antispy recommendations

Adaware, is a really good program for cleaning out spyware and I really do recommend it. As far are as you are concerned though, if your PC is still acting strangely after your scan you might want to invest in a pay to use program. I personally don't use one myself so I can't suggest something specific. If it working now after your Adaware run, thats great, but you should to a scan about once every week to two weeks though you can run it more frequently if you wish.

Another option you have is to use those free scanners that you were talking about. They may not remove the offending software for you, they uasually give the location of the related files and registry entries. If you are comfortable trudging through the file system and deleteing registry entries yourself, then by all means do so. It's time consuming but rewarding in the end.   If your not willing to do that you may also want to invest in a pay program.

If your computer is really running badly the best thing you can do really is back up your important files and perform a factory restore. Once alot of stuff gets on there it can be hard for even the best made sypware killers to scrape it all off. A restore will clear it all out no questions asked though. For the most part a handy program like Adaware. you may also want to consider running a virus scanner as well. I don't know any free ones off hand but McAfee is a good one.

You should let us know what sort of wird things your computer is doing though. Without specific details on symptoms it kind of hard to tell what a problem is. For all intents and purposes it is probably jsut spyware. but you never know.

Hope this helps.

If you could though

I use spybot search and destroy. A great free program I've been using for years along with AVG anti virus , another Freebie. What can I say I'm cheap and they work.  

Ive heard about AVG its supposed to work pretty well actually. I'm not too fond of Spybot though it never seemed to find anything that anything else I ran did. It is free so you can go ahead and try it if you want, but it never seemed to work that well for me.

M.B.M - Thanks for that idea, I'll try to remove them manually like ya said. The biggest symptom was that I couldn't shut down my computer, it would always restart, never shutdown, I either had to time it right and manually turn off the pc, or wait for it to restart and use the F8 button to stop, then I could turn it off. Another thing I noticed is that is was accessing the hard drive alot more than I remember it doing, the red light was flashing, and I could hear it, but I couldn't find the program that was using up the cpu in the system icon (the one that pops up with ctrl+alt+del) I have done two test shutdowns, and all seems hopefull now, only time will tell

M.B.M & DethAdder - I too use AVG, I used to use norton, but that seemed to cause alot of system slowdowns, so a frind showed me AVG, and it found a few viruses (and one trojan if memory serves me) that norton never did, so I've been happy with that switch

DethAdder - I have avoided spybot since I have heard that it is spyware in of itself, that it is basically eliminating its compition, I have no proof of this, and might just be a rumor.

I've used both ad-aware and spybot (spybot isn't spyware but ad-aware thinks so). Ad-Aware is updated more often. My V-Com System Suite (a retail multi-tool) does catch some that even ad-aware misses. So if your still having trouble it'd be a good idea to pay a little to get a little.

Yeah, if your system is running better now your problem was most likely spyware. That stuff is notorious for eating resources and not allowing you to shut down properly. Insideous stuff really.

I used to use norton, but that seemed to cause alot of system slowdowns,

Best switch you'll ever make. Norton is just bad.

I have avoided spybot since I have heard that it is spyware in of itself, that it is basically eliminating its compition, I have no proof of this, and might just be a rumor.

(spybot isn't spyware but ad-aware thinks so).

Sewer is right spybot is harmless.

thanks for all the response, very cool. I'm talked into trying spybot, I googled it, and it came up with quite alot of different websites and programs, which makes me wonder which is the actual program that ya'll are talking about. If any of ya could throw a URL my way, it'd be even better!

Thanks!

One spybot search and destroy link comming right up.  

WWW Link

I currently use 4 programs for computer security. The list includes:

-Spybot S&D
-Adaware
-Norton internet security (planning on switching)
-Hijack this

Spybot has an immunize function that uses prevents spybots from being installed on to the computer. The people who make have been having trouble with people making fake websites to fool users. There also have been a few issues between Spybot S&D and an old beta version of a Microsoft anti spybot program. So any bad stories might of came from that, though Microsoft denies it.

Adaware has a version that can be downloaded for free that you can use to get rid of adware. You can, however buy a better version.

Norton internet security provides virus scans, and a firewall to protect your computer. I haven't been too impressed with it over the past few years I've had it. I plan to switch to something else, and it would be a good idea to take someone else's recomendations for antivirus program.

"Hijack this" is a program that finds all files, and registry entries that might potentially cause your computer lots of problems. It WILL produce a lot of false positives since it scans for threats by methods rather than known products. Ask you computer expect for addition information.

Here are some links you can use:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html
http://www.download.com/3405-8022-5153545.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5
http://www.download.com/HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10379544.html

You might also want to consider Prevx1. They will let you use it with full capabilities for 30 days as an evaluation. That should give you enough time to clean out your system. Here is the link: (http://individual.prevx.com/) Download it, install, check for the most recent update, then scan. After ther 30 days, it will still detect malware, but will no longer clean it out for you.
At my work, we use a "cocktail" of anti-virus and anti-spyware programs which do include Adaware and Spybot. When it is a serious infection, we then escalate to Symantec 10 first, and if it's really stubborn, Computer Associate's Pest Patrol. The first two are free (as you know), last two have a fee. From my experience, it is best to have more than one spyware program going on your computer in the hopes that one will catch anything the other may miss. Lastly, with whichever program(s) you decide upon, keep them up to date, and scan often- at least once a week. This is especially valid if you are surfing the Internet frequently, downloading Limewire stuff, or going to websites that you wouldn't be proud of showing off to Aunt Mabel, if you get my drift.   
Also, don't forget to back up your mission critical data in just in case a virus, worm, or malware does get past your defenses and crashes your system. It is always when you haven't backed up your data that this stuff happens.WWW Link

Any advice would be welcome.

Adaware
SpyBot (make sure to use the "immunize" feature
MS Defender
Zone Alarm
AVG Antivirus

HijackThis
Router

I have used and tested many versions of Spyware detector software and here is my evaluation on a scale from 1-10 (10 the best):

Spybot (7) - I have tested it in numerous systems and it did fail to catch all of the spyware and cookies, but in general got about 80% of them. Updates are not as forth coming as others.

Microsoft Beta (6) - As usual "Microshaft" is always looking out for itself and its little spyware friends. So do not put much faith in much of anything MS turns out. Remember they started this industry thanks to there poor quality browser security.

Ad-Aware (8) - I have tested and used this software for over 3 years. So far it is pretty good at removing datamining, cookies and blocking tracking items. But I did find that when placed head-to-head with Webroot Spy Sweeper, it does not hold a candle to the number of items removed. All in all it is still a good software package and I have purchased it once and never had to buy updated versions since.

Webroot Spy Sweeper (9) - Has caught everything that the other software packages listed about and more. The updates are automatic and the cleaning is thorough. Only two complaints, they do not have a Firefox version and you have to buy a renewal license every 1 or 2 years depending on what you purchased at the beginning.

Hope this helps.

Norton internet security provides virus scans, and a firewall to protect your computer. I haven't been too impressed with it over the past few years I've had it. I plan to switch to something else, and it would be a good idea to take someone else's recomendations for antivirus program.

I use Zonealarm, they do a free version of their firewall or you can purchase one of their security packages. I use the firewall/antivirus option and I've got no complaints. I think compared to Norton its less of a system hogg and less intrusive. Norton just seems to take over. Try the free firewall out see what you think.

I combine it with Adaware and Spybot S&D to handle the non-virus stuff.

I know I'm WAY late, but I just wanted to say thanks for all the replies. Whatever got me, got me good, I gave up and reinstalled xp LOL

Thanks again !!