Hi Grandpaw,
I read this post of yours, and all of the replies, and thought I would try and answer at least some of your specific questions where I could. Being at the start of this reply, I imagine it?s going to be a very long one, and I?m not sure CNETHelp.com?s server has sufficient Gigabyte space for it, but let?s see??
I also use Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware and I agree with you that there are many features in them where you almost need to be an Einstien to understand what they do and what I need to do with them. I?m sure you have heard of the phrase, ?it?s not rocket science?. Well as far as I am concerned, these ?are? rocket science, and I am still struggling to understand how the water wheel works, 
Anyway, let?s begin. I am sitting comfortably.
Spybot S&D
Spybot has its own dictionary and FAQ at http://www.spybot.info/en/support/index.html
And there is also a forum at http://forums.net-integration.net/ scroll down and look for the forum at Spybot Search & Destroy 1.X
I?ve never checked the dictionary but I have visited the forums once or twice and they have been quite useful.
You said, ?When I bring up the Tools menu in SpyBot, I find the following unchecked:
Bug Report
ActiveX
Browser Pages
Hosts File
Opt Out
Process List,
With all the others being checked.
If you check all of the icons in the Tools main window, you can then click on each in the menu under the main Tools option on the left. (As you tick an icon, it appears in the list on the left. If you untick it, it disappears from the list). With them all ticked, and by clicking each in the list on the left in turn, you get more information about each, eg;
View report ? If you have a specific problem and want to generate a report, this option allows you to specify what will be included in the report. My icon is ticked, and the options in View report are all ticked, but I have never had to generate a report so I am not sure what good this does me. But I still leave it ticked.
Bug report ? Clicking this brings up a messaging utility where you can send reports of any bugs in the Spybot program itself to the spybot web site. If you look at the top of the window, underneath the ?Bug Report? heading, you will see a ?next? button. If you clicked Next, the next window is where you could enter your report of whatever problem you found with the program itself. You could also use this, (apparently), to submit a log file to the forum if you wanted. Personally I have unchecked this icon. If I have a problem later on, perhaps I will check it.
Secure Shredder ? Spybot?s help file actually does help with this option,
. If you have any files/documents/whatever that you want to destroy totally without leaving any traces on your hard disk, find the document in Windows Explorer or using the Start > Search option, and ?drag? it into this window. Then click the ?Chop it away? button at the bottom right of the Spybot window. I?ve never used this, so I leave it unchecked.
Resident ? Hmmmm. My Resident icon is ticked, but I didn?t really understand the SDHelper here, but that is also ticked anyway. I read the help file on the TeaTimer, and was quite impressed. I have now ticked my Tea Timer and will see what it does and how it does it. By the way, I have a little utility program that sits permanently in my memory and alerts me if any program seeks to set itself to start whenever I turn on my computer. This ?Start up monitor? has just alerted me that Spybot has attempted to set itself to do just that, and I have allowed it to do so. I find this Start up monitor very useful.
ActiveX ? Not ticked in mine, but I do check it sometimes. I rely ?wholly? on what Spybot says here. If I have an entry in the list with a green tick, I am fine. If it has no tick, I?m fine, but not so fine,
. If it has a red sign, I will remove it, no questions asked.
BHO?s ? All I know is that these are Browser Help Objects, and some of them don?t. Help that is!! My BHO is ticked, and if I find any red entries I will remove it, no questions asked.
Browser pages ? Some web sites you visit and perhaps some viruses or Trojans, try and force your browser, (Internet Explorer), to load their own page as your Home Page. They can be the devil to remove and can be quite embarrassing, eg, you want to go surfing with your girl friend, and start up Internet Explorer, and your first page, (your Home Page), has been changed to ?Sexy Susies live web cam show??.. or whatever, (grin). Never happened to me of course, honest! But this option lists the web pages that are registered with Internet Explorer as start pages or search pages. You can change these or delete them as you wish. My icon is ticked, but I have never had to use it, (honest!).
IE tweaks ? Nope, no idea here! But my icon is ticked, and inside the tweak window I have ticked the first two options, (Lock Hosts file and Lock IE start page). I have also changed the heading that displays on my Internet Explorer, (Internet Explorer custom title ? Current user), to my name (from my ISP?s name), so that whenever a web site is opened it displays ?web site name ? my name?, eg this site's title in Internet Explorer reads "CNET Reviews - Mark Flaxman".
Hosts File ? not sure what this does, but my icon is ticked.
Opt out ? This icon gave me difficulties. I had to really read the small advice given in the window. But this is what I understand it to be. I could, if I wished, double click any of the items in the list to visit their web site to tell them I want to opt out of their spam email. But, unless I ?know? I am getting spam email from them, I should not use this option, as doing so will only give my email address to them in the first place. So, I choose not to do this, and my icon is not ticked.
