free antispyware what do you use?

[mattbiernat]

I am using spybot search and destroy but i'd like to know about alternatives out there that are equally good. can anybody give an advice?

[goofyGAguy]

http://www.filehippo.com/download_malwa ... ti_malware

http://www.filehippo.com/download_superantispyware

[ThinkRob]

Assuming you must use an OS that is susceptible to such things, I've found SpyBot S&D to be pretty solid. The "TeaTimer" feature is especially nice.

[harvester]

Assuming you must use an OS that is susceptible to such things,

There's a handy way around that problem too.
Run Linux in a virtual machine and use it for browsing or other high-risk activities. No need to learn much, just download free VMWare Player
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/

then grab a Virtual Appliance such as

http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/371063

And browse free of any nasties. Great way to try virtual machines while protecting your Windows install.

If you insist on Windows, download free VirtualBox and install Windows on a virtual hard drive of your preference. It won't affect your main Windows install if it gets trashed and is easy to restore from backup.

http://www.virtualbox.org/

I use VirtualBox to run XP and Ubuntu on my T61 with Vista installed. When I dump Vista, I'll run Ubuntu and run XP and whatever else in virtual machines. It's dead easy to do nowadays, with lots of tutorials on the net.

[mattbiernat]

i like browsing internet via Windows.
i found malwarebytes antimalware to miss things compared to spybot.
any other ideas.

[neenee]

I use and can recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.

[Temetka]

I second Microsoft's offering.

Previously this was AVG for me, but it has become bloated and slow.

If you want cheap and effective, I highly recommend Vipre Anti-Virus. It's about $10 a pop per license.

[Medessec]

Avast! does the best job from what I hear.

My parents have it, and they've never had a problem(despite the, literally, hundreds of spam-mail messages my dad gets everyday) except the cheesy *ding* "virus database has been updated" you hear everytime you start your computer. It's also completely free, you just have to register and get a free license key.

I'm waiting for version 5 to come out, which i'm certain doesn't have that, and has more.

There's also Avira, from which I hear is unnecessarily complicated, and AVG, which is becoming more business oriented and putting more emphasis on their versions of the software that cost money.

As mentioned above, browsing the internet in a Virtual Machine is definitely an option, and if you don't have a fancy virtual tech computer, there's always Virtual PC 2007(downloadable free from the Microsoft Download Center). There's always also the option of having a second OS installed on the same computer(perhaps in a logical drive partition as with my laptop or other hard drive altogether) I have Vista and the 7 RC installed side by side and when Vista fails, I can simply shut down and boot into 7. No prob!

[emeraldgirl08]

except the cheesy *ding* "virus database has been updated" you hear everytime you start your computer.

lol. Yeah that scared a couple of people I know the first time it came on for them

I like Avast. I've been using that for years and I've been fortunate that the program works nicely on my Windoze parts

[Vempele]

except the cheesy *ding* "virus database has been updated" you hear everytime you start your computer.

Heh, at least it's a female voice in the Avast! 5 beta.

[mattbiernat]

hmmm i was looking for some dedicated antispyware and not all in one package. how is ad-aware? I heard it used to be good and then it turned into a crap - but is it still crap or did they change something about it.

[Tõnis]

hmmm i was looking for some dedicated antispyware and not all in one package. how is ad-aware? I heard it used to be good and then it turned into a crap - but is it still crap or did they change something about it.

Well, the dedicated spyware program I tried a couple years ago was one I was talked into by a retail store when I bought my 3000N100. I know you're asking about free ones, but I wanted to relay my experience with the paid program Spysweeper. I had a very bad experience with it and ended up uninstalling it.

My computer would work fine for some nominal length of time, sometimes a few days, sometimes up to a week or two and then just lock up and freeze requiring a forced shutdown and restart. I narrowed the problem down to Spysweeper. When I called the Spysweeper tech support, I was told it "never heard of something like that happening" or denied knowledge of it happening. I'm leaning toward "denied knowledge," because afterward, when I looked on line, I saw that there were many other reported cases of the problem, which went away when I uninstalled the program. So, beware of Spysweeper.

