Spyware, viruses, & security : AntiSpyware Help!
I have 4 questions for you
by bigl97 - 8/29/07 9:42 AM In reply to: I'm sorry by santuccie1.What is the best antivirus out there right now cause i'm using the latest version of Kaspersky and i heard it's the best right now?
2.Is Counterspy from Sunbelt any good?
3.I tried to use Sunbelt Firewall like u said but it's not working with Vista Ultimate 64 Bit that i have installed.What firewall do you reccomend that i use that works with Vista 64?
4.Also wasn't Kerio part of Sunbelt before.If so what happened with that?
I have 4 answers for you ;)
by santuccie - 8/29/07 2:37 PM In reply to: I have 4 questions for you by bigl97Hi,
1) Kaspersky is among the very best. They do not have the best heuristics by any means, but they respond to new samples faster than anyone else. According to the OITC, WebWasher is the best, catching about 80% of all new samples submitted to VirusTotal by CastleCops. Of all those I'm familiar with, AntiVir gets the highest results (66% the last time I checked). Kaspersky does quite well; I think they had 46% the last time I checked, which is high compared to most of them. I use McAfee, which averages around 25%. But it's their firewall I'm interested in.
2) CounterSpy is supposed to be very good. It's CNET's #1 choice, though I'm not exactly sure why. According to Gizmo, the three best are Spy Sweeper, Spyware Doctor, and CounterSpy, respectively.
I haven't used CounterSpy recently, but I think Spy Sweeper is the best in terms of preventing initial infection, and the second-best in post-mortem detection and removal. And second-best ain't bad, because it was my final, fell blow when I cleaned my parents' office computer after an employee's mischievous daughter. After a-squared caught 139 infections, and AVG Anti-Spyware caught 129 more, Spy Sweeper pulled up a whopping 485 infections!!! The machine froze when I tried to remove everything in normal mode, so I had to reboot into safe mode and do it again.
Spyware Doctor is probably the second-best in proactive blocking, and the best in detection and removal, particularly with rootkits.
3) I'm pretty sure McAfee works with the 64-bit Vista (I know it works on the 32-bit Vista), and their firewall has Network-based Intrusion Detection. You can get a free, all-in-one McAfee suite from AOL here: http://safety.aol.com/isc/index.adp? It's very powerful, and even has script blocking. The firewall also has stealthing capabilites, which you can enable simply by dragging the lever to the second notch from the top and clicking "apply."
I also read a news article just last night that said Norton is releasing their 2008 products, which are far more proactive than previous technologies, and lighter on resources than the products of 9 other vendors. What they didn't mention was who these other vendors were.
I can't give my opinion on it until I see it in action, but you might want to keep your eyes open and your ears peeled. Symantec can only rest on their laurels for so long; if they intend to perpetuate their market dominance, they'll have to respond when competitors come out with technologies far better than their own. And they have the resources to do so; if they can't produce it themselves, they can buy it.
4) Tiny Personal Firewall was, to my knowledge, the first creation of the makers of Kerio. The Kerio company now makes industrial products, including the Win Route firewall. They dropped Kerio Personal Firewall in 2005, and Sunbelt picked it up. For awhile, they called it Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall; now they just call it Sunbelt Personal Firewall.
Personally, I'm as happy to see the former KPF in the hands of Sunbelt as I could ever be to see it in any other hands. Like eEye, Sunbelt also does vulnerability research. And infosecurity is the technology of the future IMO.
Thanks man! :D
by bigl97 - 8/29/07 6:40 PM In reply to: I have 4 answers for you ;) by santuccieI agree with you on what you said about norton. It took them years to make their products lighter on resources and be more responsive to threats. That's why i jumped ship and started using Kaspersky and other products. Also i've been using spyware doctor for awhile but i've been reading alot of bad reviews about them giving false positives and other thing's such as that. Is this true?
But anyway's, I appreciate your advice on what you given me and to other people. You seem to be very knowledgeable compared to most people and you sound like your an IT which I actually am starting to go to a technical school to become one. I would like to know where do you get most of your vast information of knowledge from?
No problem
by santuccie - 8/29/07 9:05 PM In reply to: Thanks man! :D by bigl97I have taken some Computer Science, but most of my knowledge comes from experience. My first instructor in CS 11 was a humorous but rather corny old man who'd worked with computers since late in the second generation. He knew his technical jargon better than I do now, but it was I who saved a classmate from having to do his homework all over again by running his corrupt floppy disk through Bad Copy Pro on my laptop. The only way to keep up with new technologies is to keep reading, and to test stuff out. "The learning never stops;" that's what they say.
My grandpa was a rocket scientist and test engineer at LMMSC (LMSC, before the merger with Martin) for 34 years. His team built the "little black box," a large module that controls the solar arrays and certain other functions on the Hubble. He took programming and IT before I had my first encounter with MS DOS. Ohlone College even asked him to teach a course in Cobol, but he declined because he hated Cobol. Now, I'm the wiser of us. Not because I've learned more than he has, but because I'm more current.
