spyware

[evertking]

this Trend Micro thing on my computer keeps poping up saying it has detected spyware.. anyone know what this is about?? thanks.

[benagain]

Yea. It's spyware. In other words, something that would be a virus if some kid released it. Since its got corporate backing, it's spyware.

Get protection. Update your secutiry software and run a thorough scan.
Adaware still works pretty well for me.

[RedLocks]

Spyware is the most evil thing, worse than actual viruses, it just keep loading ya up with more and more spyware to make your computer retarded, there's lots of ways to end up with spyware but one of the biggest is using p2p programs like kazaa and other disreputable file sharing programs. I prefer to use "ad-aware" over most other anti spyware apps, although it seems like trend micro is nearly top rated as far as the top programs out there because of the "help/support" category was rated low for ad-aware, who cares I don't need help and ad-aware SE is free :thumbsup: Reason I use ad-aware is because it is free and several people recommended it to me, and I liked how after the one type of scan it would reboot the computer and halt any applications from starting allowing it to remove spywares that it couldn't while windows was fully booted up.
Anyways, use what ya got then run anti virus afterwards, should clean ut your system good no matter what ya use (takes a painfully long ammount of time to finish the scans)

[mrdevious]

I wouldn't depend on Adaware SE alone. It's a great little program to have, but it'll mostly just catch benign spyware and miss the really harmful stuff.


Evertking, TrendMicro is indeed an excellent program. Keep it updated and run a full system scan, that should catch it. If it does keep popping up after you remove all the crap, the spyware's importing more crap. In the meantime, download a free general anti-malware program called "A-Squared", it's pretty solid.

A-squared Free - Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com (http://www.download.com/A-squared-Free/3000-2239_4-10514472.html?tag=lst-0-1)

If you want something that specializes in viruses and trojans, get Antivir (also free). But if you're computer isn't really powerfull or you just don't want to gobble up resources, I'd suggest you do a custom instal and click off the guard that comes with it. It's a real resource gobbler, though it will give you pretty good protection from the really nasty stuff.

AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic - More than Security (http://www.free-av.com)

and last but not least, get SpywareBlaster. It's a simple little program that takes up almost no resources and runs in the background even after you close it. It'll block a good sized list of spyware from getting in your system in the first place. Just make sure you run updates every so often.

SpywareBlaster - Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com (http://www.download.com/SpywareBlaster/3000-8022_4-10486084.html?tag=lst-0-1)



And let me say, as I feel obliged to do... DON'T GET NORTON ANTI-VIRUS. It's decent for catching trojans, but THAT'S IT, and it'll take up all your system memory resources.

EDIT: Also go into your browser options and clear your history, temp files, and cookies. If you're on IE6 you can do this by clicking Tools>Internet Options>Clear History, Delete Cookies, and Clear Files (click "delete all offline files). If you're on IE7, do it through the "delete history" section.