hi, im having a lot of trouble at the moment with spyware. ive got a small exclamation triangle on my taskbar and a blue screen keeps appearing telling me to get anti-spyware installed, and a balloon appears saying 'Your PC is at risk. Windows can not detect any spyware removal on your computer' (yes there was not full stop after computer) wether or not this is the spyware i dont know. ive scanned my PC many times with Norton 2005, Ad-aware 6 and Spybot but its still there. pleez help.

NOT A SPECIFIC SOFTWARE REQUEST!
Moved to Software support section

that must suck..... I use three different ad/sypware removal tools and all of them find different ones , so maybe just try some other ones.... I don't know what else to tell you. I use Spybot- S & D, Noadware, and XoftSpy. They are really good, but if want to use them just too see if that's the problem crack it and if it works maybe consider buying them.( I like Noadware because it can ushally find EVERYTHING and is really fast, but watch out because it considers the Kazza registery as spyware... so just uncheck them but you remove the stuff.)

If that doesn't work maybe try a system backup from a time that this wasn't happening.

Try these:

Ad-aware http://www.lavasoft.de/
GIANT AntiSpyware (now available as Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta) http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/s...re/default.mspx
Pest Patrol Freescan http://www.ca.com/products/pestpatrol/
Spybot Search & Destroy http://spybot.safer-networking.de/en/index.html
Webroot Spy Sweeper (30 day free trial, very good though) http://www.webroot.com/downloads/
Panda freescan http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/
X-cleaner free (pretty simple, does catch some things sometimes) http://www.xblock.com//download-freeware.php
Yahoo toolbar with Antispy (really does work !) http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Yahoo...er/1085674841/1

Good prevention software:
SpywareBlaster (very good)
SpywareGuard (kinda eats resources )
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/downloads.html

P.S I use all of these except Spyware Guard, because it eats resources like none other You might think I'm paranoid, but I know that even these will miss some spyware

Good links, TExMex. Bit overkill. I don't recommend overloading your hard drive with lots of anti-spyware software though.

Catalyst, sounds like monitoring software running in bg. Doesn't mean you are infected... just a nagging feature to install anti-spyware. Not clear what you are using, but I'm sure you can turn notification oFF. Similiar to to WINXP security center in SP2 monitoring your firewall and antivirus.

Mischabob,

Could you clarify your overkill comment? I use several of the programs listed by TeXMeX. I do not utilize the monitoring function on any of them due to resource demands, use WinPatrol instead. There doesn't appear to be any conflicts between the various scanners & some seem to catch items that others miss. Also, disk space is not an issue on my PC. Is there a problem created by installing several different anti-spyware programs that I have overlooked?

Thanks,

Slim

Nice selection. I like Spyware Doctor & ewido - both have free & shareware versions.

Slim

Yes. 2 or 3 isn't bad when you use them as on-demand scanners, not real-time monitors.
For example, I run Ad Aware professional SE, Trojan Remover, NOD32 antivirus and ZA Pro. Mated with Firefox with popup blocker, I haven't gotten any nasties/spyware/trojans for over a year.

There are always potential conflicts/bugs running similiar programs, not to mention cluttering up your system with redundant, unnecessary programs. Running 2 firewalls or 2 AV is definately not recommended. I won't even touch ActiveX i.e. free scanners that cause potential problems/instability issues with I.E.
Hope that helps a bit.

Only 3 of the above are active scanners ...

1) Microsoft Anti-spyware
2) Spybot SD-Resident (only if you use IE)
3) Webroot Spysweeper (which is shareware - 30 day free trial)

Oh, I have experienced no conflicts thus far with all of the above installed. Each program catches different spyware ... I really cannot find a comprehensive solution ... really ... For example ... each program catches things that the others miss ... and yes they all miss something, I tested it several times, thus far I have found no program that will catch all spyware, but if and when I do I will certainly remove unneeded software that is 'redundant'.

If you have better (more comprehensive) programs, pls post links to them ... I hope they are freeware, but some shareware would be ok too

Mischabob,

I definitely know better than to run more than one AV & firewall. I am currently using AVG 7.0 Free & Sygate Free for AV/Firewall protection. I have noticed the same issue that TeXMeX pointed out in his post - different scanners catch different items. I am currently using the MS product, Spybot & Spyware Doctor for spyware scans. Spyware Doctor (free version) has been a nice addition to my arsenal - it is very fast, updates frequently, & catches a few items that the others miss. Also, using Firefox has reduced my infection rate for spyware to almost zero.

I have had 3 trojans slip through in the past six months - knew something was there from the way my PC was acting (security settings changing & other clues). I am looking at trojan scanners now - looks like this tightwad will have to "bite the bullet" & actually purchase a software product.

There are a multitude of high-quality security products but the most important tool is user knowledge. Keep a sharp eye on the running processes/services & know what should be there. Knowledge is power!

Thanks to all for the advice - don't know what I would do without it.

Slim

All of the scanners I posted will find almost all trojans, the most useful of them against trojans are

1) A good antivirus program or just scan with free Pandascan, it's very good

2) Webroot SpySweeper
3) Ad-aware
4) Yahoo Anti-spy
5) X-cleaner free

the rest never caught trojans on my computer ... but these tend to catch a lot

OK now I need a firewall. Which is best, Im looking along the lines of high security bearing low CPU usage. Any suggestions?

Getting off topic.
Try posting a new topic or posting in REQUESTS section.

I used to like SpyBot and AdAware, but franking, they can't keep up. Still keep them on my destop, but I see more and more nasties slip through.
I've recently purchased Spyware Doctor 4.0 (by the way, go to eBay or Froogle, because you can buy it at a discount or just get it from the place I got my discount from advertising!), and I can't be happier. Spyware Doctor absolutely rocks.

Since I'm here I would like to say that I no longer trust Microsoft Anti-Spyware ... it's been doing strange things lately ... trying to TAKE OVER !!! So I had to put it out of its misery ... so I do NOT recommend you install Microsoft anti-spyware as I mentioned above, unless you trust it ? I wouldn't