Most of my product knowledge comes from using products. I make a mental note when I read a blogger review, and that's about as far as my regard goes. I never rely on consumer reviews at all; average users don't know much outside of which product has the most features, and which one they've heard about the most.
Everyone says ZoneAlarm works great, mostly because of the wealth of controls, and all the alerts they get. Everyone says Norton (or AVG, or Avast!) is the best, along with Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D, but they can't tell you what's so great about them (they just give you the names they're familiar with).
The most common reasons for a product to gain popularity are age and advertising. It takes years for word to get around, even in the Digital Age of today. ZoneAlarm was one of the first firewalls to introduce Stateful Packet Inspection, which beat out proxy firewalling to become the de facto standard. Norton is one of the oldest antivirus scanners (I think McAfee is older, but I won't swear to it). Ad-Aware is the oldest antispyware. Spybot is the oldest free antispyware with resident protection.
How do you assess what different people do online, where they go, what kind of connection they have, how many infections they have that they don't know about, how many people are using their Social Security number right now, and how often they reload Windows? You can't. This doesn't mean the best-known products are NOT the best, but it certainly doesn't mean they are, either. I check them out myself.
Yahoo! is a few years older than Google, and once offered more features than Hotmail, which was the other major, free e-mail provider at the time. Yahoo! has practically nothing to offer these days, other than a custom homepage and optional blog (big whoop). It has a pansy spam filter that's easily foiled by long, cryptic headers, and free accounts don't offer POP services or session encryption. It doesn't even have whitelisting. But it was the best back when it was a two-horse race, and it now has the largest user database of them all.
I keep current with various e-mail newsletters and mags, and by watching and occasionally clicking the headlines as they scroll up my desktop sidebar. When I'm looking for information in an area outside my own expertise, I ask someone who supposedly knows more than me, and I don't believe them when they give me an answer. I thank them and move forward with enlightened skepticism. As I continue to research an item, play around with it, and consult with more experts, my own educated opinion takes shape.
I don't know it all, but I know more than anyone else, just because I'm me. Just kidding. I don't have an inflated ego, nooooo, not me! 
If I spent any money on a program
by Dragon - 8/28/08 7:41 PM In reply to: No problem by santuccieIt would be something different like Mamutu, which is a behavior-based program, rather than a definition-based program. I believe it would be a nice 'layering' addition.
Use Norton Internet Security 2007
by kimbo1308 - 8/25/07 8:31 AM In reply to: AntiSpyware Help! by Sieber25A trial Norton Internet Internet Security which has been highly rated by CNET and others came loaded with my new HP laptop. I love it in that it doesn't take pre-eminence like Zone Alarm does on my 4 year old desktop which decides it has to get updated don't matter what I say and preventing me from getting on the internet.It combines Norton antivirus with a Norton firewall. I also have Windows Defender and the free 2007 Ad-aware.
It's not FREE, but it maybe the best, Webroot's Spy Sweeper
by CTBCo - 8/25/07 10:59 AM In reply to: AntiSpyware Help! by Sieber25I am surprized that I donot see the No.1 Anti-Spyware application, Webroot's Spy Sweeper. I use it and have upgraded to their latest verision with Anti-Virus. I also use webroots Window Washer and Pop-Up Washer. There is a good review site 'toptenreviews.com' checkout the software tab items.
Freebies
by santuccie - 8/25/07 1:14 PM In reply to: It's not FREE, but it maybe the best, Webroot's Spy Sweeper by CTBCoSpy Sweeper really is great, but the original poster was asking for freebies. Unfortunately, others have overlooked this as well. As far as free antispyware goes, the best you can get for free is Spyware Doctor Starter Edition. It lacks some of the features present in the full version that rivals Spy Sweeper, but it still includes automatic updates and scheduled scanning, as well as the new "File Guard," which can block known threats from infecting kernel drivers. It is available in the Google Pack: http://pack.google.com/
Bravo!
by hogndog - 8/27/07 10:44 AM In reply to: It's not FREE, but it maybe the best, Webroot's Spy Sweeper by CTBCoScrolling down the page the Sweeper wasn't there, Windows Defender I have but I'm thinking I'll uninstall it. AVG 7.5 all with fresh updates. Now the Sweeper, it lives up to its name, the night before last it found Malware trying to get in. To get rid of the bug the WebRoot people did a reboot to deal with it on a personal level. The others? Doh! nothing, they sat there like whipped dogs. I have the Washer as well. Spyware Sweeper is the only defence you need, it worked, the others didn't. So there is my 5 cents to the juke box.
Links to many FREE PC protection products
by shimshai - 8/27/07 11:34 AM In reply to: Bravo! by hogndogHere are links to many FREE PC protection products.
