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I use spybot S&D and AVG anti-spyware. Each week I conduct a scan, find spyware, and delete. If I scan the following day, I find more spyware, which I delete.
What I would like to know is which sites are putting this spyware there and I want the ability to reject it at the onset.
Is there any such program?
I believe you may be referring to Spybot's 'teatimer' option in Advanced Mode > Tools > resident.
I would also guess that its probably just unharmful cookies that are being picked up.
TEk
Tek:
Just put a check mark by teatimer. Have difficulty believing that is going to work. But, will wait and seen.
Quote from source:
What is the Resident TeaTimer?
The Resident TeaTimer is a tool of Spybot-S&D which perpetually monitors the processes called/initiated. It immediately detects known malicious processes wanting to start and terminates them giving you some options, how to deal with this process in the future: You can set TeaTimer to:
be informed, when the process tries to start again
automatically kill the process
or generally allow the process to run
There is also an option to delete the file associated with this process.
In addition, TeaTimer detects, when something wants to change some critical registry keys. TeaTimer can protect you against such changes again giving you an option: You can either "Allow" or "Deny" the change.
As TeaTimer is always running in the background, it takes some resources of about 5 MB.
Not sure this will pick up cookies though!
TEk
Spywareblaster will do a lot towards stopping unwanted cookies and online active content malware..
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
But if cookies are the only problem you have they are a minor threat. Frankly I think they're tremendously overhyped.
I agree. Cookies are not adware or spyware. That said, they can be one cause of losing one's web anonymity (which FWIW, cannot be 100%.)
I chose to watch over my cookies fairly closely because I wish to exert some control over my web privacy. But it's probably not worth it to most web surfers...
aob--"Can spyware be prevented? "
I heartily agree that SpywareBlaster is an excellent addition to your defenses against spyware. Just remember you have to update it from time to time. Maybe every 15-20 days.
And as has been mentioned, you have not told us what you mean by spyware.
If cookies, IE itself, will give you considerable protection. One of the major sources of potential harmful cookies are those from "third party" sites. These are sites to which the site you are viewing (first party site) is re-directing you, without you usually knowing about it.
In IE Tools|Internet Options|Privacy tab|Advanced dot the box for Accept for First Party sites, but dot the box for Block for Third Party sites. Then, also check the box for "Override..."|OK|Apply.
If by spyware you mean really nasty stuff, like viruses, trojans, etc. , and you are getting it all the time, AVG is not doing its job. (Are you updating its virus definitions every day or two?) You might want to consider a more powerful antivirus program. Unfortunately they are not free. I use Norton AV, but almost no one else around here does. Among the other good AV programs are Kaspersky and ESET-NOD. See tests of AV programs here
http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archiv...isplay=summary (you will need to log in to see the results, but log in is free) and
http://www.av-comparatives.org/seite...se_2007_02.php
Of course you could also consider not visiting sites likely to give you spyware. A way to accomplish that without your doing anything is to use a HOSTS file.
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/
And you can populate that with the Hosts.zip list offered by http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
Your browser will no longer be able to access the sites for which you put the URL's in the HOSTS list.
P.S. And then you should consider the use of a Firewall. Good Free firewalls are ZoneAlarm and Comodo.
I am not getting bad stuff. But, I am getting stuff that I do not want. Activated teatime by Spybot S&D. Ran Spybot and found spyware and tracking software. Removed them. Ran AVG anti-spyware and removed tracking spyware. Ran Spybot S&D again and found nothing.
Read a few goolge news articles. Read a few Sports Illustrator articles. Checked bank account balances.
Then ran Spybot again and found advertising spyware, classified by Spybot as of medium or low risk.
I would have preferred the option of refusing or rejecting this advertising spyware prior to it being loaded. Is this stuff that I should learn to live with, or is there any software which rejects it immediately? I have no problems with viruses, but would like to run a spyware program and find nothing every week.
aob--The suggestions made in my post above and by fink should prevent spyware from being downloaded in almost all cases. Note that is more than just Spybot and AVG.
If you are still getting it within a few minutes of running Spybot and AVG (and perhaps not even surfing between using these) you may have spyware on the PC that is not being detected or eliminated, which with time just reinstalls itself.
You should consider the procedure here
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...d.php?t=167915
When/if you post a HiJackThis log, maybe include the name(s) of the spyware you are seeing.
You need a realtime spyware monitor.
I suggest you get a good anti-virus with good anti-spyware capabilities (such as Nod32), and an anti-spyware program such as Windows Defender (free), AVG Antispyware (paid version), Ad-aware (paid version), Spyware Doctor etc. This should prevent most spyware from being installed on your PC.
usil--You have suggested using several proactive spyware blocking programs at the same time. I thought having more than one proactive antispyware program running could cause conflicts. (AdAware SE Personal and SpywareBlaster, on the other hand, do not "run" and can be used simultaneously with a proactive, running spyware detector.)
Maybe I have been thinking incorrectly.
You are correct Jim. I didn't mean running all those simultaneously. I was just giving names of anti-spyware programs which have the proactive part.
I have never seen more than one proactive anti-spyware running at the same time, but if it has the same kind of effect as 2 AV's running like its been suggested, it should be avoided.
I have the paid version of AVG anti-spyware. However, I had not checked the box to remove tracking cookies automatically. That could be the reason I was getting tracking cookies.
Will clean everything out, wait a day, and check again.
yes, that would be very likely. Still, Spywareblaster would prevent many of them from being placed there to begin with.Quote:
That could be the reason I was getting tracking cookies.
aob--AdAware is very good at detecting tracking cookies. But the free version, of course allows them to be deposited and then a scan with AdAware is needed to detect and delete them. I have never used AdAware Plus so cannot comment if it is good for blocking tracking cookies. It should at least inform you.
For Cookie Management I use Cookie Jar. http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/progra...m=Cookie%20Jar
(Note the requirements that you have Windows Scripting Host and Virtual Basic 6 Runtimes installed.)
The "Undecided Jar" shows you all the cookies you have acquired since the last time you ran Cookie Jar. (Cookie Jar does not run until you activate it. It takes almost no time since a scan is not being run--just a report on what cookies you have.) If you see a cookie you do not want, you can delete it immediately.
I have no idea if it runs on Win Vista. I had not mentioned it earlier, since it does not prevent cookies from being deposited, although there is a Banned Jar, which I have felt never worked too well.
Good news, finally.
I set Spybot S&D to proactive shield, with silent blocking. I put a check mark in the AVG remove tracking cookies automatically box. Did my regular browsing: reading articles, sports illustrator, medical searching, etc, and ran both spybot and AVG. Both gave me a completely clean search. So, it looks like they are doing what I want.
Thanks guys for pointing me in the right direction.