Ok this is an easy and difficult question, about which I am well informed by necessity. Basic Principle: You do now want to overload your system with programs.
Ad-Aware and SpyBot will clean most things (on-demand). SpyBot also provides resident protection if you want to use it. If you have a seriously infected machine, contact me off-list and I can make recommendations. That being said, here are some other useful things to know: Many retail spyware removal programs are actually inferior knock-offs of the free ones, promoted by makers of spyware. bulletproofsoft.com, for example ripped-off the SpyBot engine, so don't buy it! SpywareBlaster is a small and free spyware prevention program that does not require you to run it in the background. A-squared (the free version) by Emsisoft.com is good for hunting trojans. housecall.trendmicro.com now scans for trojans and spyware as well and is good for some items. Hijack This (must be latest version) is required for the serious problems but not the others. Webroot Spy Sweeper is a great product but does cost something. Not really necessary. Clean Up from cleanup.stevengould.org is great for a thorough cleaning of browser cache, cookies and history; and it's free. Most of these programs will eat your cookies, so if you like to be remembered at various sites you will need to re-identify yourself or exclude those cookies from deletion. Use Firefox or Opera and Thunderbird if possible. If you have a recent variant of Cool Web Search (CWS) it is very tricky to remove and will certainly require special tools that must be run in Safe mode. None of the regular cleaners will fully remove it. It hides in system memory and rebuilds itself. It does nasty things like close and destroy SpyBot, close Spy Sweeper, overload Ad-Aware, destroy Norton and McAfee AV, rewrite the Control Panel dll, close Notepad and Word, and on and on... all the while trying to sell you Spyware removal products that don't work. If you want some recommendations for a specific problem, send more details. -Patrick >-----Original Message----- >From: Phill B [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: December 20, 2004 11:23 AM >To: CF-Community >Subject: spy ware one more time > > >I know this gets asked all the time but what do you use besides >adaware to scan for nasty things running on you computer? I searched >the archive but google wasn't very helpful today. > > >-- >Phillip B. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Silver Sponsor - RUWebby http://www.ruwebby.com Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:140628 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