I have used all at one time or another.
I currently use:
AVG anti-virus and AVG anti-spyware
Comodo Firewall
Hitman Pro (anti-spyware) - Highly recommend: just 1 click on the start button and Hitman pro will download, install and/or update, and run spybot, ad-aware, and spywareblaster (As well as others)
Anti-virus:
http://free.grisoft.com/
Avast:
http://www.avast.com/
**
Download other free AVG products
AVG Anti-Rootkit Free
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-rootkit/us/frt/0
**
Anti-spyware:
AVG Anti-Spyware Free Edition
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-spyware/us/frt/0
http://www.hitmanpro.nl/hitmanpro/
Freeware tool Hitman Pro combines the best of both worlds to fight spyware.
Hitman Pro is a freeware tool that combines a number of powerful anti-spyware programs in one integrated solution. In nearly all anti-spyware reviews, the conclusion is that none of the anti-spyware programs removes all spyware. A combination of two programs is recommended.
This is exactly what Hitman Pro does: it combines Ad-Aware SE, SpyBot Search & Destroy, Spy Sweeper, Spyware Doctor, CWShredder, Spyware Blaster, NOD32, Sysclean package. Most of the included programs are freeware. Some of these programs are limited trial editions of commercial programs, and the user can decide to switch these off after the trial period.
In case the user has purchased that program, Hitman Pro will support the full version.
Spybot:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Ad-Aware:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
Spywareblaster:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Firewalls:
Comodo:
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
Zone Alarm:
http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en
Netveda Safety.Net:
http://www.netveda.com/consumer/safetynet.htm
Outpost:
http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpostfree/index.php
Reviews and Guides:
http://www.firewallguide.com/freeware.htm
http://www.iopus.com/guides/free-firewall.htm
Bravo ... Webroot Spy Sweeper
by mike.searles - 8/28/07 3:39 AM In reply to: Bravo! by hogndogI've used Webroot Spy Sweeper and like it a lot. In fact, I'm going to renew it now. I also run Norton 360, which a lot of people don't like, but it's worked well for me (I haven't had it very long). It's difficult to figure out what software to use. There are so many of them and so many opinions. I also use a-squared, which many people don't like. However, I've used it for years and have seen it find malware. Jsut my 10 cents worth ... inflation!
Amelia
web root
by magichardt - 8/27/07 11:38 PM In reply to: It's not FREE, but it maybe the best, Webroot's Spy Sweeper by CTBCoI found this Webroot anti-spy w/ anti-virus download and have been totally happy so far ( about 4 months) months. I run any and all and rarely does it miss much! try it!
AntiSpyware Help.
by Grimbles - 8/25/07 2:47 PM In reply to: AntiSpyware Help! by Sieber25Hi Sieber25 - First up, Spyware Terminator is definitely NOT rogue nor suspect software. Most free anti-spyware apps share some features and functions, I guess in the end it comes down to personal choice. I personally do not like AdAware, but I am well in the minority there. I use the following: Spyware Terminator, Win Patrol, Windows Defender and good old Spybot.
The bottom line is, if you are going to continue to use file sharing (P2P) apps like Limewire then you are in an extremely high risk area. I suggest you fork our some dollars and acquire the commercial version of either Webroot Spysweeper or Spyware Doctor, these two are widely recognized as being the best and streets ahead of the free offerings.
Alternatively, if you must use P2P, then change over to ARES, it is far safer than Limewire.
Cheers..............JIMBO
ARES safer?
by JonathanCase - 8/25/07 5:25 PM In reply to: AntiSpyware Help. by GrimblesI'm a Limewire user also, and am curious as to why you said ARES is safer? AFAIK there is nothing inherently unsafe about the Limewire application. It's what may be downloaded that may be a problem. Wouldn't that be the case with any p2p?
Eight Indicted for LimeWire Identity Theft
by shimshai - 8/27/07 11:58 AM In reply to: ARES safer? by JonathanCasehttp://www.aversion.com/news/news_article.cfm?news_id=7713
Eight Indicted for LimeWire Identity Theft
Dec 01, 2006
A grand jury's handed down indictments to eight people who allegedly used LimeWire to help with their identity-theft circle.
The Denver District Attorney announced that three main players, Michael Sarrasin, 27, Shawn Adams, 32, and Tamara Stesney, 36, were indicted yesterday (Nov. 30) on 115 charges, including racketeering and computer crime. The indictment follows an October arrest in the Mile High City that linked the peer-to-peer file-sharing network LimeWire in an identity theft ring.
Authorities allege the Sarrasin, Adams and Stesney, along with five others, used LimeWire to access names and account information from personal computers and use them to open fraudulent accounts at Denver-area banks, where they'd deposit phony checks and then turn the money over to purchase methamphetamines. Police peg victims' losses at about $70,000.
No details about how the trio used the software to gain access to personal data were given. Court dates are pending.
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