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SPYWARE!! What to use?
Hi All, Can you Please tell an idiot like me and others what program s to use in place of these.----flashget,getright,jetcar,gozilla,and of course a few others not mentioned.It must be as good or better than flashget or getright.
It seems to me that over threequarters of software out there is spyware,(so what I ask)
Have you all got something that our governments are after and you are hideing them. It seems all this spyware is makeing us all Paranoid, (for what)nothing as far as i can see. OK. None of us likes others spying into our comps,but do they really know what we have in our comps from start to finnish.And remember this, our governments know where we go and what we download anyway, so does it matter if some software company does it as well.What we should be carefull of is the idiots who send us Trojans and other viruses, so if everyone puts in ZoneAlarm plus a virus protector then you can stop these spyware getting in,and use the progies that you like.Thought I'de let off some steam while asking my question.yours Dennis
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I Am Me,You are You.I Am Unique,So are You.
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Re:
What we should be careful of is the idiots who send us Trojans and other viruses, so if everyone puts in ZoneAlarm plus a virus protector then you can stop these spyware getting in,and use the progies that you like.
ZoneAlarm and a virus protector won't stop spyware from getting in. Spyware is generally included in some program that you download and install. It's not a virus so the virus protector's won't catch it. Once it is up and running, ZoneAlarm should catch it, but it all depends on the setting you choose and whether you inadvertently give it permission. You basically need AdAware and run it on a regular basis to see if you've got any spyware.
You have to make a choice whether the benefits of the program outweigh the fact that they are spyware. I have a friend who uses gator to store all his passwords. He doesn't want to give up the program, so knowing full well that it is spying on him, he continues to use it.
The whole privacy issue comes down to personal choice. If you have nothing important on your PC and you don't care if anyone knows where you have been surfing then it's no big deal. It's similar to when you buy something and they ask for your phone number even when you pay cash. It's a tracking method. Mainly DoubleClick et al just wish to build a profile of you and your habits so that they can direct their marketing approach to you in such a way that you are more likely to purchase whatever they are selling. Some people like me just resent the fact that they are collecting information. Even though there is nothing of any importance or privacy related on my PC, I just don't like the idea that anyone is possibly snooping so I go out of my way to make things difficult for them. But it does get annoying at times.
Personally I wouldn't call the people who send you trojans and viruses idiots. Most of them are usually friends who just never realized. Once you point things out to them, most are quite good about trying to prevent a re-occurance. What I find even more annoying that viruses and trojan (my Norton has caught them all so far) is the silly urban legends that people fall for. Once you are aware of them, I would think it would be easy to spot them, but so many keep falling for them. Got one just last night about those bonsai kittens. The person who sent it was so upset. Wonder what she thought when I referred her to a sight that explained it wasn't true?
We were all beginners at one time, so I wouldn't be too hard on someone who sent you a virus, unless it they continually do it, then would consider blocking their emails as obviously they have no consideration for their friends.
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AdAware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/index.html
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Please Bookmark this thread and post back results. Thanks!
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Hi Capri, Of course I know you are right, but it's still frustrating in it.I suppose that if no one did a new virus then software companies would go bust.Mind you I'm rather surprised they aint gone bust yet when they give you trials and some good uns are free and some peeps pirate.Such is life i suppose,full of surprises.Have a Good Weekend, yours Dennis.
Hi Poppy4, Been there,Good progy. Only got two spyware and its 'Flashget'& 'KaZaA'but at least with Kazaa you decide what programs others have access too.I only let peeps have access to my kazaa folder on desktop and one music folder. So what progys do you sugest that I use in place of Flashget & KaZaA,they must be as good or better than them mind you. Morpheous was not mentioned as being spyware,yet it is the same progy as Kazaa,under another name.So!! now that all the best programs are spyware,what are we left with?? Have a nice Weekend,yours,Dennis
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I Am Me,You are You.I Am Unique,So are You.
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It seems your original post was a lecture on why we should not be so paranoid and should allow anyone who wants to give us free software complete access to out computer. Stick with what works for you in that case. Since your government has information on you that certainly means that you should give up any attempts to maintain your privacy in the private sector as well.
I personally don’t mind anyone following my surfing habits, but spyware is more pernicious. It can gather any information from your computer, even when you are off line. Anytime you are online, even after uninstalling the program that loaded the spyware, it can send information back to its master. You have to accept on good faith that the spyware company (or a rogue employee) is gathering only specific information. You also have to accept on good faith that no hacker is going to be able to tap into the spyware utility to bypass your firewall and gain access to information on your computer. Identity theft has become too serious a problem in the US for me to have that much faith.
