Is Spysweeper Retarded?

[neko kyouran]

norton was good.  then they became symantec.  now norton is just a memory bloat.  AVG does the same if not better job than norton and they do it for free, at least for personal home computers anyway. 

[Drey]

Suno: Ad-Aware, Spybot, AVG are all good and non-virusy....

What he said.

This is true. Its what i normally use out of choice at home :p

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html is good too.

atm im using ad aware, spybot and sophos :/

[zog]

* zog loves Ad-Aware and Spybot and uses them several times a week

[Sangwa]

Use linux. Or trust open software only. Those don't usually come with spyware or virus.

[dragonfire999]

ETrust antivirus+ spybot

Never had a virus in ever since i got them. But ETrust is like 60$ :/

[Radiant Memphis]

I use a app. called Little Snitch-http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=little+snitch&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 for all the mac users interested. Combined with other firewalls it's all I have needed so far. I also hear Netlimiter is good for PC-http://netlimiter.com/

[Monketh]

Advice: When looking for free applications on the internet , go opensource.  You can trust opensource.  If you can't find something or something good enough, ask your friends (like in this thread.)  There is plenty of legitimate free software available if you know where to look.
I got my entire operating system (for example: MS Windows & MacOSX are operating systems) and every piece of software on it from the internet (and no, none of it is warez.)
That, and don't always trust Microsoft.  If their OS was more security-minded from the get-go, many of these vulnerabilities wouldn't exist (although I've only managed to infect an XP box once, and that was my fault.)

[Kiirani]

Are any of these from Microsoft? If so I'll get them, I just don't trust some random website.

This made me laugh, and then want to cry :/

I'm a linux person myself, but back when I was on windoze I used spybot and adaware, as recommended here already.

[ramlambmoo]

95% of spyware imo comes from browsing unsafe websites in IE.  The simplest way to not get spyware is use firefox, and dont download suspicious programs.  I've had my current computer for 6 months and I only use firefox with my defualt nVidia firewall.  I just downloaded and ran SpyBot Search&Destroy for the first time- the only problems I had were serveral tracking cookies.  Not a single actual Spyware, Malware, Trojan, etc on my system.  Its easy to keep windows secure if you know what you're doing.

o.O;

sure, that would bring in potential customers to buy their pro software *nodnod*

His concern is valid: there are numerous fake 'anti spyware' programs that are actually spyware in themselves.  Downloading a random program isnt a good idea in this case. (Not saying that what you suggested is a random program, just in general).

[chazarus]

Stop hating on Microsoft people.
Why are attacks like viruses and spyware aimed at Microsoft products?
That's like asking why terrorists attack crowds.

So run to your little Linux hole and hide.

[Monketh]

Oh, an OS flame war!

First off, you should note that I'm not completely hostile to Microsoft products.  I just legitimately prefer non-Microsoft ones.  (Word Perfect > MS Office)  Secondly, you should note that I implied a security minded, computer-literate user can maintain a secure Win* Box.
You might note that I deliberately said:

although I've only managed to infect an XP box once, and that was my fault.

As for attacks:
1. There is no correlation between number of users and number of vulnerabilities.
2. Microsoft, as a corporation, has little reason to seek out and patch coded vulnerabilites which are not already known.
3. Linux is highly modularized, and proper user permissions can limit the extent of the damage.
4. Most linux users aren't stupid enough to click here to get bonzai buddy.

And if my little linux hole is safe from malware when that's what I'm trying to hide from, does it not make sense to hide there?  You have no obligation to defend Microsoft's products.
I like Linux, not because it isn't Windows, but because I find it much more logical, intuitive, and efficient.  If Linux had the same malware as Windows, I would still use it.  I might spend more time in Windows when KDE 4 comes out, though.

[Edit: Clarification: Because KDE4 is cross-platform and will run natively in Windows.]

[bilbous]

Of course once MS releases Vista and forces people to upgrade (down the road when they stop selling and support for XP) you will really be in trouble as from what I've heard you will have less control of your machine and they will have more intrusive powers over what you can do with it. I am simplifying, of course, but take a look on the web beyond the windows hype and you may be disturbed.

[chazarus]

There is a correlation between number of users and attacks..
If 1 million noobs suddenly started using your OS i GUARANTEE there would be attacks.
Because thats who they target not the OS the millions of idiots who don't know what they are doing.

[Kezzik]

except the fact the millions of idiots are windows lovers and think linux distro's are a term for some spyware xP

[Induane]

    Reply with quote
I don't trust things like that you can get from the internet. For all I know, it could sweep everything but itself, and it would be carrying about 3 hidden viruses.

Possibly, but programs like LavaSofts Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy are both free AND recommend by professional security experts.  They are all certified 100% free of spyware and malware and are quite well designed programs.  AVG is only a mediocre scanning virus engine at best though.  Where it excels is virus removal.  If you want excellent virus detection then ClamWin is excellent.  The problem with clamwin is that it only identifies viruses, it expects you to remove them (which is actually the prefered method).  Rather than attempting to clean an infected .dll it is safer to replace the .dll with a fresh one from somewhere like www.dllfiles.com or elsewhere.  I hear people using the "I don't trust software from the interenet it might be spyware itself" arguement alot, but come on. WIndows itself uses its little wga checker to send stats back to Microsoft. It dials home constantly.  Who knows what it does precisely.   

Seriously though - bad arguement.  Its important to check into the software before you install it but free does not equal dangerous unless its an AOL disk.

I heard norton was good...

No - seriously its an all encompasing suite of crap.  We're required to remove it from every computer we process at my place of work.  There are better free alternatives.

If 1 million noobs suddenly started using your OS i GUARANTEE there would be attacks.

Not necessarily.  Considering the fact that unix and linux servers dominate gov and college campus's and servers, it is actually the OS that is attempted to be brute force hacked more than any other.  The types of attacks that happen on windows non server users can't actually even happen on linux because of userspace seperation and the executable bit.  In linux I cannot download a file then execute it.  Its impossible.  Nor can a program that managed to somehow download itself execute its malicious code. This is because by default when you download a file it is automatically not executible. You must manually chmod or righ click it and click on properties and set the permissions to executible.  This means extra user intervention is required to get malware to run on linux.  Now say some idiot does manage to do this.  He can't actually hurt anything other than his own stupid account.  Joe Shmoe the linux newb downloads linux32.trojan and executes it. It runs and manages to infect his crap... thats it.  His user account can't touch anything system critical.  The infection ends there.  Sysadmin logs in removes the infected account and all is well.  So while security issues exist, and it is somewhat the fault of the end users, operating system design is key too.   There is a reason that windows is switching to multi-user operating system design - and that is that it is simply superior in many ways once of which is system security.  linux has a history of a well designed core of muli-user seperation.  Windows will catch up to that design eventually but its taken them long enough.