I have been using Ad-Aware SE for sometime now, but it never detects anything for me other than cookies. I don’t know if its due to a limit in the adware/spyware signatures that it has, or whether it is because the program has some how been altered. Even after re-installing the program, it has never detected anything for me inspite other programs showing that I have had spyware
Is there anyway I can download a safe file to test whether my program can detect an adware/spyware contained in its definitions? I’m looking for the adware/spyware equivalent of something like EICAR’s anti-virus test file
I will trust more in Ad-aware than some other programs that promisse a lot and show just false positives.
Anyway, to be sure, can you post the name and the path of other ‘infected’ files with spyware that your seeing in your computer?
I, personally, don’t know how to test specifically an antispyware and will follow your thread to learn too 8)
By keeping your system, OS, etc. up to date, using an alternative browser to IE, exercising common sense/safe hex, you are less likely to get hit by malware so adaware may have little to detect.
I also use Spybot Search & Destroy, SpywareBlaster in conjunction with adaware and I can’t remember the last time I got any adware/spyware on my system, but I still have them and keep them up to date.
As you can see from the left-side of my post, I am an
advocate of the Ad-Aware Support forums . If you are
interested in keeping cookies OFF your machine, so that
even Ad-Aware will not detect them, consider installing a
“cookie manager”, such as the good & FREE “CookieWall”
available from www.analogx.com .
I hope those “other” programs that detect spyware are
NOT listed as a “rogue/suspect” product on the highly
regarded : www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm .
I just had an experience of following the recommendation
of an Editor of PCmag and installed “Spy Catcher-Express”;
after installing, updating, & running its most through
scan, it “quarantined” “CWS.Homesearch”,“DotCom
Toolbar”, & “Home Watcher”; after running a HijackThis
scan, none of these are in my machine. Certainly sounds
like the characterics of a “suspect” product to me .
Spiritsongs, can you really guide us, giving your opinion, about detection of antispywares?
You know more than us… can you give us some light into the marketing darkness, false promisses, bloatwares, suspect products market? At least, talk about Ewido, a-squared, Microsoft Antispyware, Trojan Hunter, SpyBot, SpywareBlaster, Bazooka…
Are they enough? Any of them could be ‘dismissed’?
When you’ve got time to do it for us…
Thanks.
As you can see from the left-side of my post, I am an