newreel

Hey Folks,

I'm dealing with what seems like an insurmountable problem. Even though I've resigned myself to the idea that there is no "fix" for this, I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there anyway.

I spend a good amount of my day helping people "clean up" their computers. Aside from tweaking msconfig and regedit, doing a disk cleanup and disk defrag, running wincleaner 1-click, ccleaner and memory optimizer, and replacing norton/mcafee with avg and spybot, I also like to install and run AVG Anti-Virus, Spybot and AdAware.

The problem I run into every time is this:

Even though I have the .exe files for AVG, Spybot and AdAware on my flash drive, I still have to DOWNLOAD ALL THE UPDATES for each of them on the problem computers after installing them.

Bear in mind that these are PROBLEM computers. Most of them are barely moving, if they are moving at all. I know enough to tweak msconfig and reboot into safe mode, but these programs can't be installed and updated in safe mode. Add to that the fact that many of these folks are still on DIAL UP and you begin to see that we're talking about 1-2 hours JUST TO UPDATE THE SOFTWARE before I can even begin running the scans. And what if they don't have Internet access at all? I have had to turn down SO MANY people because I can't install the software and run it without an Internet connection.

So, I'm trying to figure out if there is ANY way that I can carry around a fully updated version of these programs. I'm using the freeware version of these (of course) but I can't actually "install" them on my flash drive - they only want to be installed on local drives.

I hope I've explained this well enough to be understood. I could buy the programs I guess but I bet they still want to be "activated" and updated over the net, right?

BOTTOM LINE: Is there a way to load and then run the freeware versions of AVG, Spybot and AdAware on a computer WITHOUT an internet connection?

PS - The reason this is so precarious is that I work with many, many low income families who can barely afford to buy a used computer. They were never given an o/s disk, and therefore don't have the luxury of just reinstalling the o/s. I have to work within this framework, which can be enormously frustrating for someone who is just trying to make a difference.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer me (us).

-newreel

koala

The way I do it on a computer with no internet connection is to use another computer to download the latest versions of the software, then download the latest definitions, save all these to CD and manually install on the other computer.

Manual updates for definitions/detections:
AVG (scroll to bottom for manual update instructions)
SpyBot (detection updates)
AdAware (click the Download button at the bottom)

newreel

Hi Koala,

On the AVG link at the bottom of the page, it tells me that I can do it, but it doesn't tell me how.

koala

Try this one instead. http://www.grisoft.com/doc/32/us/crp/0

newreel

You beat me to it. I was just going to tell you that I figured it out. Thank you.

On a very related note, I have just learned that instead of using both AdAware and Spybot, I can get away with just using AdAware, since they do primarily the same thing. Spybot takes forever to download it's newest definitions files over a dial-up connection, whereas AdAware seems to be much faster. AdAware also scans the system much faster than Spybot does.

So that said, I have found and have been able to download the latest definitions file for AdAware - it's called "core.aawdef". However, I can't find a way to tell AdAware to get it's updates from a file rather than over the internet (as I can with AVG). All the various "update" links point only to the website. And there isn't a file that looks even remotely like "core.aawdef" in the AdAware directory, once the program is downloaded and installed on the hdd. I was thinking that if there were, then it would maybe make sense to just replace the existing file with the new definitions file.

Might you have any thoughts on this?

-newreel.

Wox

I would suggest switching to SpyBot since Ad-aware, from personal experience, is not the best antispyware program.
But, your choice, of course.

And also, why would you want AAW to retrieve updates from a file? Isn't internet updating easier?

koala

See the thread title
Loading & Running Anti-Virus/Spyware/Adware Programs Without An Internet Connection

Wox

Whoops. My brain is kinda slow sometimes- especially when I'm doing two things at once..

newreel

So....any advice regarding the AdAware/Spybot issue then?

What I need to do is find a way to update the definitions file of just ONE of these programs via a FILE and not via the internet.

With AVG, you are given the option to download the latest definitions file, and then update via that route, versus the internet route.

shipper

Get the latest defs here:
http://download.lavasoft.com/public/defs.zip

Unzip the defs file to a location of your choice.

After starting Adaware click on the configurations icon and in General Settings look to the bottom of the right hand pane and find "Using definitions file:" and browse to your freshly saved defs file. Happy scanning!

shipper

Previous post was for Adaware. For Spybot S&D:

Download the latest detection rules from here:
http://www.spybotupdates.com/updates...d_includes.exe
and run the executable on the machine requiring the update (Spybot must already be installed).

Wox

just to add something
it's very unlikely that you'll get viruses/spyware etc etc when you're not connected to the internet.

shipper

Wox - You are quite right in your statement, however, I believe that newreel's need for updates without a connection are related to repairing a system that is either so bloated with spyware that it is too agravating to get updates online or else there is a desire not to allow an infected machine on the LAN in order to get updates which is usually the case with me. All repairs that I perform are isolated from my network (and as a result, the internet too) until such a time as the system is "clean" to prevent further spread of problems.

Wox

oh I see.
Well in case the OP is infected by well-known viruses this might help:
http://www.viruskeeper.com/us/mvc.htm

Edit- download the zip, put it in a flash drive and unzip it in the infected PC. Run the exe and do a deep scan.

And if you don't feel like installing anymore programs, try this; download and unzip into a folder, run the exe and do a deep scan.

This only removes major viruses, no spyware/adware/bugs etc etc.
Removing major viruses would effectively lessen the load on AVG, spybot, adaware, etc.

newreel

Shipper,

You are dead-on. The systems are too bloated and/or still using dial-up and I only have 2 hours max to clean these systems.

Thank you VERY much for your help on this guys. It's going to make all the difference in the world.

-newreel

Wox

did you try the mvc?

newreel

I have been able to load and run updates for AVG and Spybot, but still haven't figured out how to do it with AdAware.

Did I perhaps miss something that you guys suggested previously?