Spyware Blaster

[blim]

Hi All,

As some of you know, I'm new to the spyware battles. Recently downloaded Spyware Blaster (and Adaware and Spybot S&D), thanks to you folks, but have a question and googling didn't answer it.

According to the Spyware Blaster Website, it "doesn't run in the background" sooo, how does it block the baddies??? And if it does run across something unscrupulous, does it just block the thing, or give me a pop up box such as "this bad thing is trying to access your idiot box", like Mcafee does? I'm careful on the net, but the kids and their friends aren't. I know Spyware Blaster works, or it wouldn't be so highly recommended--really just curious--and saying, "its magic" is an acceptable answer Thanks, Liz

[bearskin]

well the program doesn't "run". it just sits there waiting for baddies. when a baddie tries to access your computer it simply says NO. actually it's magic..

[John L]

Well liz i took this right from the javacool site, unfortunately there is no easy answer i can give you.

Spyware, adware, browser hijackers, and dialers are some of the fastest-growing threats on the Internet today.

By simply browsing to a web page, you could find your computer to be the brand-new host of one of these unwanted fiends!

The most important step you can take is to secure your system. And SpywareBlaster is the most powerful protection program available.

# Prevent the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted pests.

# Block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla/Firefox.

# Restrict the actions of potentially dangerous sites in Internet Explorer.

SpywareBlaster can help keep your system spyware-free and secure, without interfering with the "good side" of the web.

And unlike other programs, SpywareBlaster does not have to remain running in the background.

Maybe another of this fine group can give you a more full answer as this is the best i can come up with.

[Dan]

Ok,

Here is my interpretation of how it works.

It puts keys into the registry, (for IE, etc), that determines which cookies, ActiveX are blocked....

[blim]

Ok, I think I'm figuring this out!! These answers make sense--ahhh the old thing, the more you learn about something, the more questions you conger up.

Never thought about it making changes in the Registry---that area along with Systems and opening up my computer I avoid at all costs!! Thanks! Liz

[thesidekickcat]

I guess I had better get this Spyware Blaster program.

I got hit with 2 trojans (ByteVerify) last night, that Norton quarantined, and then it blocked another one of them coming at me. Though why it didn't block the first 2 I have no idea since it was up to date and those are older trojans. Grrrr!!!

Anyhow I opened a US News magazine link I hadn't used for along time in my favorites, (had G4 open too), went to a link to an article and as it was half loaded, I got slammed with these trojan alerts from Norton. Sure scared me nearly out of my socks.

Norton did it's thing to quarantine them, though I am not sure if it is safe to delete them even though it is an option. Just don't want them lose on computer again. So where do they go if I delete them and is it safe to do so????

Does Spyware Blaster play well with Norton though? I am always leary of adding things that maybe will cause me problems with Norton. But at the moment I am ready to take the chance on it if anyone has a link to it. I need to get A2 squared too. Been putting it off to long I guess to get more help with this stuff.

God bless everyone.

[bar5]

thesidekickcat:

Hereis link for a2 squared:

a2 squared

Scroll down until you see "a2 squared FREE"

Here is Spyware Blaster also:

MajorGeeks

I use both of these with Norton, no problems at all.

Barb

Another one to consider is Browser HiJack Blaster. I got hijacked once and that was all I needed. Pete Covell TTV, recommended this to me a few years ago.

Browser HiJack Blaster

I have all of these and live very nicely with Norton.

[tg1911]

sidekickcat,

Another one to consider is:

Spywareguard - provides a real-time protection solution against spyware that is a great addition to SpywareBlaster's protection method.

I run all 3 with Norton, with no problems.

Been using Spywareblaster and Spywareguard about 3 yrs.

a² about 2 yrs.

[bar5]

Been using Spywareblaster and Spywareguard about 3 yrs.

a² about 2 yrs.

tg1911:

Spywareguard is the only one I don't have. Thought about it, but not sure what it does in addition to Spyware Blaster.

I probably should get it.

Barb

[blim]

Another question---from what I've read, multiple firewalls and virusscanners are not good, but multiple spyware scanners are fine, right? Can there be too many?

All these choices got me thinking...especially the Hijacker thing Barb mentioned (Daughter somehow got JClose on the idiot box once--luckily Son knew how to get rid of the thing!)

