Whats your experiance?

I've been using Ad-Aware, Spybot, Spyware Guard, Spyware Blaster and CWShredder, regularly, for quite some time. It took me a little while to figure out that the settings I had made in Spybot and SpywareBlaster were causing Ad-Aware to report activity that was "false."

For instance, in Spybot, there is a setting in the "Tool" panel called "IE Tweaks." I've found that if you only check the the top option (Lock Host Files) I don't have any problems. However, if either of the others two check boxes are selected, when I run Ad-Aware I see "Manual Changing of Browser Page Restricted"

This is also true with the SpywareBlaster "Misc IE Settings" (Tools > Misc IE Settings).

I haven't used the Microsoft Anti-Spyware product, so I don't have any suggestions in regard to any of those settings.

Also, there are tips about using "Trusted Software" on the Spybot (Safer-Networking.com) and SpywareBlaster (JavaCoolSoftware.com)websites. This is important due to all of the rogue software out there.


I hope this helps

Please excuse me, I should have included this in my original post.

There is definitely sufficient need for having more than one Anti-Spyware scanner/blocker. As others here have mentioned, each application detects different threats.

For those who had questioned the 'negligible risk' entries in Ad-Aware, there are other solutions. As "wwheeler1" mentioned, you can turn the option to detect negligible risks off. Personally, I wouldn't recommend that anyone stop using Ad-Aware because of the fact that it does find things that some of the other mentined software doesn't.

JavaCoolSofware.com, the maker of SpywareBlaster and Spyware Guard offers another free program called MRU Blaster. This won't solve 100% of your MRU woes but will get rid of most of them. If you run MRU Blaster prior to running your spyware scans, you will only see a few negligible risk entries in Ad-Aware.

The other thing I'd like to mention is that if you aren't extremely familiar with some of the software you're using and don't have time to sort through manuals and tutorials, check out the software vendor's website and take a look at Cnet's Spyware section.

From these resources you should find information about different anti-spyware products and their compatibility with each other.

Again, I hope this helps!

My virus solution is very simple. I keep an image of my drive C: with all loaded software on an 8gb. hidden partition created with Drive Image 2002. I also point ''My Documents'' and my Outlook email file ''xxxx.pst'' to drive D: which is a second hard drive. I also keep all my photos on drive D: and sometimes use BackUpMyPC to create a complete backup of drive C on drive D.

When all the spyware programs, Adware, Spybot, and others won't clean my system and it's all wachy, I boot my two DOS Drive Image floppys and restore my saved image file and I'm back running in 4 minutes.

This is the quickest way to restore my system I've found.

Posted by: ejw00100:
I use Adaware, Spybot and Microsoft anti spyware. Spybot and Microsoft report one or two or no problems detected yet Adaware consistantly reports 20 or more problems with each scan. Either the first two are no good or Adaware is "stuffing the ballot box". Has anyone experianced this?

Hi ejw00100!

In answer to your question, yes. As previously mentioned in other answers, almost every spyware program seems to pick up what another didn't; that's why you need several different spyware programs. For this reason, when I find spyware that was missed by a program I report it to the program companies.

As previously stated Ad-Aware is counting each item in the registry as a separate item, while most lump them all into the main program. Usually one adware/spyware will have at least a few different registry ties, and I've seen where one had over 25.

I have used the following adware/spyware programs: Ad-Aware (free & paid versions), Spybot S&D (free), Microsoft (free), Spyware Doctor (shareware), Spy Sweeper (shareware), XoftSpy (shareware), Omniquad Total Security (shareware), SpywareBlaster (free), System Mechanic (shareware), and AOL Spyware Program (free to AOL users). Here is what I have found:

SpywareBlaster works by blocking items, so you really can't rate the effectiveness against the other programs. It is free and a good addition to your spyware protection lineup.

Ad-Aware is good but has not picked up what other programs have. Since it is free (for personal use), the price is right.

Spybot Search & Destroy is good as well, but has not picked up what other programs have. This is also free and well worth the effort to get.

Microsoft's spyware program is good but not yet ready for prime-time; the software itself is good but it does not stack up against some of the others.

System Mechanic's Spyware program is part of the overall program, not dedicated to this task. It seems to pick up only basic high-threat items.

Spy Sweeper (by Webroot) is very good, misses very few items. I would recommend this program. It charges yearly subscriptions but is cost effective.

Spyware Doctor is also good, but not quite the best. It is also a bit expensive compared to others, and it also charges yearly subscriptions.

XoftSpy is also good, but not as good as Spy Sweeper. (No yearly subscriptions.)

Omniquad Total Security is very good as a second check, and you can "bid" on this program during promotions at Ashampoo.com and get it very cheap, or buy it direct for under $20. The subscription covers program upgrades, by the spyware definition updates are free. I recommend this as a second check program.

AOL Spyware Program (free but only available to AOL users) is one of the best, picking up almost everything. If you can get it I would definitely recommend it.

In summary, I recommend the following:

SpywareBlaster (free), available at http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html.

Spybot Search & Destroy (free), also available at http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html.

Ad-Aware (free), available at http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/.

AOL Spyware Program (AOL users), available at AOL Keyword Spyware.

Spy Sweeper (shareware), available at http://www.webroot.com/consumer/

Omniquad Total Security (shareware), available at http://www.omniquad.com/antispy.htm

I hope this information is helpful.

Howard

Few spyware alerts by Adaware and Spybot but lots (like hundreds!!) by Spyware Doctor. For what it's worth, though, Spy/Doc got rid of a couple of otherwise very hard to remove pieces of S/ware (Lopvirus and another whose designation I have forgotten). My subscription is about up and I'm not going to renew unless I get another nasty hard-to-remove virus.

Rob

My adaware does a complete system scan and usually comes up with the MRU list. This may be what you are seeing. The MRU list is just a list of files on your computer such as recently used documents, etc. These files are not dangerous and can be deleted if you wish.

Hey, please change ''experiance'' to EXPERIENCE --- it helps newbies to think we're literate here! Thanks.

All are good, free and good to have and, yes, I have them all and have also sent a donation to Spybot. Each picks up spyware that the others haven't found --- but, to be really sure, spend a couple of bucks (actually only $19.95) and download CounterSpy from Sunbelt Software. It's small price to pay to keep your PC pure.

Aside: I have NO connection with Sunbelt Software other than to have happily spent $29.95 to keep my two computers spyware free . . . hey, loosen up and spend a buck, it's worth every penny.

I stopped using the products you listed. I use three products to help keep my computer free of pests.
1) Win Patrol monitors installations and programs that try to run at startup.
2)PrivX PreEmpt seals windows and block most points of exploit.
3)Ewido Suite is an excellent trojan/worm scanner. It finds everything!
In fact I am so confident about these products that I still browse with Internet Explorer.

I was using Zone Alarm, Norton Antivirus, AdSubtract, and Spybot. I changed to Stopzilla and CounterSpy. They caught several hundred files and a couple trojans that the first group didn't catch. Evidently Registry Mechanic lets in trojans. I still may have to clear my hard drive.