Reply
Old February 5th, 2006 Top | #1
 
Son Goku's Avatar
No lover of dogma
Joined: June 2004
Location: 439 East District, Mount Paozu
Posts: 1,980
Reputation: 700
Power: 120

Default anti-spyware in Windows, the good and the bad...

Ya know? I just had one of those convs that brings this up yet again. Apperently, when I was on the phone with my father, he was infected with some spyware. Luckily for him in this case, Norton removed this bit for him. However, in mentioning that he should get Adaware and Spybot, he was like "why should I download something. Norton removed that..."

Well, it removed that bit, but who knows what else might be on his system. Mind you, this is a person who well meaning, used to forward all the emails he got about supposed viruses that were making their rounds on the Internet. I'd look the thing up (not to mention that some of the claims like infecting text files and burning out people's hard drives seemed far fetched), and practically every single one came up as a virus hoax, meant to scare people...

The good side is, that with something bundled, people like my father will have something that can weed some of this stuff outa their systems, when it's something they aren't entirely aware of. The bad side, these same people can be left thinking they don't need anything more (if their prog isn't the most thorough, and in the case of Norton that is debatable), and therefore assume they're now safer then they are.

Hmm...
Son Goku is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 5th, 2006 Top | #2
 
tdinc's Avatar
█▄█ ▀█▄ █
Joined: December 2003
Location: Sterling Heights, MICHIGAN
Posts: 3,505
Blog Entries: 19
Reputation: 2905
Power: 164

Default Re: anti-spyware in Windows, the good and the bad...

not to sound rude but... you know as well as I do, that your fathers rig is prob' still infested with something.

norton *shivers* is not a very good spyware remover. thus just having a antivirus will not detect and remove the scum. On average 3-4 anti-spyware apps' should be used. i.e. spybot S&D, ad-aware, Microsoft Anti-spyware, and even Spywareblaster. to block the nasty unwanted Active X and cookies.

but we know this already, its sometimes hard to explain that it so important now a days to be up to date on security.



The bad side, these same people can be left thinking they don't need anything more (if their prog isn't the most thorough, and in the case of Norton that is debatable), and therefore assume they're now safer then they are.

Hmm...
could'nt have said it better myself...

tdinc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 5th, 2006 Top | #3

OSNN Folding Team  
falconguard's Avatar
Carbon based lifeform
Joined: February 2004
Location: SoCal
Posts: 3,406
Reputation: 2305
Power: 155

Default Re: anti-spyware in Windows, the good and the bad...

User education goes along way to this also, My wife thought I was being paranoid. That is until she got her own laptop and saw how much Ad-aware and Spybot got rid of. Now she run both programs weekly.

falconguard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 5th, 2006 Top | #4
 
XeoNoX's Avatar
OSNN Senior Addict
Joined: December 2001
Posts: 270
Reputation: 20
Power: 127

Default Re: anti-spyware in Windows, the good and the bad...

You guys should try spyware doctor, its pretty good.

XeoNoX is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 5th, 2006 Top | #5
 
tdinc's Avatar
█▄█ ▀█▄ █
Joined: December 2003
Location: Sterling Heights, MICHIGAN
Posts: 3,505
Blog Entries: 19
Reputation: 2905
Power: 164

Default Re: anti-spyware in Windows, the good and the bad...

I have researched Spyware Doctor, rated high it many tests. but IMHO, if you start out will a clean PC and take the precautions beforehand the free versions that i mentioned in my earily post work supurb. Plus...I dont like the idea of having to pay for a subscription. to each his own.. but if someone want to pay for a good software product, SPyware Doctor is a good choice, I also like Sunbelt, they really do supurb work in research and work hard to deliver a great product.

my 2 cents

tdinc is offline   Reply With Quote

Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
AVG Anti-Spyware Kr0m Windows Desktop Systems 9 November 21st, 2006 2:51am
Microsoft Anti-Spyware article tdinc Windows Desktop Systems 15 January 11th, 2005 2:46am
Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta jimi_81 Windows Desktop Systems 2 January 4th, 2005 9:12am
Anti-Spyware Test Enyo Windows Desktop Systems 6 October 11th, 2004 3:11am
No need for anti-spyware laws - FTC tdinc Windows Desktop Systems 0 April 22nd, 2004 6:37am