I don't understand your logic. anti-virus software does not in general stop spyware You're implying theres no point in cleaning it up?!?!?! A firewall should not interfere with a website at all. A hardware router even with a firewall won't stop viruses or spyware.
Sorry I wasn't particularly clear in what I said (bit late in the day!) - let me clarify a little. My comments about antivirus were in regard to virus's not spyware. In regard to spyware - the biggest problem is popups which can be prevented via popup blockers - in which case spy programs can sit on your pc until the cows come home. Spyware that looks for personal details via keypresses and what have you, which you definately don't want, should be spotted by your antivirus. I wasn't trying to imply spyware was pointless - more that if it shows up something nasty then YES remove it but you've probably already been had. My comment about firewalls and web-sites was very confusing - sorry. A lot of internet security packages that people invariable consider just to be a firewall often incorporate their own form of popup blockers - i.e certain links that bring up further windows such as maps/info windows etc simply wont appear and you wont know about it. My comments about a Router/Modem (with hardware firewall) are based on what in my opinion is the worst form of security breach - the constant probing of your pc whilst on-line. This is something most people don't really know about in my experience - generally people just think about virus's/spyware because thats the topic of the day. There are programs out there that allow you to see how often you are being hit - worth a look even if a little worrying. Also - don't be fooled into thinking a software firewall will do this effectively - these are applications which run on your operating system i.e. anything that's got this far already has access to any back-doors, operating system security holes etc (I refer to Microshaft here!). I'm sorry if I have caused any confusion and have veered somewhat from the topic of spyware - just trying to offer a little advice. Rit.
Damo, Norton will slow everything down, do use AVG instead. I use it on the recommendation of a mate who knows his stuff.
You're best bet is to use a hardware and a software one. I've got everything on mine NAT'd through one IP, so the hardware one stops people getting in, while the NAT allows everything to come through one machine, which the software one watches and logs. If anyone runs Linux, I can help you set up a customised firewall which WILL stop everything you want it to. Providing your system hasn't already been compromised, of course. ian_s@myrealbox.com
Hi my mum is running ad aware and spy bot to stop adware and pop ups, but apperently after cleaning the machine using these, the next day mor programs pop up and slow here computer down, she said she had 45 programs after 1 day?? is she not using these right or could something else be causing this??
Run the immunize thing in Spybot. That might help. These programs are like a virus scanner. The clean up after the event. They are not real time scanners so don't stop spyware coming in.
"These programs are like a virus scanner. The clean up after the event. They are not real time scanners so don't stop spyware coming in" is there a free prog to do this?? thanx mou
Jas, click just find the appropriate one, download and run it ah crap i just got norton system works thinking that it had antivirus and firewall on there which is the reason i got it but its only got antivirus so gotta use my dodgey copy of norton firewalll 2002 [:^(] what a waste of money
Jas, click just find the appropriate one, download and run it can i run multiple firewalls at the same time or is that not advisable?
I gotta cracked copy of symantec corperate from kazza seems to do the trick.got a bit cheeky though and did an online hack test through their site,to see how safe my puter was.they got cross said if i didnt register and pay for the software they would report me.so uninstalled rolled it back a week and started over again .still works ok and still lets me update.Historykill stops most annoying stuff getting through.Did the same with that .got spybot and a reg cleaner too.Using windows xp which has built in firewall which helps! Edited by: MR D
imo, none of the above progams are full proof at their jobs , eg avg cannot remove immbedded viruses, several of which i have. However running a combo of them all, may be a solution. THat said, none of the above will address a problem of bowser hijackin, which is on the increase.
adaware and spybot dont seem to be updated very often anymore, i wonder if they are trying to get people onto the paid versions????
if any of you get any spyware thats doesnt seem to shift try starting your pc in 'safe mode' .. hit the F8 key after you have started the machine and prior to windows firing up .. then use say ad-aware (get all the latest stuff from www.majorgeeks.com) to clear out spyware that can sometimes run as soon as your windows is running and then undeletable currently i have on my pc ad-aware, spybot search and destroy, spyware blaster, RegCleaner and Trend Internet anti-virus/firewall, touch wood i haven't had any major s**t to deal with and this serves me well for general internet stuff and P2P shenanigins ie BitTorrent and eDonkey. Feel free to PM if you need any help or advice
As others have said, all Windows users have to get used to the fact that despite all of the "Anti-Virus" and "Spyware" software available, you wont stop everything getting through. Using extra hardware to create a firewall before your PC is a good idea. I run NIS2006 (got friends at Symantec, so why not?!), with Norton Anti-Spam 2006, Ad-Aware, SpyBot S+D, RegCleaner and AVG. AVG picks up viruses that NIS doesn't. NIS stops the attacks and picks up attack trends (has a new "training" facility to teach itself what to look for - user controlled of course). The best tool in my opinion is Lavasoft's Ad-Watch (part of Ad-Aware SE) - this lets you know immediately when your registry is tampered with. This way you can trace and clean viruses and trojans before they do their damage. You also get to see what they do to the registry and with a combination of Norton's Security Response centre and several geeky forums you can get rid of a lot of things from the registry. The best advice for newsgroup users (and to some extent P2P users too) is to watch your connections - make sure all unused ports are blocked from external pc's. If you're downloading say 15-20Gb of movies per day (3 or 4 DVD's), you're pulling in a HUGE amount of info every second - these open connections over such large bandwidths are the main risk. NIS will monitor your connections. It gets annoying, because you get a load of access requests, but you soon see how many connection attempts you get! You can also trace them to an IP address (although most hackers use fake ones). PS. Be wary of Norton's free DeepSight Analzyer - in theory it's a great idea, but if you've got any pirated software it could be a way of tracing this (although they always say, as MS do, that the info is confidential, who believes em?!) Edited by: Ben's16v
