Do I have TOO MANY antivirus, antispyware, etc

I was following this post with a bit of interest... that is until the
computer savvy started giving advice!!!

I'm fairly computer savvy when it comes to certain things. I'm ok with
fixing driver issues, updating drivers, maintaining my computer
(defragging every once and a while), running adaware, etc.

But this is absolutely freaking ridiculous!! I have to use the
internet occasionally at work for research. We have firewalls and
virus scan by macafe and we all STILL get spyware.

Initial kneejerk reaction every time my computer locks up or is
disconnected from the server due to spywa
1) People writing this garbage should be shot in the head.
2) Their bodies should be burned at stake.
3) The remaining pieces should be displayed on television for all to
see.

Spyware ALONE is the sole reason my computer freezes almost daily.
Once I run adaware, my computer does not lock up, Outlook functions
normally (instead of freezing), and everything is peachy once again.

This is vandalism, theft, and sometimes wanton desctruction of someone
else's property. Not only that, there's very little way for normal
guys like me to track these idiots down, because I would call and
harrass the hell out of them.

This is such a no brainer that congress needs to pass some laws with
some harsh penalties. Class action suits do NOTHING.

I thought about starting a web site to sell my computer's processing
power for $5/ms + an additional $0.30/byte of information they track,
then sending invoices to the companies that install the tracking
spyware on my computer. When they don't pay, I sue. Would probably be
a complete waste of time.

Congress is asleep at the freaking wheel on this one, and it's just
wrong.





Steven L Umbach wrote:
Thanks for the comments but my advice was meant for a novice or average
computer user which I believe the original poster to be and meant to be kept
somewhat simple, effective, and understandable. -- Steve


"cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" wrote in
message ...
On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 19:39:52 -0600, "Steven L Umbach"

Running in Safe Mode is always recommended if you believe you have
malware/spyware as many times that is the only way they can be removed.

I'd put it a little more pessimistically than that; some malware can't
be safely and/or effectively tackled in Safe Mode, even Safe Mode
Command Only. The reason is because while Safe Mode suppresses some
intergration points, and Safe Command Only some more, neither
suppresses ALL such intrusion points. Plus, you're running the same
code base, so if the code base itself is infected, so is "Safe".

I would suggest that you have only one antivirus program installed that
automatically keeps itself current with updates

Agreed

and does scheduled full system scans such at least weekly

Nah, that's just kicking sand in the malware's face and just asking
for a strikeback. If the av missed the malware and allowed it to go
resident, it's not that likely to catch and kill it later - even if it
has been subsequently updated. Most likely the malware will kill the
av and/or its updatability assoon as it goes active.

I do scheduled scans, but only of a subtree through which incoming
material is routed, before that material goes active. This strategy
works best if you avoid apps that hide incoming content, as most email
apps do (they hide attachments in mailboxes - Eudora is one that does
not). I don't try scanning "the whole system" from Windows, though.

I may prefer to use a different av, or a tier of such av, for this
"on-demand" scheduled scan, as that meshes better than using the same
av for everything. Else the only advantage the on-demand scan would
have, is a possibly more up-to-date signature database than the av had
at the time the malware first arrived and was created as a file.

but it is fine two have two or more spyware detection and removal
programs particularly if they are not using resources on your computer
all the time. I use AdAware SE and it does nothing until I start it.

That's what I mean by "on-demand" vs. "resident" or "on-access".

You can and should create a regular [may also be called limited] user
account to logon to that you use for internet browsing and for any time
that
you do not need administrator powers such as for installing applications.

I haven't been a big fan of that, myself. I prefer to avoid the
perils of NTFS, and I don't have much faith in band-aids such as
account rights - especially if limiting these rights also destroys
other possibly more effective controls. Given a choice between a
limited account that hides file name extensions and "hidden" files,
and an admin account that doesn't lie to me, I'd pick the latter.

If you do a lot of malware clean-up, and especially if you offer this
as a paid-for service, then you really should get into formal scanning
tools such as Bart CDR-booted scanning - instead of hoping the malware
you are chasing is too stupid to integrate into Safe Mode and is
non-malicious enough not to defend itself against removal.



---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Don't pay malware vendors - boycott Sony
---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

From:

| I was following this post with a bit of interest... that is until the
| computer savvy started giving advice!!!
|
| I'm fairly computer savvy when it comes to certain things. I'm ok with
| fixing driver issues, updating drivers, maintaining my computer
| (defragging every once and a while), running adaware, etc.
|
| But this is absolutely freaking ridiculous!! I have to use the
| internet occasionally at work for research. We have firewalls and
| virus scan by macafe and we all STILL get spyware.
|
| Initial kneejerk reaction every time my computer locks up or is
| disconnected from the server due to spywa
| 1) People writing this garbage should be shot in the head.
| 2) Their bodies should be burned at stake.
| 3) The remaining pieces should be displayed on television for all to
| see.
|
| Spyware ALONE is the sole reason my computer freezes almost daily.
| Once I run adaware, my computer does not lock up, Outlook functions
| normally (instead of freezing), and everything is peachy once again.
|
| This is vandalism, theft, and sometimes wanton desctruction of someone
| else's property. Not only that, there's very little way for normal
| guys like me to track these idiots down, because I would call and
| harrass the hell out of them.
|
| This is such a no brainer that congress needs to pass some laws with
| some harsh penalties. Class action suits do NOTHING.
|
| I thought about starting a web site to sell my computer's processing
| power for $5/ms + an additional $0.30/byte of information they track,
| then sending invoices to the companies that install the tracking
| spyware on my computer. When they don't pay, I sue. Would probably be
| a complete waste of time.
|
| Congress is asleep at the freaking wheel on this one, and it's just
| wrong.
|

If you practice Safe Hex and take the right precuations, you won't get infected at all !

