Holy Hell!

[captpackrat]

While installing software on a user's computer I noticed some suspicious activity. I noticed some apparent spyware on her machine, so I installed the Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta.

THIRTY FOUR different spywares were found. GAAAAAAH!

We've got antivirus software, and I'd been waiting for MS to release the final version of their antispyware, but it looks like everyone will be getting the beta version now.


(I've been using it for months now myself, and I've never gotten any infections. 22 years of computing and I've never gotten a spyware or a virus. How is it everyone else gets burned so badly?)

Comments

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

Because everyone else likes to click on weird email attachments and stuff.

[kaysho.livejournal.com]

I don't know ... I've never had a single problem with a virus or spyware, either. But I suspect I'm more careful than Joe Averageuser.

[bubbycat.livejournal.com]

I don't get those virus with my virus and spyware programs. But I got one of those browser home page hijacker things changed my home page 2 times since 96 when I got on the net. but I knew how to change it back and remove the highjacker. I dunno how it got there i have my browsers security don't instal stuff with out asking and i always say no if i don't know what's trying to instal. but i think they somehow instal stuff to people anyways sometimes. i don't know how i got the highjacker thingie it musta been one of those weird pages yahooimage too me too in one of my searches can they do that just by showing those thumbnails even if I didn't click the picture to get the full size one? yahoo shows some weird picture I wasn't looking for and sometimes naughty images when I didn't type that kind of words into an image search. Hehe.

AntiSpyware Beta

[bubbycat.livejournal.com]

Is there a page I can download that program free to try? I have add aware and Spybot - Search & Destroy and system mechanic and a few others but I noticed some find stuff the other programs didn't see for some reason. so I pondered if that AntiSpyware Beta would find stuff I missed and don't knows on the computer. I also often goto to 2 free scan pages too on line one is http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ I like there free online scan but lately the page wouldn't always load every time I got maybe that pages gets too busy with connections so I go to this one too that's also free. http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/index.html# I think that one or housecall found the page hijackers I forgot which one did that. But that AntiSpyware Beta may be nice to try besides it could replace that system mechanic that the trail is running out and won't function after the trail so it may just get uninstalled and deleted till I decide if I wanna buy it and registers it.

Re: AntiSpyware Beta

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Re: AntiSpyware Beta

[bubbycat.livejournal.com]

Cool thanks :) I'll look at the page and try it latter :)

Re: AntiSpyware Beta

[bubbycat.livejournal.com]

Oh no it wouldn't install it stopped and had some kind of error box say

Microsoft AntiSpyware requires that your computer is running Windows 2000 or Windows XP or Windows 2003 Server
=== Logging stopped: 3/30/05 23:39:39 ===


wow i didn't see that i had to have that version of windows to use that program on there download page.i must read all the stuff too fast when i was downloading it. is there another version of it for win 98 se?

Re: AntiSpyware Beta

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

Microsoft no longer supports Windows 98 or ME, except for critical security updates, and those will only be provided until June of next year.

Windows 98 IS about 7 years old, after all. In computer years, that's forever. And Windows 9X is totally different from Windows NT, so it's easier for them to only program for one family of OS instead of two.

[rcoony.livejournal.com]

I'll bet you use Firefox or something else non-IE. I use Firefox, and rarely, if ever have trouble with spyware. Unfortunately, occasionally I will need to use IE for certain web pages, and that's when those things get in. At work, my computer is probably the cleanest; everyone else's seem to be bogged down with stuff. Trying to keep spyware out while using Internet Explorer is like trying to keep a hurricane out with a window screen. That's probably what she uses.

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

I only use Firefox on the few Ubuntu machines at work. Otherwise, everything else runs IE.

According to Symantec, IE actually has fewer vulnerabilities than Firefox. In the last 6 months of 2004, there were only 13 vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer while Mozilla suffered from 21! (In comparison, 6 vulnerabilities were found in Opera and zero in Safari)

IE is pretty easy to secure, you just have to make sure you've kept up with patches and everything, and lock down the security settings.