Microsoft Anti-Spyware (Beta)

[fiddlefarter]

I just down-loaded MS's new anti spyware. My machine was running like crap here lately so I was trying to work on it today. I have run adaware and spybot and they came up with little. I decided to see if microsofts stuff was out yet so I went to their website (www.microsoft.com) and it was. I downloaded it, ran it, and bang, There was all kinds of bad chit adaware didn't find. This stuff seems like its pretty good. Maybe we can have a contest to see who has the most spyware/adware on their comp. I had 20 items. But under one thing it had 2500 signatures.

[CrappiePappy]

Actually MS just bought an existing adware removal program, and is reworking it. So, I think I'll wait until it's out of "beta testing" ... but, will definitely keep an eye on it. I've used Ad-Aware, very successfully, for several years. Even at work, where they had "Spybot", Ad-Aware found and deleted a lot of stuff (that Spybot didn't find) and vice versa !!
A lot of people don't realize what "adware" & "malware" really are, and ignore them ... until they gum up the works and slow down or stall their system. ANYTIME you are on the web, or on a website, there's the potential for these critters to be "placed" on your system, without your knowledge. All websites leave a "cookie" ... but some leave "trackers", "data miners", "browser highjackers", or worse. A good adware removal program (or two) is important to have on your system. And don't think for a minute that an "antivirus" program will protect you from these adware invasions. You need to have a specific removal program for adware/malware, and you need to keep it updated and run it often.

Here's a place that everyone needs to know about: www.pchell.com
There's even a shootout between Ad-Aware, Spybot, and MS's beta adware removal program. They came to the same conclusion that I've had for a long time ... no one program is "perfect", by itself, for removing ALL of the nasty little spyware programs that we can get, when surfing the web. PC Hell is also a great place to find out how to remove viruses, worms, trojans, highjacker programs, and other computer killing critters. It's a bit technical, and may require a little "technical" help from someone ... but, its step by step layout of how to's is very informative. And I especially like the "Glossary of Computer Terms" link ... everyone can benefit from looking thru that link. .................cp

[Moose1am]

Hey guys thanks for the links and great tips. I just reformated and found 20 new spyware on my computer in just a few days. I downloaded and installed Adaware from Lavasoft and had it take off all those nasty data miners.

I still have to download and install the spybot program for windows XP. All my old downloaded programs that I saved on an external back up hard drive are for windows98SE.

I too am going to wait for Microsoft to finish beta testing their new spyware removal software and then give it a try. But some of my old flight sim buddies are raving about the new MS stuff. They seem to think it works great. But I want to only load MS Windows XP certified software on my system at this time. Can't be too careful.

This is a great thread and I am going to give it a high rating. Anyone that uses crappie.com has to have a computer to get her and this is good stuff to know about. Even beginners can learn from this thread.

Actually MS just bought an existing adware removal program, and is reworking it. So, I think I'll wait until it's out of "beta testing" ... but, will definitely keep an eye on it. I've used Ad-Aware, very successfully, for several years. Even at work, where they had "Spybot", Ad-Aware found and deleted a lot of stuff (that Spybot didn't find) and vice versa !!
A lot of people don't realize what "adware" & "malware" really are, and ignore them ... until they gum up the works and slow down or stall their system. ANYTIME you are on the web, or on a website, there's the potential for these critters to be "placed" on your system, without your knowledge. All websites leave a "cookie" ... but some leave "trackers", "data miners", "browser highjackers", or worse. A good adware removal program (or two) is important to have on your system. And don't think for a minute that an "antivirus" program will protect you from these adware invasions. You need to have a specific removal program for adware/malware, and you need to keep it updated and run it often.

Here's a place that everyone needs to know about_: www.pchell.com
There's even a shootout between Ad-Aware, Spybot, and MS's beta adware removal program. They came to the same conclusion that I've had for a long time ... no one program is "perfect", by itself, for removing ALL of the nasty little spyware programs that we can get, when surfing the web. PC Hell is also a great place to find out how to remove viruses, worms, trojans, highjacker programs, and other computer killing critters. It's a bit technical, and may require a little "technical" help from someone ... but, its step by step layout of how to's is very informative. And I especially like the "Glossary of Computer Terms" link ... everyone can benefit from looking thru that link. .................cp

[big "E"]

Another "free" option for adware and such is cw shredder.It can be downloaded for free at cwshredder.com.It usually roots out a couple that spybot and spyware missed.You cant beat the price.

[Bowfin]

Micro$oft is the most user friendly and I like the autoupdate feature. Your Anti-spyware utilies are only as good as your most recent update. Have no fear, even though it is a Beta, it was bought from another company, so it is stable and reliable. Still, If you are having Spyware issues, use more than one program to remove them. For some reason, one program seems to be able to remove what the other prgram can't find. Personally, I use Spybot and Micro$oft.

Bowfin

[LakeHardingSpirit]

knows what you mean about adaware and spybot, here's a link to a good site that finds some microsoft's antispyware doesn't

http://www.trendmicro.com

do the online scan, available free, seriously, hit this back with results.

[fiddlefarter]

Well I been using Microsoft for over a month now so I thought I'd report a little on it. I have had no problems with it and I also haven't had any adware or spyware that I know of. It runs every night and when I wake up it shows me if it found anything. Of course at the same time I got Mozilla Firefox but I don't have pop ups at all any more and my unit runs better than it ever has.