carlybaby

First post here. Running XP with AVGFree anti-virus, ZoneAlarmFree firewall but having difficulty finding two good free anti-spyware programs. All suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

Clark76

Avg makes a good anti-spyware program also:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/us/frt/0?prd=asf

Another good one is Ad-Aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware

Since you are in FireFox forum I would also suggest getting this add-on - Adblock
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10
It is not an anti-spyware program but it does do what it name sounds like, it helps block ads

carlybaby

Clark76 : Thanks for your prompt reply. When I posted I already had Windows Defender on my computer but I had read (Cnet.com) where it was not that good and I started looking for some others. However, I notice that Defender blocks spyware in real time whereas I couldn't find that option on AVGFree Anti-spyware which I just downloaded and scanned with. I am not a sophisticated computer user but I have read that it is important to have two anti-spyware programs and one that blocks spyware in real time.

What do you think of Defender as a second anti-spyware program?

I also have not read many good things about Ad-AwareFree which does not have real time protection either. My main information resource is Cnet.com but I have a September 2007 issue of Consumer Reports that rated Windows Defender 7th out of 12 programs. The only other free program they rated was SpyBot which was rated 10th. Ad-AwareFree was not rated but they rated Ad-Aware SE Plus as 12th out of 12 and it was the only program not rated good or better at detecting spyware. Windows Defender was rated very good at detecting spyware.

Thanks again.

Clark76

It is not bad.

Avg and Ad-Aware do not offer realtime protection for the free versions, only for the paid version

The trouble with the reviews on the different anti-spyware programs that I have read is that everyone says something different. Have a read at the following link:
PC Safety and Security--What Do I Need?


Remember the best security for your computer is not any programs but what is between the keyboard and chair

carlybaby

Clark76: Thanks for your prompt reply. I went to the link but don't have time to go through it all now so I'll go through it later.

What is your feeling about the need for blocking spyware in real time as Defender can do?

Also, I installed Adblock but can't find it anywhere. It's not listed in the Start - Programs or in Add/Remove Programs in the control panel. How do I get to it?

Thanks.

koala

You can find AdBlock in Firefox by going to Tools > Addons. You might have to close and restart Firefox for it to appear after installing.

I've never used Defender, but SpyBot's realtime protection feature, TeaTimer, is excellent, using very few system resources.

carlybaby

Koala: Thanks for the info. I'll check it out when I get back.

carlybaby

Clark76: I just noticed that I have both Adblock and Adblock Plus on my computer. What do you suggest I do? Thanks.

koala

Clark's offline at the moment. Will I do for now?

If you have both Adblock and Adblock Plus listed in Tools > Addons, remove Adblock and restart Firefox, then check to see that you only have the Plus entry remaining.

carlybaby

koala: Yes, you will certainly do. The reason I addressed my question to Clark76 was because he was the one who initially suggested Adblock. I guess in the future I should just post the question to no one in particular but the forum in general. Anyway, thanks for your prompt response. I did as you suggested and everything worked out fine.

davidashton

Firetrust has a software package called sitehound which will get rid of your spyware problems in addition to defender. It is free and it blocks all known "bad" websites. I've been using benign,sitehound and mailwasher for the last 2 years and never get any viruses at all. Benign is brilliant as it strips out bad coding so a virus can be 1 second old and it doesn't matter.

Cyborg Ninja

I thought that AVG's anti-spyware program had a real-time resident called "guard.exe" in the system processes? BTW, running a real-time anti-spyware program can cause more trouble for you than you realize. These programs ask for you to permit registry changes which are quite frequent and necessary for applications and not just spyware. Sometimes, you might disallow a registry change and this can cause problems for Windows itself. I ran into this a few days ago and had to do a System Restore, all thanks to Spybot's Teatimer that I never wanted in the first place.

BTW, I ran both Spybot and AVG's anti-spyware program recently and AVG detected several things that Spybot didn't. I happened to have a little-known trojan (purposely placed on my computer) for research purposes, and only AVG detected it. Antivirus programs should not be the only ones to detect that and give a warning about it. The line between virus and spyware is a thin one indeed.

davidashton

Prevention is better than the cure. that's why I use Benign, Sitehound and Mailwasher. I have NO anti-virus and I remind I never ever, read that again, never ever get viruses. Why shut the gate after the horse has bolted? A little known trojan doesn't matter with Benign when you receive it. It will eliminate the coding regardless of whether it is only 1 second old or ten years old. How does it do it? Really simple, it has been designed to know malicious coding v good coding so it doesn't matter what new one is emailed around.
These software packages also have no registry dramas.
Try them out, just do a google search for them if you no longer want to have any dramas with your computers.