AntiSpyware

Spybot is excellent, but I have used MS Antispyware beta for some time (and if its released, its no longer beta...). It's an excellent addition to the "protect your pc" arsenal.

When it comes to virus and spyware protection, the best defense is A LOT OF DEFENSE.

So my strongly worded emphatic advice to all is ADD THIS TO YOUR DEFENSIVE LINEUP!
 
Ah, I see, its still in beta, they've just extended the beta.

Still a great tool to add.
 
Greebo said:
Spybot is excellent, but I have used MS Antispyware beta for some time (and if its released, its no longer beta...). It's an excellent addition to the "protect your pc" arsenal.

When it comes to virus and spyware protection, the best defense is A LOT OF DEFENSE.

So my strongly worded emphatic advice to all is ADD THIS TO YOUR DEFENSIVE LINEUP!
Click to expand...

I added it at about 0100 this morning; ran it, and it found/removed 8 items. I goofed off for another hour or so, was in another program and, suddenly at 0200 MS Antispyware kicked-in............................and found/removed 1 more item. No complaints, here.

HR
 
Lawreston said:
I added it at about 0100 this morning; ran it, and it found/removed 8 items. I goofed off for another hour or so, was in another program and, suddenly at 0200 MS Antispyware kicked-in............................and found/removed 1 more item. No complaints, here.

HR
Click to expand...

I added it last night and it nailed one program. No idea what it did on the automatic run at 0200, I was asleep. :D
 
I get it. Like other M$ products, it does not work with other browsers. You need to use IE to get the whole package and install it. Save with their malicious software removal tool. They keep doing things to strengthen their user base, not to improve their user environment.
Since I almost never use IE, I'm clean.
It does kind of make you wonder. Is it that M$ can't write software without security holes in it, or are other software creators just more ingenious?
 
silver-eagle said:
It does kind of make you wonder. Is it that M$ can't write software without security holes in it, or are other software creators just more ingenious?
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Actually, MS is used by like 90 percent of the population. why would hackers want to find holes in less used products? its not that the others dont have holes. it that the hackers target MS.

As for the spyware only working in IE...um..where do you get that from?
I am a Firefox user. I also have Liux installed on my laptop. but i wount turn down free products from MS to help their problem just because i dont care for the fact they had a problem to begin with.
 
MS is offering a complete suite of utilities that includes antivirus, firewall, PC maintenance, and file backup and restore functionality. Currently in beta it available for free for the time being. The competitors are not happy.

http://www.windowsonecare.com/purchase/default.aspx

I started to install it, until it told me it needed to uninstall my McAfee utilities. I may re-try the install after my McAfee subscription expires in 2007.

I have been using the MS antispyware (they bought out Giant to get it) since it was first offered. It hasn't found anything on my computer yet. Ad-Aware finds a couple every week.
 
I have the MS Beta Spyware. It is ok but never runs automatically even though I set it to do so. I have been told to use a few programs. Has anyone ever heard of Ad-aware?
 
AdamZ said:
I have the MS Beta Spyware. It is ok but never runs automatically even though I set it to do so. I have been told to use a few programs. Has anyone ever heard of Ad-aware?
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I have and used it prior to using MS AntiSpyware. I switched because Ad-Aware ran VERY SLOW and would take in excess of 20 minutes to fully scan my speed machine rig, which MS only takes about 3 minutes to do.

It did catch some things AntiSpyware didn't, but that's why I use SpyBot Seach and Destroy in conjuntion with AntiSpyware.

Jason
 
I use all three:
MS Antispyware mainly as realtime protection (three active agents constantly monitoring for threats) and nightly scans.
and
Spybot S&D & Lavasoft Adaware for active scanning
 
silver-eagle said:
Like other M$ products, it does not work with other browsers.
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Why should it? If you look objectively at things, M$ is doing a pretty good job, considering how difficult it is when you are on top and everybody is taking shots at you. XP SP2 did a pretty good job of plugging a lot of holes. As IT director for a $1B company, and a 100% M$ shop for 10 years (post IBM mainframe), I'm satisfied and our systems are very stable.

For me it was pretty simple, avoiding all fringe software (Linux, FireFox, Apache, etc.) has created an efficient environment. Instead of hacking and tweeking and playing with open source toys, my network team can focus on the things that are important.