KaZaa uses the Cydoor and Toptext spyware and FlashGet has Aureate/Radiate. Cydoor and Radiate are true spyware and Toptext seems even worse. Read about them here: http://www.simplythebest.net/info/spyware.html
There is a nice little free download accelerator I’ve been using called DLExpert. AdAware doesn’t show spyware but two sites that list spyware say there is a suspected proprietary spyware – don’t know whether that is valid. It is from China so perhaps the Chinese government is spying on me now. No problem as I removed all my hydrogen bomb design data and put it on CD. http://www.geocities.com/horsebagger/dlexpert.html
[This message has been edited by slipe (edited 08-11-2001).]
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Another two cents worth:
If you have not found something to use, I personally recommend "Download Accelerator"......... http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/deathmatch/main.html ranks mozilla, flashget, and DAP2 as top three in their "DeathMatch". Of course you already know about Mozilla and FlashGet (alias JetCar). DAP2 is adware, NOT spyware -- "certified" spyware free by Ad-aware v5.5!
[This message has been edited by yrralrellim (edited 08-11-2001).]
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scarecrowdr
The AV companies will never go bust unless it is due to poor quality or business decisions. There will always be a new crop of kids coming along who want to see what they are capable of. Add to that the realization by foreign regimes that it is much easier and more cost effective to disrupt US gov't or business by way of viruses etc. and you get the idea of why they AV's are so important. Computers aren't going to go away. If anything they are going to become more intergrated into our lives. The AV's make their money off businesses. What they get from individuals is gravy. Think of it in terms of MIcrosoft. If you are running a bootleg copy of Office, sure they would like to stop you, but they won't go out of their way to do so. However should they find a company is running 200 bootleg copies, you can be darn sure they will prosecute. Due to sloppy practices in a lot of large corp's some of these software companies get paid twice. In the corp I used to work for, they had paid for a blanket license of 10,000 copies of Office. However this piece of information did not trickle down. In my Dept. I went out and purchsed 35 licenses to make sure we were legal. It wasn't til much later that an outside contracter told me about the blanket license. He did a lot of work for that corp. and had seen it happen over and over in many different depts. because he also serviced other big corps and even gov't offices, he was aware of lots of that kind of thing going on. Funny thing is that he's now working for Microsoft. But the AV's work the same way. Businesses are their bread and butter. Most companies cannot afford to have their servers down, so they NEED those AV's. The impact of a virus on their systems is so much greater than one lone user.
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Hi All, Well it seems that I have 85 pieces of Spyware in my Comp. Have not got a clue what half or even threequrters of em are as they be abreviated. SHOKED is not the word.
Bloody angry is more like it. So if I delete these spywares through Ad-Aware 5.5 will the progies work or will i have to delete em as well. Dont know what half of em are. Anyone know what MSBB.exe is in C:/programs/n-case
Sorry to be a pain. THANKS ALL.
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I Am Me,You are You.I Am Unique,So are You.
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Hiya scarecrowdr https://discussions.virtualdr.com/
Whoa! You have 85 piece of spyware on your pc? Now, that's a lot of crap on your machine mate...I suggest you get rid of it ASAP!
You have AdAware - which is a very good thing! It has found those spyware infested programs on your pc and it's upto you if you want to remove it or not. Here's the catch though: some programs will work fine once AdAware has removed the spyware (such as AudioGalaxy). However, most spyware infested programs will not function properly or at all once the spyware has been removed (such as iMesh).
Thus, you have to decide which programs are essential to you and you don't mind having spyware with it...but 85 pieces of spycrap is just way too much.
You could post back the names of some of the programs you are unfamilar with and we'll see what we can do to help ya out and find out more about it/them.
Check out the Spyware page on my site (below) to find out more about spyware and some links to useful sites.
Hope this helps mate and please post back if you have any comments or queries https://discussions.virtualdr.com/
Mo
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/
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You Are The Weakest Link...Goodbye!
Goldust's InTech
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Hiya mate,
Just to address your other query regarding MSBB.exe
Right, it IS spyware which is installed by dotNow. They place Web3000 ads and try to 'call home'. If you have ZoneAlarm firewall it will prevent MSBB from trying to contact out. Now, to get rid of it try and use AdAware and let it sort it out. It should clear it up nicely...However, just to be on the safe side do this:
Go to Start > Run
Type in msconfig in the run box
Click on the Startup tab
Here you will see a list of programs that start when you switch on your computer
Look for Msbb.exe and UNcheck the tick box next to it.
Click on Apply and OK your way out.
You will have to reboot for the changes to take effect.
I hope this helps mate and if there are any more that you are unsure of just post back!
Good luck
Mo
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/
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You Are The Weakest Link...Goodbye!
Goldust's InTech
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Hi Goldust, Thanks for your reply,(that gos to everyone else as well)I like your Web Site M8,very good.