And Sidekickcat, Spyware Blaster was by far the easiest download out of the Spyware Scanners we put on the idiot box--or my mind was numb after installing the first two I remember asking Son, "That's it, are you sure??" And just updated it--and when I say it's simple, it must be simple! (besides...its magic! )

Liz

[thesidekickcat]

Thank You All so very much for all the information.

I will start in tomorrow, with getting the ones mentioned. To tired tonight.

And I am so glad to hear they work with Norton without problems. Phewww! Big relief.

I did a free Trend Micro Housecall scan awhile ago. Came up clean. Wow!!! I was sure happy over that. Took me over an hour on dialup to download it, and only about 15 minutes to do scan. I was so nervous, figuring it would find some thing else piggybacking on the trojans. But it came out clean.

If I hadn't been so tired and stressed, I would have jumped up and down.

Plus I had to finally deal with the cookie monster problem and delete them because my logins weren't working right over on Leoville. So more stress over that, but so far only had to redo the Leoville one and my isp. So that was a blessing. Makes me nervous because I might mistype something and get it wrong and messed up. Sigh! But it worked out ok, thankfully. The plus is my computer is now running faster by getting the trojans quarantined, and all the hundreds of cookies deleted. So that is a nice bonus.

So an interesting week starting with the login problem at Leoville, and then the trojans last night. Always something to keep us worried it seems.

Again thanks everyone for all the great imput on compatibility with Norton, and the links, and encouragement.

God bless everyone.

[bar5]

Another question---from what I've read, multiple firewalls and virusscanners are not good, but multiple spyware scanners are fine, right?  Can there be too many?

All these choices got me thinking...especially the Hijacker thing Barb mentioned (Daughter somehow got JClose on the idiot box once--luckily Son knew how to get rid of the thing!)

And Sidekickcat, Spyware Blaster was by far the easiest download out of the Spyware Scanners we put on the idiot box--or my mind was numb after installing the first two   I remember asking Son, "That's it, are you sure??"  And just updated it--and when I say it's simple, it must be simple! (besides...its magic! )

Liz

Liz:

Make sure you check for updates on Spyware Blaster. Especially where you have just D/L it.

The latest should be--- 4/16/05---- 3502 Items in Database.

Enable all protection.

I run all of these. It is OK. I only have ONE Firewall and ONE Antivirus.

Barb

[blim]

Hi Barb,

Yep, updated it earlier this evening!! Thank you! And ran the other two Spyware Scanners and ended up with one lil' cookie--phew, what a relief! Liz

[bar5]

Hi Barb,

Yep, updated it earlier this evening!! Thank you!    And ran the other two Spyware Scanners and ended up with one lil' cookie--phew, what a relief!  Liz

Hi Liz:

One other thing I would recommend is to subscribe to "Support Updates" so when there is an update on some software you will be notified by email from BestTechie.

A lot of good people here post updates, so if you subscribe you will not miss any. You pick out the ones you have the software for and go get your update.

I subscribe to it in case I forget to check.

Barb

P.S. In case you do not know, go to Support Updates and scroll down to the bottom and you will see "Subscribe to this Forum" click it.

[tg1911]

bar5,

SpywareBlaster is mostly for surfing.

It blocks the "nasties" from installing, from web sites.

SpywareGuard works sorta like your AV, except for spyware.

If you download a program that contains spyware and try to run it, SpywareGuard will notify you that it contains spyware, and give you the option to delete the spyware files.

Example:

Say you download a free program, but you didn't know it comes bundled with Gator.

When you try to install the program, and it gets to Gator.exe, a box will pop up warning you that Gator is trying to install.

You can either OK it, or delete it.

Of course deleting it might "break" the program, but if it needs spyware to work properly, who needs it anyway.

SpywareGuard has saved my behind, on more than one occasion.

Hope the explaination helps.

[bar5]

bar5,

SpywareBlaster is mostly for surfing.

It blocks the "nasties" from installing, from web sites.

SpywareGuard works sorta like your AV, except for spyware.

If you download a program that contains spyware and try to run it, SpywareGuard will notify you that it contains spyware, and give you the option to delete the spyware files.

Example:

Say you download a free program, but you didn't know it comes bundled with Gator.

When you try to install the program, and it gets to Gator.exe, a box will pop up warning you that Gator is trying to install.

You can either OK it, or delete it.

Of course deleting it might "break" the program, but if it needs spyware to work properly, who needs it anyway.

