Recommended Spyware/adware/anti-virus Software

[Wiz]

Spyware Doctor is amazing imo. The new version also comes with a free version of their anti-virus, although am not sure how good that is, only just installed it.

I've also just started to use pctools's free firewall. It seems ok but the only problem is that my pc keeps giving me a security alert saying that I have no firewall installed when I have. Does anyone reckon there is summink wrong with that? I thought it should surely recognize the pctools firewall?

Wiz :wink:

[Scribb|e]

If it's XP you're on about, then it's 'Security Centre' doesn't recognize a lot of firewalls and anti-virus programs, even though they're installed and working just fine.

[Wiz]

If it's XP you're on about, then it's 'Security Centre' doesn't recognize a lot of firewalls and anti-virus programs, even though they're installed and working just fine.

Cheers mate yeah it's XP, I was just a tad worried to whether it was working right or not. I've always used Mcafee in the past but their new AIO Suite is a bit cack, more like Norton and drains the hell outta ya memory so I thought I'd try summut new.

Wiz

[pete3867]

spyware doctor is the best one

and the best anti virus is NOD 32

Edited July 24, 2007 by pete3867

[180]

Host files are good at blocking shite from getting on your pc , they are free small text files that use no resources , there are a few different ones about but this ones good. http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm . Spybot , Adaware etc wont't find much/anything if you use one.

Another useful security thing you may want to consider if use Internet explorer is , in the top tool bar of ie click on , tools > internet options > advanced and under browsing untick > enable third party browser extensions then scroll down and under security make sure that > do not save encrypted pages to disk is ticked , click > apply> ok when done

Hope this helps.

[FaithJones]

HELP HELP HELP

Disaster - went on the Internet yesterday everything going fine - boom my laptop freezes so I turn it off and turn it back on

Everything is fine then after 30 minute ~Boom computer freezes

So I turn it off and back on ran spyware at this point coz I'm getting worried - I have 101 trojan and can't get them off with the anti spyware I have - the good one doesn't detect them and the one I can't afford does but doesn't remove then (It a 30 month free trial thing I was testing out).

And it's slowly killing my hard drive - now when I turn it on The start menu and the desktop icons doesn't come up I have to do everything threw task manager

Can any one help I need a free spyware, that will detect trojen and viruses and will get rid of them at the same time.

I'm using advance windowscare V2, spyware terminator (actually really good) and PC tools.

It turns out my firewall was dis activated for 30 minute and some how I just got attack

Like I said before any help would be much appreciated

[BushDoctoR]

i passed those sheilds up tests

my security is.....

McAfee security centre

adaware & spybot

firefox with noscript

[Scribb|e]

If that's the 'Shields Up' test at grc.com, that just tests your firewall to check that its dropping unsolicited incoming connections - nothing more.

[Davyboy]

Try Trend micro housecall,this usually sorts it out. Free online scanner and cleaner,always works for me.

[deepchord]

I.T. Geek here. Symantec Client Security, adaware se pro (latest adaware sucks) and tracks eraser pro. Eraser 5.84 set to guttmann algorithm (35 passes) for deleting and single pass pseudorandom data erasing free space every night. Spy Sweeper is good but very resource intensive these days.

Unfortunately the only way to ensure that data cannot be recovered, even after all these measures, is to take a big friggin' hammer to the disk.

Please PM me if you want to know a good place to get all this sort of stuff.

[Scribb|e]

Symantec Client Security...

Unfortunately the only way to ensure that data cannot be recovered, even after all these measures, is to take a big friggin' hammer to the disk.

Not true - all drives from about 20GB onwards (starting with Seagate) have a Secure Erase function built into the firmware/hardware (information and program available here), and not only is it quick, no-one's going to be reading any data from that drive once it's been Secure Erased.

I recommend a read of this document, Drive-Independent Data Recovery: The Current State-of-the-Art, to get a handle on what the score is with data recovery these days.

If you're that paranoid, and really want to do somthing about it, I'd suggest using something decent like the great, free, open-source TrueCrpyt to transparently & v. securely encrpyt any partitions you want to keep private. (Hell, even encrpyt your OS drive and your swap/page file if you want. )

Welcome to UK420, BTW.

Edited January 30, 2008 by Scribble

[deepchord]

Symantec Client Security...

