i hate adware with a burning passion >.<

[Commasterharry]

[mysterious_w]

adaware is your friend.

[Mr Jones]

Is it really such a big deal?, I mean, oooh, what's it going to take to download?, 10 seconds or so?, 30 if you are on dial up?

Stop the press Commasterharry looses 10 seconds of life that he can never get back!!!

Look on the bright side, you've had an extra few kb of hard drive space to play with all the time you've had adaware on your system, I mean if it didn't install the uninstaller you could probably get a word doc or a jpg or so into the space it would have occupied, yay for twisted logic!

[shakey_snake]

jones, I believe he is uninstalling adware (not ad-aware) from his comp via the add/remove progs menu, and the adware is reinfecting itself. thus, he hates adware, not (ad-aware)

[Mr Jones]

Well in that case...
Death to adware!!!
Death to short sighted mods!!!

[DrO]

Originally posted by Mr Jones
Well in that case...
Death to adware!!!
Death to short sighted mods!!!

hehehe

someone's been drinking a bit too much again i think

-daz

[cyu]

Firefox is also your friend.

[mysterious_w]

Yep, I use firefox, my parents use IE. I wonder which of us is responsible for the 13 trojans and the keylogger I recently found?

[nybergh]

Why not force your parents to use firefox?!
This week I've done that, but on a larger scale. I've installed firefox as default browser with flash+java+acrobat on ALL public/student computers in my school, with the help of a few other admin guys. We did that without asking first and the feedback is very positive so far!

[Joel]

ah, but M$ is your friends also

Now, their app wiil bust spyware... you will be saved

*Note the sarcastic words*

[k_rock923]

An Internet explorer with the correct security settings along with firewall and antivirus will not have any problems. Install Spyware Blaster and IE spyad to prevent from future infections. Those programs block ActiveX controls that are known to be malacious. Also, scan regularly with spybot and ad-aware.

[Atmo]

Originally posted by k_rock923
An Internet explorer with the correct security settings along with firewall and antivirus will not have any problems. Install Spyware Blaster and IE spyad to prevent from future infections. Those programs block ActiveX controls that are known to be malacious. Also, scan regularly with spybot and ad-aware.

If IE with correct settings/firewall/av wont have any problems, then why do you need to install software to prevent future infections? Also, if you're confident that IE wont have any problems, why do you need to scan with spybot/adaware?

[k_rock923]

Using IE spyad and Spyware blaster will allow you to still visit sites that use ActiveX controls by blocking many bad ones without blocking ActiveX entirely. IE spyad will place known spyware sites in your restriced zone. The reason that you still need to scan regularly is because spyware can also come from downloaded files and programs and install itself along with these programs. All of this is explained in Tony Klein's "So How did I get infected in the first place"

[morgado]

Well, I just have to point out the good "English Writing" of the person that wrote that adaware. Take a look at the window title ... "Downloing" or should it be "Downloading" ?! :P

[Atmo]

I know what those programs do.

The point i was trying to make was that you cant say that if you use this plus this plus this you wont have problems. Unless you've examined every line of source code in those pieces of software and know it to be totally perfect, there's always a chance that an exploit can be found.

I'm not just talking about IE etc. either - it bugs me when people call firefox a 'safe' browser. At the moment it's probably a safer browser than IE, but i wouldnt be surprised if more exploits are found as it becomes more popular.

In my opinion, the only real defence against spyware/malware/etc. is to run linux (which is still too much of a hassle for most people), or to set up some defences (like the software you described) along with caution and a little common sense.

[k_rock923]

That, atmo, is the key. Common sense. Half of the time, after spending an hour or so with a Hijack This log and fixing a user's computer, I find out that they were infected because of something stupid they did.

And yes, linux is great for that. I can visit sites in logs without fear.