Spybot Search and Destroy

Viruses and worms
1

Spybot Search and Destroy freezes my computer when I try to run it. It also takes forever, so I uninstalled it. I also uninstalled Zone Alarm and replace it with Comodo Firewall.
Is the AVG rootkit really the only other thing that I need?

Ro Ro

2

I would say you have a problem with Spybot S&D as this isn’t a heavy resource user, also I recommend that you pause the standard shield whilst doing scans with other security scans. This avoids duplicate scanning as avast will be trying to scan the files that S&D opens to scan and should speed the overall scan duration up.

However I don’t rate S&D that highly these days and I have taken it off my system, with AdAware and AVG anti-spyware you shouldn’t really need S&D.

I also don’t think you need AVG-rootkit either as it is a specialist tool that would only be used (on-demand scan) when you suspect a rootkit infection. There is no problem keeping a copy but it is regularly updated and you would want the latest version if you suspected a rootkit infection.

Look at my signature and it is much lighter than yours. I also believe windows defender could also be getting in on the act when running S&D, you could have multiple applications all trying to open and scan files because another application is trying to open and scan it. So I’m not totally surprised that the scan is slow.

3

Thanks David,
I do shut down Avast when using Spybot to scan, and Windows defender scans at 2 AM. Spyware Blaster is the only other application that scans in the background. I have always had some problems with Spybot so am glad to be rid of it.
As I haven’t installed AVG-Rootkit yet, I won’t add it to the mix. All I seem to get are tracking cookies anyway. Avast has been great. No viruses for a couple of years.

RoRo
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4

Your welcome.

SpywareBllaster doesn’t scan either in the background or foreground, it is a passive application that immunises by blocking certain urls.

5

I suggest both AVG Antirootkit and AVG antispyware (free version) to run on-demand, from time to time.

6

Just one more question. I used AVG-rootkit and when I did a thorough scan, it came up with C/Recycler/NPROTECT files. 1502 of them. Since they are hidden files and we have to be careful of deleting them, what should I do?

Ro Ro

7

This is a remnant of a Norton product (SystemWorks according to some google hits) a protected recycle bin.
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/nprotect/

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/security/Content/2006.01.10.html

If you have system works no problem, if you have removed it, this link will be a good read.
How To: Remove NPROTECT folder after deletion of System Works

8

I do have Norton Systemworks, although I don’t have Norton Antivirus anymore. Thanks for the information. I will just leave things as they are.

Ro Ro

9

So, don’t try to remove that files. That files are hidden (legit) by Norton Unerase (a part of Norton SystemWorks).

10

Your welcome, no more tricky than doing a google search for NPROTECT.

You may want to investigate periodically emptying the protected recycle bin 1502 files and counting (certainly old files), that could amount to a big chunk of disk space.

11

Besides what David said, you can shorten the size of the protected recycle byn into Norton settings.

12

I do use Norton GoBack when necessary and still have quite a bit of disk space, so I will leave the files for now. I will search for a way to shorten the size of the protected recycle bin in Norton Settings.
Thank you for your feedback. I never do any deleting of files anymore without asking at this great forum.

Ro Ro