneAlarm have a look at "kerio" personal firewall, I prefer it cos it gives you more control. Does need more effort or know how to setup than ZA though. So whats the best defence against Winduz viruses, trojans etc ? Linux
But it is just so slow all the time.......... I check out AVG then, seems a good place to start. Cheers
There's a new version of Spybot out - 1.3 I think. It doesn't make itself known when you "check for updates" so you need to download it directly......
i have just downloaded adware (the free one) it is good it found s**t loads of c**p even though i have just formatted my hard disk. havent tried spybot yet.
Give or take the odd exception - all antivirus software does the trick as long as you can be arsed to update it! Software firewalls such as Zone Alarm and many many more are either unstable or for the most part ineffective. If its gonna do your pc harm then chances are it'll get through your software firewall. Spyware is a great tool but not meaning to be pecimistic again - if it's there and it's done the damage already then you're too late! As for popups etc....just install the google toolbar which has an effective popup blocker. Note that blocker software and software firewalls can interfere with certain web-sites intended functionality. At the end of the day if you're that concerned and don't mind paying out for peace of mind (not too much mind) then get broadband and get a router/modem - it's the most effective safety net that I'm aware of and I've worked in a software house for the last 6 years. Hope that helps a little. Rit.