[Medessec]

Programs like Spybot Search & Destroy and Spysweeper are good anti-adware and antivirus programs, but because they are not integrated like Avast!, Avira and AVG, they can't check new, moved, or received files on the spot, which can allow an infected file to pass through and execute. Most also don't have the auto-scan feature or option of performing daily or weekly scans of your computer.

Avast! is probably the best in my opinion because it has all of these features and way more, and is integrated so the Security Center(or Action Center, in Windows 7) recognizes it and can work in conjunction with many Microsoft Antivirus services such as Firewall and Windows Defender.

Avast! is the best free Antivirus that I know of, and is the least annoying. And works perfectly on XP and up.

[mattbiernat]

spybot SD and malwarebytes antimalware both have automatic scanning.

[Medessec]

Ah. Well that's good then. Some of these programs do have that feature, but as I said, most don't. But many of the newer versions of these programs have fixed the problem.

But really, it's up to you. I personally recommend Avast!.

[mattbiernat]

i heard many good things about avast but i already have nod32, thats why i was specificaly looking for a dedicated antispyware.

[Medessec]

A friend of mine uses NOD32... is it really that good? I haven't heard much about it.

I don't think you need another antivirus program on your computer if you already have an integrated program, but if you're just one of those guys who likes the company of a backup scanner just in case, I would recommend Spybot Search & Destroy.

[Mike Blake]

hmmm i was looking for some dedicated antispyware and not all in one package. how is ad-aware? I heard it used to be good and then it turned into a crap - but is it still crap or did they change something about it.

You don't seem to be doing too well in getting your actual question answered, are you? ;->

I originally used Ad-Aware for years. But it's not much that it turned to crap but that they left out so many features they added to the pay version. And I heard, with no proof, that the definition updates for the free version were not as, umm, up-to-date as the pay version.

Check out the CNet comments in their review, such as "important features are disabled in the free version. While rootkit detection is present, behavior-based heuristics and real-time registry protection are not. Ad-Aware Free cannot scan networked drives, and even a basic feature like the scheduler remains off-limits to nonpaying customers....Ad-Aware continues to make improvements and seems to be unwilling to rest on its malware-removing laurels, but the free version is undeniably hamstrung."

So I long ago switched to what you are using now, Spybot S&D. And despite my frustration that no matter how much RAM or how much faster my CPUs get over the years, program still crawls doing a scan, I've stuck with it.

That said, I have heard good things about one of the others mentioned above, Malwarebytes. Here are the reviews from CNET and its users (I notice it has over a hundred thousand more downloads than either Spybot or Ad-Aware)...

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-A ... 78968.html

[t140568]

When I de-virus/de-malware someone's PC I use Avast! and SpybotS&D as sort of a 1-2 punch combo.

[mattbiernat]

thanks for the response about Ad-aware mike. i am currently testing both malwarebytes and spybot search a destroy. i am however having doubts about one of them. spybot search and destroy comes out with 5 tracking cookies every now and then and says they are spyware while malwarebytes simply ignores them. now how do i know whether the tracking cookies are false positives or actual spyware?

[RealBlackStuff]

Adaware is getting a bit long in the tooth.
Malwarebytes is way more sophisticated than Adaware.
Cookies are not spyware in the sense of causing any malfunctioning.
If you don't like them, use CCleaner on a regular basis to delete them.

[Mike Blake]

And in any case, you still have Spybot, right? It scans for evil
cookies as well, except for entries in the "Do not scan cookies"
section. If it sees nothing wrong with them, I wouldn't worry.

[mattbiernat]

so are cookis evil or not?

[Medessec]

cookies for the most part aren't evil, they help expand the functionality of a web application. But some take advantage of that functionality for malicious purposes.

[neenee]

If you want something specifically to help you with bad cookies, try Cookienator