SPYWARE

[corpse]

I'm sure a lot of you have seen the "xp antivirus" and "vista antivirus" garbage. Just wondering about spyware doctor. I googled vista antivirus to see how to get rid of it and it came up with spyware doctor many times.

Has anyone had any experience with this program? I ran a scan and it shows a hundred or more problems and yet defender shows none.

[+JuggerNaut+]

not heard of or used spyware doctor, but Spybot and Adaware have always worked well in the past.

[Plan B]

Not really helpful, but I gave up on fighting spyware.

I just use AVG, and back my shit up and reformat and start afresh every half year or so.

[AmIdYfReAk]

not heard of or used spyware doctor, but Spybot and Adaware have always worked well in the past.

Add Trend Micro's Housecall to that list, and you're golden.

[+JuggerNaut+]

Not really helpful, but I gave up on fighting spyware.

I just use AVG, and back my shit up and reformat and start afresh every half year or so.

actually AVG 8.0 has spyware detection built-in, so you helped and didn't even know it. gg.

[Plan B]

And here I was just trying to sound stupid

AVG has that incorporated, huh?...sweet.

Again makes me wonder why these apps are made available for free, AVG and FF, I mean for instance.
What's in it for them?
There's no advertising or anything, so how do they make their profits?

[^misantropia^]

AVG sells corporate licenses, the Personal Edition exists to create mind share.

[^misantropia^]

Oh, and FF (the Mozilla Foundation) has a deal with Google that rakes in about 55 million dollars a year.

[Plan B]

Well, you can consider my mind shared;
I've been bothering ppl all the time about how they should use AVG instead of paying for Norton etc.

Can see how that would eventually trickle down/up to corporate licenses being sold if the right people get enthused.

[corpse]

Spyware Doctor found hundreds of problems and I have just run spybot and it only found 1 problem. Is spybot the more reliable of the two? I hesitate to delete the jundreds of entries that spyware doctor found if it's not a reliable program as it might screw things up by taking out needed files.

[AmIdYfReAk]

isnt spyware doctor one of those that will find issues with your computer, remove them them once, then ask for a creditcard number?

[+JuggerNaut+]

i don't trust spyware doctor and their list of "stuff" they find. you may have to google around for other user's comments on that program.

[Tormentius]

Spybot is the more reliable of the two corpse.

[obsidian]

I've been using AVG for a while, but I'm not happy with version 8. They added a whole bunch of intrusive "features" that made me ditch it for Avast. There's also AntiVir Free as well that I've been meaning to try.

[+JuggerNaut+]

I've been using AVG for a while, but I'm not happy with version 8. They added a whole bunch of intrusive "features" that made me ditch it for Avast. There's also AntiVir Free as well that I've been meaning to try.

yeah, by default there's WAY too much shit on there. i just need antivirus, no link checking, spyware, or email scanning, kthx.

[Captain]

I'm still getting updates for AVG 7.5

yeah, by default there's WAY too much shit on there. i just need antivirus, no link checking, spyware, or email scanning, kthx.

What to do: You must install AVG without LinkScanner from the beginning. If you only disable it, the program still runs in the background and takes up resources. So in this case i assume your AVG 8.0 Free is already installed. You should uninstall it first. REBOOT. Then reinstall it without the feature, How? you must do this:

# Run the installation with the parameters :

/REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch.

One way to achieve this is to:
* save the AVG Free installation file directly to disk C:\
* open menu Start Run
* type:

c:\avg_free_stf_*.exe /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch

# The installation will be started, and AVG will be installed without the LinkScanner component.

DONE! The AVG 8.0 Free Edition has NO LinkScanner, and I am now happy. Hope it was useful for you. I hope you’ll be happy too.

[obsidian]

Thanks for the tip, Mazda. Though if I have to go though that much trouble to disable junk, I might as well just download one of the other free antivirus programs and just install it instead. Much less work. Stupid AVG.

[Captain]

Yep, I doubt I'm gonna give 8 another chance. I'd try Avast! but I hear it misses a lot of shit

[+JuggerNaut+]

i agree with that one guy - it's bullshit to have to go to that trouble. if there's an option to disable, that's what it should do. i've used avg for 5ish years or so, so this newest release is a big disappointment.

[Captain]

Yeah for over two years I was getting people to switch to AVG Free instead of paying for bloated Norton junk. When I saw 8.0, I felt violated

[+JuggerNaut+]

well, it's nowhere near as bloated as Norton (yet, anyway), and these new features are actually perfect for noobs so i'll still recommend it over others, but i'm on the look out for something else now.

[Peenyuh]

Yeah for over two years I was getting people to switch to AVG Free instead of paying for bloated Norton junk. When I saw 8.0, I felt violated

Was that a familiar feeling fer ya? Hmmm?

on topic: Sticking with AVG.

[corpse]

Spybot is the more reliable of the two corpse.

Thanks. I got away from Adaware when they went to their newest version, but for the heck of it I downloaded and ran it and it found over a hundred things.....although most were cookies.

[corpse]

Just came across one of these again on a friends computer. XP antivirus 08.

XP Pro SP3, AVG 8.0, defender.

Scanned with spybot, adaware, spywaredoctor [last resort] and removed all entries found by these programs. It is still there. Keeps poping up on screen.

Not listed in add/remove programs, not listed in program files, and not listed in msconfig.

[AmIdYfReAk]

what about hijackthis ?