Unfortunately the only way to ensure that data cannot be recovered, even after all these measures, is to take a big friggin' hammer to the disk.

Not true - all drives from about 20GB onwards (starting with Seagate) have a Secure Erase function built into the firmware/hardware (information and program available here), and not only is it quick, no-one's going to be reading any data from that drive once it's been Secure Erased.

I recommend a read of this document, Drive-Independent Data Recovery: The Current State-of-the-Art, to get a handle on what the score is with data recovery these days.

If you're that paranoid, and really want to do somthing about it, I'd suggest using something decent like the great, free, open-source TrueCrpyt to transparently & v. securely encrpyt any partitions you want to keep private. (Hell, even encrpyt your OS drive and your swap/page file if you want. )

Welcome to UK420, BTW.

Growing... just learning... IT... Sorry m8 been at it 20 years (WANG 8" floppies anyone?). Thanks for the welcome

Nothing can be erased from a disk. Go and look up Gutmann algorithm, that's as secure as it gets; way beyond D.O.D standards and computer forensic peeps can use what can be described as a "digital lathe" to strip down through the microns on a hard disk to extract data that has been overwritten hundreds if not thousands of times.

The reason i use symantec corporate (SCS 10.1.6.0000) is that it never needs a license. That in conjunction with adaware, and of course firefox, give me reasonable protection. My tracks eraser pro erases all my temp internet data with 10 passes every time i close firefox (and data from any other apps where the plug-in is loaded) I use eraser as it uses the gutmann algorithm (35 passes of pseudorandon data) just to wipe my data ass so to speak. I do not wish to be blase about the "secure erase" function but i am going to be... I do not need to look it up as it is bollocks! It takes about 20 hours to do a 35 pass gutmann on a 500GB SATA II. If the old bill come kicking your door in the only way to render your hard drive unreadable in 30 seconds is to petrol bomb your PC and kick 19 different colours of shit out of your hard drive with a very large sledgehammer. Since i am not an international terrorist such as the Jackal (Ilyich Ramirez Sanchez) my moderate protection is enough and keeps my machine relatively kak free. (got to love the dutch) Did you know that the term poppycock comes from the dutch Pape Kak, meaning soft shit? fascinating.

If anyone would like the address of a nice friendly forum where they can satiate their needs for software then pm me.

[deepchord]

Just to prattle on a bit more... all encryption is preventative. Nothing more. It is just a matter of scale. If you have the processing power all encryption can be cracked eventually. To break triple DES or 256 bit AES encryption you would need many thousand machines and many years... but they can be broken.

And...

If you are a conspiracy theorist then encryption is no use because big brother has all the keys.

[Wiz]

I used to have a program that shredded my crap with the gutmann method. I think it was the old McAfee 2006 but not sure. Used to get 3 options.. standard - 3 passes... ministry of defense - 7 passes... Gutmann method - 10 passes. Anything important always went through the Gutmann method. Took bloody ages but I felt safe.

What other programs out there use this method deepchord?

[deepchord]

I used to have a program that shredded my crap with the gutmann method. I think it was the old McAfee 2006 but not sure. Used to get 3 options.. standard - 3 passes... ministry of defense - 7 passes... Gutmann method - 10 passes. Anything important always went through the Gutmann method. Took bloody ages but I felt safe.

What other programs out there use this method deepchord?

10 passes would not have been the full Gutmann algorithm. Gutmann is 35 passes of pseudorandom data and takes a bloody long time. Eraser 5.8 does the job (free). I schedule it to do one pass every night on free disk space on my laptop, pc and servers, (not gutmann so it finishes at 5:00AM). When i delete sensitive files with eraser it is set to use gutmann. You can set up eraser to use gutmann on file and folder deletes and single pass on free disk space in a schedued task (and there's a few in between: D.O.D 7 pass etc). I can thoroughly recommend tracks eraser pro for basic clean up at browser shutdown, pm me for where to obtain. Norton gets a lot of flak, and deservedly so, but the corporate arm (symantec) products are ok. They do not need activated or a license key as they are sold on trust to companies who license per seat. Let me know if you want links for a friendly forum with a veritable cornucopia of warez and other stuff. There are other eraser utes that use gutmann. If i am decomming a customer's scsi drives and they are going to be re-used (so I can't smash the shit out of them) I'll use a boot cd with a dos based ute on it that uses gutmann. (hiren's boot cd - essential tools).