I have reposted this from the pinned thread since I was informed it wasn’t for asking particular questions, just general stuff:
Hello
I have Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D, Malwarebytes and Avast!
I have read decent things about Super Anti Spyware & Spyware Blaster & Spyware Doctor, but I have also read some bad things.
I would like it if some people on the Avast forums could let me know if they’ve tried those three and how their results were, particularly on 64bit Vista, as I like to have as many Anti Spyware as possible.
Honestly, Super Anti-Spyware’s name makes me hesitant, I guess that’s silly but I just want confirmation from some other people that they have used these programs with no problems. I read some particularly disturbing things about Spyware Doctor on Wikipedia, which is weird because PCMag seems to say they are great.
In short since I’m always on the lookout for new AntiSpyware, can a few people give me the 411 on these? I would really like to know if they have caused any problems, system crashes, or downright maliciousness.
Just want to make certain there is water in the pool before I jump in
Like others I would prefer malwarebytes & superantispyware as a parallel scanner. Although spybot comes with optional resident protection i would tell don’t select this. It is a resource hog as a resident scanner, but fair for immunization & a parallel scanner. Ad-aware used to a good option but not now. Spyware blaster is good for immunization purpose. Spyware doctor has good detection but is really very much resource hog (i have not tried their new version though) also the free version is for detection only purpose. Another good parallel scanner is A-squared free. Iobit Security 360 used to be a good option but now many will not recommend it. I am personally running 32bit windows xp 512mb ram with malwarebytes and a-squared free as a parallel scanner in my desktop.
one thing i forgot to mention was about the update frequency. MBAM, SAS & A2 (also Iobit) updates more than once a day. Spybot updates 1 or 2 times a week. So, update frequency also suggests those products.
I am definitely going to get SuperAntispyware then. There has been a serious rise in WoW hackings, and even though I have an authenticator I don’t want them stealing any of my info, so I like to be prepared
Just on a side note, I’d like to add that I installed Avast! on my mom and my sister’s computers because they weren’t working right (and of course they just assumed computer is broken so I should buy a new one).
Avast found Trojans on both and, via safe mode and a reboot scan, deleted them.
Then followed up with Malwarebytes and deleted more nasties hiding out
So I really appreciate you guys helping me update my systems. I’m the first line of defense for my whole family since they don’t understand much about computers
I really wish we could do boot scans on 64 bit version though. I look forward to it in the future!
I downloaded the Super Anti Spyware and installed it. It found 12 cookies and removed them.
However then I ran Avast! and it had a list of things it couldn’t scan. This hasn’t happened before.
Has this happened with any of you? What did you do to fix it? It’s obviously related to the Super Anti Spyware. Does this mean Avast is still looking for the cookies that were deleted? I restarted the computer but it reported the same thing upon finishing scanning.
However then I ran Avast! and it had a list of things it couldn't scan. This hasn't happened before.
Quote DavidR:
Files that can’t be scanned are just that, not an indication they are suspicious/infected, just unable to be scanned.
There may also from time to time be other files that ca’t be scaned, the most common is a password protected file. Many programs (usually security based ones) password protect their files for legitimate reasons such as AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy, there are others (and avast doesn’t know the password or have any way of using it even if it did know it).
Yep, in my case, some time back, it used to be about 56 McAfee Files that couldn’t be scanned.
They were remnants from the McAfee Setup File that AOL 9.0 Security Edition automatically loads. Since I no longer used McAfee, I just deleted that McAfee Setup File and no longer see those 56 McAfee Files as not being able to be scanned.
For a while there, also some EPSON Files were showing up as - Cannot Scan.
Eventually that went away. I think maybe eventually one of the later Avast PROGRAM Updates with more efficient Unpackers fixed it to where those EPSON Files COULD be scanned. Well, whatever. They no longer show up.
Thanks all, I found that you are right. These were files locked by SAS quarantine. When I went into quarantine and told it to delete them permanently, I ran another scan with Avast and nothing came up.
So, basically SAS was hiding the cookies it removed from everything else
