Spybot?

grissom

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Does anyone use spybot search and destroy? I just downloaded it and got rid of over 80 bad programs. (Apparently, Grad School webpages have lots of adware
) Anyway, now it tells me everytime the computer wants to download a file or something. Like a cookie I think? Computer people, does that make sense? The point, yes, I must get to the point of my post.... I really need to not ramble... Is that it now pops up that when I come to the forum here, the computer wants to download two programs, cookies, whichever, that are "known threats". Should I allow them or not? Is spybot overzealous and its always going to give me these pop ups?

I am not a computer person.
 

dima

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I use Spybot and it's a very good tool. I also suggest that you (and everyone!) download Adaware, too. (www.lavasoft.com).

There are many cookies that you will want to keep, like to your bank, here, Amazon, etc. Open Spybot and on the left navigation choose "Excludes". Then check the cookies you want to keep.

Which two programs does it want you to download? I can tell you if they are a threat or not.

BTW - I don't get any warnings for this site.
 

blondiecat

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Spybot is "DA BOMB" I have it on my puter and run it at least once a month if not more often. I'm not real certain about the pop-up things. My Spybot has not given me any kind of messages like that at all. I hope that my brother Spideycat gets on here tonight he is the one that can answer that question.
 

sofiecusion

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I use both spybot AND Adware and I think that they work great.....I don't get popups for either so I don't know what to tell you. I first heard about using both of them from watching Tech TV
 

shell

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I have both, but I have found that Adware catches more than the other program. I usually have about 30 of them each time I run it & I do it every week. My parents (who don't know anything about a computer) have been having a rough time with theirs. Everytime they run Adware, they get over 1000! Mom tells me she runs it every couple of days & still gets that many. I'm assuming that someone (most likely my brother) is going into sites that he shouldn't be & it's downloading spyware on to their brand new PC. Spyware is such a pain in the butt!

Good luck to ya!
 

talon

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Both of those programs are good, there is another one that I think goes evend deeper, it comes with a free trial period, but you have to pay for it after that - but it is great! I can run adaware and it finds even more things!

http://www.acelogix.com/

It is called Ace Utilities.
 
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grissom

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It wants to download something called 'double click'. I dont know what that is... Also, how do I know which Cookies go to my bank and such?

My mother is a programmer, but apparently her computer savvy never passed onto me...
 

blondiecat

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I just up-graded my spybot and ran the scans. I went to a website and got the same thing I just told it no. Until I can talk to Spideycat, my brother, I want let it do anything like that.
 

sammie5

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My brother, who works as a computer system support person, says run Adaware first, then Spybot.

Cookies are harmless. I do set my browser to let me choose when to accept cookies, but they do not harm your computer, (I think). They are messages sent from your computer to the site you are accessing, telling that site some of your identity information. That's how The Cat Site remembers which are new posts since your last visit. Without cookies, it wouldn't be able to do that. They are also used to track your browsing habits, which sounds creepy, but doesn't actually damamge your computer like viruses and worms and trojan horses do.

What you do want is to prevent these nasty llttle computer programs from being installed on your computer without your permission. For example, there are some that will automatically open up porn sites in your browser window, they are little autoexec routines that activate without needing your permission. That's what Adaware and Spybot should be preventing.
 
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