SpywareGuard has saved my behind, on more than one occasion.

Hope the explaination helps.

tg1911:

Thanks for the very good explanation. I didn't quite understand how it worked in comparsion to Spyware Blaster.

I will get it, even though I always scan every D/L before installing. (which is only for antivirus not spyware)

When I first got this computer, I had D/L a screensaver and picked up some spyware. If I had Spywareguard that would have prevented it. I also don't do that anymore.

Have a good day

Barb

[tg1911]

You're welcome, bar5.

I think that's every newbies biggest problem, downloading everything the mouse passes over.

I know it was mine.

Live and learn, I guess.

Spywareguard might not be something you'll use all of the time.

The more internet "savy" you become (reading EULAs, researching potential downloads, etc.), the less likely you'll need it.

But it's nice to have, just in case.

If it just catches one program, it's worth it to me.

[bar5]

You're welcome, bar5.

I think that's every newbies biggest problem, downloading everything the mouse passes over.

I know it was mine.

Live and learn, I guess.

Spywareguard might not be something you'll use all of the time.

The more internet "savy" you become (reading EULAs, researching potential downloads, etc.), the less likely you'll need it.

But it's nice to have, just in case.

If it just catches one program, it's worth it to me.

I don't D/L anything anymore unless it's from a trusted site, such as Major Geeks etc. I know now which ones are OK. Thru trial and error is how I learned. Maybe that is a good thing, because I learned what happens if I'm not careful. I'm not paranoid, just careful.

When you are a newbie (still am) you have no idea of the danger out there. This is why forums are such a good thing. Information that otherwise would not get out there.

Thanks again tg1911. I D/L Spywareguard earlier this morning, updated it. Good to go now.

Barb

[blim]

Wow! I sure am learning alot here! When Son gets home, we'll have to check out Spywareguard, too. I've learned to download this stuff with him--I usually know what to do but don't know the Tech Language--he does (I remember the kids laughing hysterically when I thought to boot a machine meant to reprogram it--why don't they just say "press the power button"? Thank God for the Dummies Book Glossary ). Liz

[bar5]

Hey Liz:

Don't feel bad. When I first started, someone asked me about a browser. Don't remember the question exactly, but asked "What's a browser?"

I got one of those Idiot books and learned from that. Had no idea what a forum was.

I'm sure glad I found them. Some really nice people have helped me.

Barb

[Flatiron]

Javacool Software Knowledge Base

A lot of info about SpywareBlaster here.

Wilders Security Forums - SpywareBlaster & Other Forum

I have used this for about 6 months now and it just adds more protection to SpywareBlaster

The Custom Blocking List is updated about once a month or so.

So bookmark this site if you decide to use it!

http://freehost03.websamba.com/customblock...dex.html?04list

If you do not currently have/use a Custom Blocking list:

Using a plain text editor (Notepad works fine) create/open a new file, copy & paste the indicated section into it (note the two blank lines at the bottom), name it "customblocking.txt" (without the quotes) and save it to the directory that has the SpywareBlaster executable in it (usually the C:\Program Files\SpywareBlaster directory).

Load SpywareBlaster, click on TOOLS, click on CUSTOM BLOCKING, after the list loads (this could take several seconds) right-click in the text box and click SELECT ALL from the popup menu, click on the PROTECT AGAINST CHECKED ITEMS button. The red entries will change to black indicating protection has been enabled. Close SpywareBlaster. That's it, you're done!

*If you already have a customblocking.txt file in that folder, then this one will replace it, so say YES to the popup.

Just 1 of the threads where I found out about the Custom Blocking List and am a member here.

http://forum.worldstart.com/showthread.php?t=60253

----------------------------------------------------------

A wealth of information on many

of the spyware items that

SpywareBlaster protects against

can be accessed here:

http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/

OR (for other great Spyware-

related information and

resources)

http://www.spywareinfo.com

----------------------------------------------------------

Comments/suggestions/bug reports can be posted on the Wilders Security forums at:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php?board=34

Prevent Spyware from being installed

http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm

[tg1911]

blim,

Here's a good tutorial to installing, and setting up, Spywareguard.

[blim]

Hi Flatiron and Tg,

Thanks for all the links!! Been looking through them as I get time---there's a lot to learn. pretty soon Son will be done with school and I can kick him off the idiot box if he's playing games Liz