Any reccomendations for a Spyware/Adware killer/stopper?

[Lansing_Banda]

Adaware can be set to run on startup, and it has something called Ad-watch that will run in the taskbar constantly. Sure you can't controll it from a central computer, but if it is doing the scan automatically, why bother?

# Lock down sensitive areas in your memory and registry to keep them from being compromised!
# Real-time blocking of browser hijack attempts and drive by downloads!
# Real-time blocking of forced installations and activeX!
# Includes an all new, highly flexible and configurable interface!
# Includes a powerful popup-stopper!
# Seamless integration with Ad-watch!
# Free e-mail support

That was from Lavasoft's main page

Also Check here for some configuration options you can set.

http://www.hackfix.org/software/configure/adaware.html

[Locke23]

I have a question about Ad-Aware. I was using the free version to get rid of some adware I had that was slowing down my Internet connection. It found 150 items (about half of them cookies) and I got rid of them. Afterward, I tried running my Internet again to see if it was faster, but my Internet didn't work. I tried re-installing Internet Explorer, and I could dial on fine, but I couldn't get any sites to load. I don't know if this was connected or not, but my Microsoft Office soon stopped working after that. I've reformatted my computer and got everything back to normal, but I was wondering what you guys thought about that.

Edit: The adware I got had this address: 209.50.251.182 which is an ad server and I hve seen it also on several school computers, getting through the school's many filters.

[seqrets]

Adaware
SpyBot
SpywareBlaster
SpywareGuard

Additional links -

RegistryProt
Script Sentry

[echocontrol]

Originally posted here by SDK
Like everyone said, Ad-Aware is the one of the BEST if not the best!

nods head, yep it is the best. well i got it from the evil aol so i wasn't sure and i loaded another on from the internet, spyzapper(or some such thing). well i was shocked it found all these bugs, and spyware files that ad-aware had missed. actually the reason i tried them becuase i got a but from the search engine alexe (? i think, i'd never used them, but my son roams alot), and they were billed specifically to remove them. so anyway i load it and like i said it found loads of stuff. but when i turned around and ran ad-aware6 (just the free home one) - like i said i'm obsessed right now...low and behold the anti-spyware zapper program had infected my system with 18 spies, 3 in the registry....well it took me like about 3 hours to figure out to completely wipe this program off my system!!!!

its scarey, i've been saying to ppl all along in the last couple of weeks that this new wave of spies/viruses is a plot by business/the government...business to sell more of the product to kill the bugs they are placing, the government to try to limit and control internet access. we will have so much 'protection' we won't be able to do anything....now with what just happened, ummm....there may be some truth to it....

[KorpDeath]

That's a matter of opinion. Spysweeper has caught stuff that Adaware missed. It also does processes already running in memory. www.spysweeper.com

I've tried Adaware and spybot S&D after getting spwysweeper and I haven't seen it miss any thing yet, then again I could be mistaken......but probably not.

[da_da_man101]

Dude I would recommend ad-ware as it is a very good software and can be downloaded from the website http://www.lavasoft.de/ you also can get the pro version if want to but the free version works very well. I also will recommend spy-bot which can be downloaded from http://beam.to/spybotsd this maximizes your chances of catching the “filth” (parasite) and deleting the parasites.

from sparky

[txsidewinder1]

The following are for businesses. See if any of these help.

http://cws.internet.com/virus.html

http://www.sophos.com

http:http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/...?=virusscanner

[echocontrol]

Originally posted here by KorpDeath
That's a matter of opinion. Spysweeper has caught stuff that Adaware missed. It also does processes already running in memory. www.spysweeper.com

I've tried Adaware and spybot S&D after getting spwysweeper and I haven't seen it miss any thing yet, then again I could be mistaken......but probably not.

well i read your post a went ahead a loaded spysweeper on my system...and sure enough, with everyone else finding nothing they found:4 software problesm, 5 traces..one of them was the alexa toolbar, supposedly deleted by the evil co trapzappers, and also blocked by me on my computer, but i guess they can sneak in anyway...mainly it was cookies...i deleted it all.
i'll keep the rest but if spysweeper consistently finds things that ad-aware6 misses....
thanks for the tip....still learning

[mazupan]

Originally posted here by Locke23
[B] ... It found 150 items (about half of them cookies) and I got rid of them. Afterward, I tried running my Internet again to see if it was faster, but my Internet didn't work. I tried re-installing Internet Explorer, and I could dial on fine, but I couldn't get any sites to load. I don't know if this was connected or not, but my Microsoft Office soon stopped working after that. I've reformatted my computer and got everything back to normal, but I was wondering what you guys thought about that.

Ad-aware probably wiped out one of the commonly used .dll files that IE needs for browsing internet. Try to check quarantine and restore all dll files.

[Grinler]

When dealing with spyware you should always have the following on your computer:

Removal
You should use both of these as they both tend to find some items that the other does not.

Spybot | Tutorial
Ad-aware | Tutorial

Prevention - Use these programs to prevent infection of malware

SpywareBlaster - This program prevents certain known malware from running on your computer | Tutorial

SpywareGuard - Acts as a real time scanner for Spyware and Hijackers that can along with your traditional virusscan | Tutorial

IE-Spyad - Large list of known malware sites. Puts this list into the restricted sites of IE | Tutorial

Hope this helps