I been in MISCONFIG before and disabled lots of software.Well today I took another look and had loads more.Unticked em all except what I need. Anyway this is what Ad-Aware told me, some i understand some i don't.
Ezula is Kazaa,going to delete it and run Morpheous instead. Aureate, Onflow, WebHancer,NewNet,Cydoor,not got a clue except its to do with some progies i use a lot. Admonitor,Doubleclick,Flyswat, Valueclick are cookies from which progies i know not.Then it comes up with this---
2 identified processes
63 ...---... reg keys
17.....---...folders
51...---... files
38 running processes
134 components
134 new components
that lot really BAFFLED me I'm afraid.
Brain dead when it comes to this.
Should I really let this lot do my head in, or should I Ignore it all and carry on as normal. After all, I ain't got what others aint got, and I aint got anything Important.
Do have some pirated software like most folks got but not that many. Downloads lots of Music,who don't. AnyWay, I await your re-ply with abated breath,then the mods can close this one up if they wish. THANKS a LOT in Advance to you all. yours DENNIS
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I Am Me,You are You.I Am Unique,So are You.
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A usefull little free program that will help you identify in advance software containing "spys" is AdSearch from Ad Aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software.html. Enter the name of the contemplated download in the box and the data base will show you whether it has been identified as a source of spyware.
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Here's a kludge, if you have a piece of spyware you REALLY can't get along without, find out what BASE address it's phoneing home to and add that to your C:\WINDOWS\HOSTS file, pointing the resolved IP address to a null IP, like 0.0.0.0 or 127.0.0.0
For more information about using HOSTS to block domains from being accessed, go here: http://www.smartin-designs.com/downloads.htm
I use it at work, a lot, and it does keep them doubleclick cookies off my machines. Not to mention that as I find an occasional foray into a no-no zone, I add that domain as well.
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turbopoweredbylynx
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Hi https://discussions.virtualdr.com/
Right, good that you've posted some extra info Scarecrowdr!
Depending on the programs you use and how essential they are, you will have to decide which spyware you want to get rid of and which you want to keep.
Here are a couple of sites that will tell you which programs are infested with spyware. E.g. iMesh has Cydoor spyware, so you would look under I in the list:
InfoForce Spyware List
Spyware List 2
Now you can go through the programs you have and make your decisions. I, personally would recommend you first get rid of ALL the spyware using AdAware and then individually UNinstall each of the incriminating programs. Then you can install from scratch the programs you want to keep and you'll be rid of all the other crap! Remember, you can remove the programs in Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.
The report that AdAware creates is telling you where the different bits of the spyware are living. So, you may have a few ad cookies which AdAware sees as files...then again you may have several Registry entries which AdAware identifies and so on...
I hope this helps mate and please post back if you would like any more help https://discussions.virtualdr.com/
Mo
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/
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You Are The Weakest Link...Goodbye!
Goldust's InTech
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THANKS ALL, have deleted all progies that I knew were spyware,some i don't have a clue but will be deleting anyway. If any progy don't work after I will know that its the culprit and delete it. I dont really care who knows what I got in my comp, It's just the way they do it,lots of little progys with at least 5 pieces of spyware in it.(Not on is it)Lots to Learn,To much to Learn,Not enough time to do it. (LOL) THANKS everyone,Take Care,yours,Dennis
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I Am Me,You are You.I Am Unique,So are You.
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scarecrowdr, I've been using GetIt 1.03 as a d/l manager. Doesn't seem to be spyware. Works nice. http://www.sonic.net/stephen/gold/recommend.html
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Hi all, Another thing to think about is that some of those spyware programs also make windows operating systems not run right. I have had some problems which I thought were os related only to find when the spyware was removed the system ran fine. So if you are having some "os" problems it could be spyware instead.
GL mac https://discussions.virtualdr.com/
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you want a great final solution to spyware virus, trojans & worms???
get Linux...
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Well I must say the responce to all this has been quite good.Thank You all.
All Spyware now gone. Have had a few Fatel Exceptions when starting up,but not at the last few startups i've tried.
Lots of Action with ZoneAlarm since spyware gone, they all trying to get back in but cant. 28 tries this evening so far,even my ISP NTL trying to take someing out from my comp,no do.University of California trying as well,WHY!! NTL from all over Europe, its nuts.It Sure Makes One Paranoid.Phew!!
Thanks again All for being helpfull.
DVOM--got that progy now, Thanks M8.Looks OK that.
Kenlinzee---My Scaner not work with Linux,dont want to buy a new one as this little old un is better than some new uns.Saveing up for a new MOBO & PROCESSOR.Yea!!
Catch you all soon, Take Care,yours,Dennis
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I Am Me,You are You.I Am Unique,So are You.