Greg
182RG
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I don't have any spyware and I don't notice a problem.
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"Where's Baby?" You might be (probably will be) surprised at what is going on during your on-line connections. Download the MS AntiSpyware, or any of the other products out there and see how many folks are keeping track of what you do and where you go.

Several other items. AdamZ My MS AntiSpyware does run as scheduled. Perhaps another piece of software (a firewall or other security software) is blocking it from loading on schedule. One major problem with PCs is that so many pieces of software try to be all-things-to-all-people. Everybody tucks a little-of-this and a little-of-that into its basic function. You buy an anti-virus and you get popup blockers, ad blockers, etc. Those are also embedded in another five or six products you are running. My experience of over 36 years in the computer field (aerospace software engineer) has convinced me that the closer you can stay to one manufacturer, the fewer problems you will have with internal conflicts. If I find conflicting functions, I generally revert to the MS version on my PC just because I use their OS as my basic framework and I am likely to have fewer conflicts.

Steve Not to belabor the point because you saw the messages and I didn't, but did it say to uninstall the McAfee product or to temporarily disable it during installation? Many loaders recommend that. It may have also indicated that you should disable the Spyware option in McAfee. I run Norton and had no problems at all installing the MS product. You may want to try again and see if the notice is for a temporary or permanent change to McAfee and whether to a specific function or not. If it really called for an uninstall, I would do exactly what you did. But that doesn't sound logical to me.

About bad folks prefering certain systems to attack, and that happens to be MS. Their goal is to do the most damage to the most people. It is not that the other products are invulnerable (e.g. Apple just had two major attacks) it is just that it is not as much "fun" to wipe out a million Apples when you can wipe out a billion IBM compatibles. You could make an OS invulnerable to attack by limiting its function. Under the old bulletin board systems where you only transferred text, that was easy. All sorts of things on The Internet, for instance, cause specific operations to take place on our own computer. If a person finds a means to modify some of those function, he can cause lots of bad things to happen. It is cost we pay for such great performance from our tools.
 
Who said logic has anything to do with it. Read it for yourself. I still have the shortcut for installing the "free trial":

https://www.windowsonecare.com/install/default.aspx?pc=FreeTrial


I just ran it 5 minutes ago and got the following message:


Setting up Windows OneCare

https://www.windowsonecare.com/install/images/1.jpgChecking your system and settings


https://www.windowsonecare.com/images/alerticon.gif System Check found that your computer meets the installation requirements for Windows OneCare. However, 1 other antivirus or firewall program(s) on your computer must be uninstalled before Windows OneCare installation can continue.
Why do I need to uninstall other security programs before I install Windows OneCare?
This page will walk you through removing these programs one at a time.

https://www.windowsonecare.com/shared/images/upperleft-billingbox-fill.gifhttps://www.windowsonecare.com/shared/images/1ptrans.gifhttps://www.windowsonecare.com/shared/images/upperright-billingbox-fill.gifhttps://www.windowsonecare.com/shared/images/1ptrans.gifMcAfee Personal Firewall Plus Click Uninstall to remove this program from your computer
https://www.windowsonecare.com/shared/images/1ptrans.gifhttps://www.windowsonecare.com/shared/images/lowerleft-billingbox.gifhttps://www.windowsonecare.com/shared/images/1ptrans.gifhttps://www.windowsonecare.com/shared/images/lowerright-billingbox.gif
Notes:
  • If you see a dialog box asking you to restart your computer while you are uninstalling a program, you can safely ignore it.
  • To be on the safe side, avoid surfing the Internet until you have finished removing these programs and installing Windows OneCare. (We’ll also turn on Windows Firewall until Windows OneCare is completely installed).
  • After you uninstall these programs, you might see a warning from the Windows Security Center about the security status of your computer. Don’t worry—Windows OneCare will turn off these warnings once you've completed the installation.
  • If you lose your place during the Windows OneCare installation process, click the Resume Windows OneCare Setup shortcut on your Desktop.



ABCandJRC [b said:
Steve[/b] Not to belabor the point because you saw the messages and I didn't, but did it say to uninstall the McAfee product or to temporarily disable it during installation? Many loaders recommend that. It may have also indicated that you should disable the Spyware option in McAfee. I run Norton and had no problems at all installing the MS product. You may want to try again and see if the notice is for a temporary or permanent change to McAfee and whether to a specific function or not. If it really called for an uninstall, I would do exactly what you did. But that doesn't sound logical to me.
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ANY antivirus or firewall software won't function concurrently in a real-time environment. They are both trying to access the same resources at the same time and running into conflicts. It's an either/or situation, regardless of manufacturer.
 
