Spybot results

[advan]

Hello! Years ago, you guys advised to install Malwarebytes and CCleaner. I have been using them regularly since then. I use XP btw.

My question now concerns Spybot, which I recently installed. The results of a scan are mostly of this nature (key registry related?), to which I click "fix" , but a few days later, when I scan again, items of the same nature show up again. Should I be worried this keeps getting reported over and over? Or do I just ignore it?

Results are usually like this:


Search results from Spybot - Search & Destroy

4/12/2015 2:02:35 PM
Scan took 00:38:32.
16 items found.

Common Dialogs: [SBI $4E2AF2AC] History (12 files) (Registry Key, nothing done)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\OpenSaveMRU

MS Management Console: [SBI $ECD50EAD] Recent command list (Registry Key, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Management Console\Recent File List

MS Direct3D: [SBI $C2A44980] Most recent application (Registry Change, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\Microsoft\Direct3D\MostRecentApplication\Name

MS DirectDraw: [SBI $EB49D5AF] Most recent application (Registry Change, nothing done)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\MostRecentApplication\Name

MS Office 12.0 (Excel): [SBI $546355D5] Recent Cartel List (Registry Key, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Excel\File MRU

MS Office 12.0 (Word): [SBI $E357B233] Recent Document List (Registry Key, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\File MRU

Windows: [SBI $1E4E2003] Drivers installation paths (Registry Change, nothing done)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\Installation Sources

Windows Explorer: [SBI $2026AFB6] User Assistant history IE (Registry Key, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist\{5E6AB780-7743-11CF-A12B-00AA004AE837}\Count

Windows Explorer: [SBI $6107D172] User Assistant history files (Registry Key, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist\{75048700-EF1F-11D0-9888-006097DEACF9}\Count

Windows Explorer: [SBI $B7EBA926] Last visited history (Registry Key, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\LastVisitedMRU

Windows Explorer: [SBI $D20DA0AD] Recent file global history (Registry Key, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs

WinRAR: [SBI $0B56E92B] Recent file list (Registry Key, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\WinRAR\ArcHistory

WinRAR: [SBI $B84F9965] Last used directory (Registry Change, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\WinRAR\General\LastFolder

WinRAR: [SBI $B510882E] Extraction directory history (Registry Key, nothing done)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1177238915-1383384898-725345543-1003\Software\WinRAR\DialogEditHistory\ExtrPath

Cache: [SBI $49804B54] Browser: Cache (10) (Browser: Cache, nothing done)

History: [SBI $49804B54] Browser: History (19) (Browser: History, nothing done)



Also, is it better to have Spybot do live protection or just open it periodically like I do with CCleaner and Malwarebytes? I don't know if having it on all the time's overkill (and kind of slows down the pc).

Much thanks for any advise.

[fink]

Most of those reg entries are MRU/Most Recently Used lists which are regularly created by both Windows and other programs. There will always be things there to delete if you use the computer and/or those programs because they are details of what those programs (you) most recently used or opened. The other two things are your browser's stored history and files which of course are always being filled and refilled as you browse the net.

We haven't recommended Spybot as a useful tool for many years. You can keep using it for occasional scans but I wouldn't rely on it for anything important other than those types of lists and maybe cookies but CCleaner gets most of those things too. I don't think letting Spybot run full time in the background would accomplish much other than to use more memory unnecessarily.

Bottom line is those reg entries are not something to be worried about. In fact sometimes it's handy to have them if you want to reopen documents that you're still using or editing from within that programs own stored recently opened file list.

[HAN]

I wanted to second fink's post. IMO, Spybot offers very minimal protection and it can't clean any of the malware that's a part of today's reality. I do not use it and would never recommend it to anyone.

If you are a safe web surfer, use a good antivirus and run frequent scans with MalwareBytes, you're doing about as well as you can with XP.

[advan]

Thanks very much for the advice, guys!! Will do!