Process list ? This really is for the experts, so I don?t touch it and the icon is unchecked. It lists, as far as I can see, any processes, (background systems, programs), that are running in the background, or start at start up. It?s a bit like the Task Manager. I prefer not to use this and if I have problems, seek information from elsewhere.
System internals ? Scary! I?ve just used this for the first time to delete any registry entries that do not have corresponding programs or filenames. I found 5 and deleted them all. I don?t expect any problems the next time I start my computer up, but if you don?t hear from me for awhile??. This icon is not ticked, but I will check it occasionally.
Uninstall info ? I?m not really bothered with this one. My icon is not ticked. If I need to uninstall a program I will go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs.
Winsock LSP?s ? No idea. My icon is unticked.
You said, ?When I installed Spybot, I checked the ?Don?t create a Start Menu folder? just because I figured I could easily click on the SpyBot desktop icon when I wanted to run it.? No problem there Grandpaw. As you have said, this only adds a shortcut to your Start menu folder and starts Spybot every time you start your computer. This is optional, and I have opted out. If you wanted to change your own settings, go to Settings > Settings, (in the list on the left), scroll down and place a tick in the ?Default mode? or ?Advanced mode?, whichever you prefer. If you are not sure which is which, you can always choose one, test it, then switch to the other if need be.
You said, ?I?ve been advised before that when installing SpyBot I should check ?Use Internet Explorer protection (SDHelper)? and ?Use system settings protection (TeaTimer)?. But the average non-tech will probably wonder about these; is there some reason the user is given the option of not checking them that the user ought to be aware of?? Good question and I don?t know the answer. If there is a threat, real or perceived, then these should be set, so why give someone the choice? I can only imagine that if someone wants to visit a web site and these setting prevent him or her from doing so, they can then change these settings accordingly. But I can?t imagine the ordinary Joe doing this.
You asked about usage tracks, (I expect you mean under ?Settings > File Sets). All of my options in this window are ticked. I trust Spybot on this and so far have had no problems. From what I understand, Windows records your movements all over the place, eg recent file lists, internet history, recently played music files, videos etc, or recently opened documents. Some of these can be useful, and others not so useful. Unfortunately Spybot doesn?t seem to offer any refinements to the option, so I?m afraid this is a ?per-user? option. If I find that I miss any of my recent lists, I will unset this option.
You said, ?I presume that the average non-tech can ignore the option to ignore only real threats. Right?? I?m not sure what you mean here Grandpaw.
Immunize ? Yes Grandpaw. If you do a scan, (Spybot-S&D > Search & Destroy), then you would look at the list of objects Spybot has found, select them all or select the ones you want, (I only select any red entries), then click the Fix selected problems button, Spybot will get rid of any infestations it has found on your computer. But, if you scan for updates, and Spybot downloads them, ?that? is when you Immunise.
Spywareblaster works in a different way. I could tell you the difference, but I would have to kill you afterwards. Ohh, ok, I don?t know the difference myself. Except that spywareblaster doesn?t have to perform a scan, it prevents infections from ever getting a strangle hold. I use it myself and I accept that it compliments Spybot. I don?t see any reasons why a non-tech guy, or even a technical expert, would not want the added protection.
You said, ?I presume that the way to implement SpyBot immunization is to check where it says ?Enable permanent blocking of bad addresses in Internet Explorer?.? Mine is ticked, and I feel that everyone should do the same. But then I am a non-tech guy. I don?t think that flipping a coin is wise,
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There is ?no reason? for you not to immunize the 1926 additional protections possible. If you do not do this, the threats from these sources are still possible on your computer.
Ad-Aware:
Yes I agree Grandpaw that Ad-Aware is another application that doesn?t really give out much information, although they have a very good forum at http://www.lavasoftusa.com which I have used often. The experts there are very helpful. Look for the Support > Home users link on the left, then find the Support Forums. I have found that if I quarantine any items, (or should I say if I allow Ad-Aware to do it), I tend to forget about them for a week or so. If I have any trouble with the items being in quarantine, (and so far I haven?t), I can then recover them from the Ad-Aware quarantine location. If I don?t have any problems after a week, or a month or whatever, I delete them.
I use the free versions of Spybot and Ad-Aware. I do keep thinking of donating to Spybot, (there is no paid version), but somehow never get around to it. I don?t intend to purchase the Ad-Aware super-dooper version for as long as the free version is as good as it is, and Lavasoft have never indicated that they are going to withdraw it.
Grandpaw, whatever you do, ?DON?T? stop asking questions!!! Besides me and the techie experts, there are a lot of people out there who read your posts, and I am absolutely certain many of them sigh, and say to themselves, ?see, it isn?t only me who has problems?,
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Yep, this was a long reply.
Mark