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

Still having problems, did everything suggested. The only remaining problem
now (I think) has to do with MS Works and Word (I know this is on another
site.)
In the interest of all, or anyone who is interested, XP PRO with Frontpage,
tried uninstall, reinstall, updated with MS, detect and repair, unchecked the
NAV box that deals with Word....
It takes over a minute to load and about that long to close.
Every time I open word, recovery wants me to save the files that it
"recovered".
Getting frustrated, thinking about buying a new computer.
Thanks for all the help, guys.

"David H. Lipman" wrote:

From:

| I was following this post with a bit of interest... that is until the
| computer savvy started giving advice!!!
|
| I'm fairly computer savvy when it comes to certain things. I'm ok with
| fixing driver issues, updating drivers, maintaining my computer
| (defragging every once and a while), running adaware, etc.
|
| But this is absolutely freaking ridiculous!! I have to use the
| internet occasionally at work for research. We have firewalls and
| virus scan by macafe and we all STILL get spyware.
|
| Initial kneejerk reaction every time my computer locks up or is
| disconnected from the server due to spywa
| 1) People writing this garbage should be shot in the head.
| 2) Their bodies should be burned at stake.
| 3) The remaining pieces should be displayed on television for all to
| see.
|
| Spyware ALONE is the sole reason my computer freezes almost daily.
| Once I run adaware, my computer does not lock up, Outlook functions
| normally (instead of freezing), and everything is peachy once again.
|
| This is vandalism, theft, and sometimes wanton desctruction of someone
| else's property. Not only that, there's very little way for normal
| guys like me to track these idiots down, because I would call and
| harrass the hell out of them.
|
| This is such a no brainer that congress needs to pass some laws with
| some harsh penalties. Class action suits do NOTHING.
|
| I thought about starting a web site to sell my computer's processing
| power for $5/ms + an additional $0.30/byte of information they track,
| then sending invoices to the companies that install the tracking
| spyware on my computer. When they don't pay, I sue. Would probably be
| a complete waste of time.
|
| Congress is asleep at the freaking wheel on this one, and it's just
| wrong.
|

If you practice Safe Hex and take the right precuations, you won't get infected at all !

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

From: "nursing major needs help"

| Still having problems, did everything suggested. The only remaining problem
| now (I think) has to do with MS Works and Word (I know this is on another
| site.)
| In the interest of all, or anyone who is interested, XP PRO with Frontpage,
| tried uninstall, reinstall, updated with MS, detect and repair, unchecked the
| NAV box that deals with Word....
| It takes over a minute to load and about that long to close.
| Every time I open word, recovery wants me to save the files that it
| "recovered".
| Getting frustrated, thinking about buying a new computer.
| Thanks for all the help, guys.
|

If you want to wast money -- go ahead. You don't buy a new car because you have a flat
tire.

In your case, a clean install of the OS and applications would make things better. The OS
is the tire that needs to be fixed.

That's an oversimlplification but I think it is demonstrative of the situation at hand.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 20:33:02 -0800, nursing major needs help

In the interest of all, or anyone who is interested, XP PRO with Frontpage,
tried uninstall, reinstall, updated with MS, detect and repair, unchecked the
NAV box that deals with Word....
It takes over a minute to load and about that long to close.
Every time I open word, recovery wants me to save the files that it
"recovered".

When Word bad-exits, it leaves behind tempfiles that were created as
part of the editing process, and these populate the "recovered" list.

In Word, find where these are held via Tools, Options, File Locations
tab, Auto-recover files. See also where Templates and shared
(Workgroup) templates are held. Close Word.

Copy out all contents of the "auto-recover" location and delete them.
Test; if OK, all is well - else, do the same for NORMAL.DOT from the
template locations. If that is what makes a difference, suspect
malware or buggy macros within the Normal.dot

There's one other cause of "MS Office files open slowly"; if you have
installed OpenOffice and allowed that to associate Office document
file types, it will have this effect. Break the association, and it
will speed up again. This is true with Open Office 1.x; I haven't
re-tested it in Open Office 2.x as it may have been fixed there.

Also, if you haven't already; check file system and HD surface for
errors, clear any indexes that may have been build up,and clear your
MRU lists (e.g. Start, Control Panel, Taskbar, Start Menu,
Customize... and click the Clear button. If you work directly off
slow devices (1.44M, USB flash, missing CDs, LAN links) then those
MRUs can slow down operations in MS Office etc. too.



---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Don't pay malware vendors - boycott Sony
---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Speaking about file recovery tools I suppose Active@ Undelete and
Uneraser(DOS) to be really powerful tools. These data recovery
utilities never failed me before, nor they corrupted my restored files.
That is a really awesome tools indeed.


http://www.active-undelete.com/

http://www.uneraser.com/