ABCandJRC said:
"Where's Baby?" You might be (probably will be) surprised at what is going on during your on-line connections. Download the MS AntiSpyware, or any of the other products out there and see how many folks are keeping track of what you do and where you go.
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OK I did it. (I figured it must be important if the thread is alive almost a month later!)
It only found 3 low threat ad-things related to weather websites....clean living, I guess.

Hilarious! When you install the Defender, it says that you have to become a member of their Spynet community in which they get .......Information From Your Computer Activities!!
Isn't that what we are trying to avoid with...Defender itself!?!
I think I'll delete it, my harddrive is almost full.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Hilarious! When you install the Defender, it says that you have to become a member of their Spynet community in which they get .......Information From Your Computer Activities!!
Isn't that what we are trying to avoid with...Defender itself!?!
I think I'll delete it, my harddrive is almost full.
Click to expand...
First, the member thing is OPTIONAL if you check the installation.

Second, the Spynet community has been around for some time. Microsoft is joining them, not starting it. Other spyware combatants use the same system to develop signatures and detect outbreaks faster. Kind of like McAfee, Symantec and other anti-virus software gets virus notifications from YOUR computer with notify options...enabled by default.
 
I don't get error messages running MS antispyware (beta 2) with the McAfee firewall installed and active. Or with AdAware or Spybot.

This MS OneCare suite is an attempt to sell an all-in-one package with no options to select/deselect components. I can't believe MS would try to do that! [that's a joke in case you didn't catch it].

I'll wait until my McAfee subscription runs out in 2007 and revisit the product.

Brian Austin said:
ANY antivirus or firewall software won't function concurrently in a real-time environment. They are both trying to access the same resources at the same time and running into conflicts. It's an either/or situation, regardless of manufacturer.
Click to expand...
 
Steve said:
I don't get error messages running MS antispyware (beta 2) with the McAfee firewall installed and active. Or with AdAware or Spybot.
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Apples to oranges.

Any antispyware product is looking for different signatures and files than antivirus. The firewall is watching incoming network traffic on the TCP/IP stack and not paying much attention to anything else. All-in-one apps, like ZoneAlarm (which watches both network and file changes), will have an issue with other file access 'watchers' like this, too, unless it's specifically written into the app to ignore them (which would be a security issue in my book since I could replicate the 'look' of an app while doing something else).

Adaware and Spybot are generally file scanning apps so they don't have as much interaction in a realtime environment. Spybot offers a realtime app, too, which might have problems with any other similar app. Spybot is set up to ignore certain applications, though, so I'm not sure about performance.
 
Well, it may be fruit salad, but MS OneCare won't let you separate them in the version offered for trial. Unless the production version of OneCare that hits the local Wal-mart is accompanied by a standalone version of MS antispyware I won't be able to use MS antispyware software because the bundled package is incompatible with a non-MS application (that isn't even an antispyware app). I'm not comparing their functionality, I'm only describing an incompatibility, which MS addresses by instructing the end user to uninstall the offending app rather than offering the option to selectively install an otherwise compatible subcomponent of a software suite. Why should I buy Office when all I need is Word?
 
Steve said:
I don't get error messages running MS antispyware (beta 2) with the McAfee firewall installed and active. Or with AdAware or Spybot.

This MS OneCare suite is an attempt to sell an all-in-one package with no options to select/deselect components. I can't believe MS would try to do that! [that's a joke in case you didn't catch it].

I'll wait until my McAfee subscription runs out in 2007 and revisit the product.
Click to expand...
I lost situational awareness someplace along the line when the topic moved toward the OneCare product from Anti-Spyware. Sorry. I am glad you came back with this because I was just going to try to download from that WindowsOneCare site to find out if it gagged on Norton as well. That makes more sense, since it is trying to replace your general protection software.

Just about what I was talking about in my original post. Everyone trying to be all-things-to-all-people. I don't know how that will all work out. One of the reasons MS got in all the problems with the FTC and Congress (The computer experts of all time. Didn't one of them invent The Internet?) was "bundling". I wonder if offering "free" products as standalone downloads will be considered "closet bundling". I wonder what functions will be part of the new MS OS. Since one of the XP and prior system weaknesses was security, and they claim they have corrected that in the next product, what is actually built-in, and will it raise the heads of lawyers and politicians again?
 
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