FAKE spyware removal programs

Excellent link. With all of the legit spyware removal out there now I can see how the spyware writers would go to offering fake programs to deceive people.

Thanks! :)
 
It's interesting looking at the names

My favourites are KillAllSpyware and Privacy Defender....oh and Spyinator.

muahahha...
 
I like the Scumware-Remover and the SpywareKilla ("I'se gon blast dat registry entry, punk!"). ;)

But you gotta admit that some of the names are fairly clever, like MalWhere.
 
I have found that most of your anti-spywhere needs are covered by adaware (www.lavasoft.com) and spybot S&D (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html)

As a computer nerd I use these two programs regularly. They both offer background programs that protect your registry and are totally free. Anything that these cant get rid of I do by hand, but even if you have some little bits left behind from spyware, with a registry protecting program running it shouldnt get too far out of hand or interfere with your computing.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
How does Microsoft compare to Ad-Aware and Spybot?
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Microsoft bought out some company to produce this program. I can't recall which but their program was rated highly in detection capability, higher than the other two in most cases. So it should be quite good if they can keep it up.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
How does Microsoft compare to Ad-Aware and Spybot?
Click to expand...


I've had both Microsoft and Spybot for several weeks now and seen cases where MS catches stuff that Spybot misses and where Spybot catches stuff that MS misses. Apparently, there is no one anti-spyware tool that totally up-to-date at all times. You've got to run two or three.
 
Thanks! I've been using Ad-Aware and Spybot, and added Microsoft's when I switched to XP.
 
Ryan8 said:
Microsoft bought out some company to produce this program. I can't recall which but their program was rated highly in detection capability, higher than the other two in most cases. So it should be quite good if they can keep it up.
Click to expand...

They bought the rights to Giant Software's AntiSpy program. The bad part is that the people who bought the Giant version have to go to Microsoft for support and updates.
 
K.V. Collucci said:
They bought the rights to Giant Software's AntiSpy program. The bad part is that the people who bought the Giant version have to go to Microsoft for support and updates.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Yes I feel for those people.


It reminds me of another bad thing. Microsoft either bought out or made a deal with Digital Persona. They make or made a fingerprint reader that eliminates the need for passwords when logging in to Windows, and is also capable of filling in passwords on web sites.

As soon as Microsoft released their first version of this fingerprint reader, compatibility with Firefox was broken. It had formerly worked when it was a Digital Persona product. I don't think this was an accident and I don't expect this to change.

As far as I know Digital Persona doesn't make their old version any more which has been around for a few years and was known as "U.Are.U". Very sad.
 
I run the MS and AdAware regularly and have very little trouble at all. I used to use Spybot too, but it was just a hassle to run all three. What these won't get rid of, I can kill by hand.
 
For advanced computer users, you may want to check out HijackThis. Basically it gives you a centralized way of managing startup programs and browser helper objects. You have to know what you're doing or you can mess up your system.

I've encountered some malware on a machine that prevents you from bringing up the Windows Task Manager via CTRL-ALT-DELETE. When I have this problem I use Process Explorer available here. It's like an advanced version of Task Manager.

Again, this is for people who know what they are doing. You'd use these tools when other programs don't do the job.
 
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