HELP! Spy Bot1.4 keeps scanning clean?

[Newbiegrl]

Hi can anyone help me out?...I'm having a problem with Spy Bot Search n Destro 1.4,every single time i do a scan it comes back clean with no threats?.I find this od because when i had the other version of Spy Bot1.3.tx something like that..it worked perfectly!(and stopped the DSL exploits).But I was informed to upgrade that version to 1.4 which i just did i've ran it over a week now and it keeps scanning clean,but thats not right?.And my e-mail is filling up with all theese advertisement companies obviously tracking my internet searches due to e-mails I keep seeing.what should i be doing to resolve my issue?...Should I just reinstall the other version I was using the 1.3.1 TX ? any info would be great thanks

 

[ThePenguinCometh]

There are a few possibilities here.

First off it may just be that there are no threats occurring, granted this is unlikely. You should double-check by using a second or even third program which is a good idea any on general principles.

Second, did you get the program from a trusted source? It is possible that the program itself has been "altered" in some way, especially if it was downloaded from a non-official site.

If you did get the file from a reputable site then you could try un-installing it and re-installing it again. Also make sure you update the definitions for the program.

Lastly, though this is an extreme situation, you may have a particularly malicious virus called a rootkit which hides deeper inside the computer than most anti-spyware or anti-virus programs can normally reach. Do you have good AV and firewall software installed? If not, then that's a possibility (even if you then it's still possible but much more unlikely). If this is so then the only sure way to get rid of it is with a full re-intall but as I said this is an extreme situation only to be resorted to if nothing else shows up. Try the ideas above and let me know how it goes.

 

[zRoCkIsAdDiCtInG]

first of all i'd recommend for you to uninstall spybot and download microsoft antispyware beta. Spybot only caught 50% of spyware in most tests. the beta is awesome, and free on a 165 day trial that seemingly keeps extending

second DSO exploit is a common error, through updates it should have been corrected

 

[Anti-Trend]

first of all i'd recommend for you to uninstall spybot and download microsoft antispyware beta...

Alright, I would strongly disagree, and recommend that you instead suppliment Spybot S&D with AdawareSE and Spyware Blaster. It's true that by itself Spybot S&D is not 100% effective, but it's free and it's gotten a lot more advanced since those reviews were published. Same goes with Adaware. And Spyware Blaster can protect and immunize your system against many types of spyware as well.

In addition, if you use Microsoft Internet Explorer as your default web browser, you are quite vulnerable to reinfection. I would recommend Firefox as an alternative. It's a great browser with many cool and useful features not found in IE, such as built-in pop-up blocking (must have), tabbed browsing (very cool), and skinnability (to change its appearance). Most importantly, its design naturally resists spyware and virus infection and can provide a quite satisfying browsing experience.

This all being said, I'm not thoroughly convinced that your junk email problem has anything to do with spyware at this point. If you're getting your mail through an email client such as Outlook or Outlook Express, I'd replace your existing email client with Thunderbird. It's fast, sleek, easy to use, and has intelligent spam filters that can help significantly reduce the amount of spam you have to deal with. Even better, it can detect both false positives and junkmail that may slip by undetected by learning from your behavior. A very good, very advanced and free email client.

 

[zRoCkIsAdDiCtInG]

true though, i kind of held back on that, adaware often catches what spybot does not

i just replaced spybot with m-AS-b and still kept adaware

and I agree with AT, the mozilla browser and email client are some of if not the fastest apps for their purpose. firefox is rapidly becoming more popular, contributing fans in the millions

 

[max12590]

Erm, IE has pop-up blocker too, but anyways, install Spybot, Adaware, and MS Spyware. Make sure you get them from the right websites, I have found numerous imitators that are actually spyware. And with the rootkits, if she did actually have one, I seriously doubt an AV program would find it, they are incredibly nasty little things and are nearly impossible to find and more so to remove. Also, I don't doubt that your browsing habits are being tracked, mine probably are too. the fact is that deep in many of those privacy policies and terms of service that nobody reads they actually clearly say we will sell your email address and your browsing habits. This is completely legal due to 2 things, 1, you agree to this, and 2, SPYACT, which is actually an acronym for something but it is a law that *bans* spyware, but actually makes it legal through defining it, i.e. anything not called spyware by it is legal. Anyways, Get the 3 mentioned anti-spyware apps, get a good anti spam program, start reading the terms of service, and get pissed off at the U.S. Government for legalizing spyware (They are also in the process of doing the same thing for spam).

 

[Anti-Trend]

Erm, IE has pop-up blocker too, but anyways, install Spybot, Adaware, and MS Spyware. Make sure you get them from the right websites, I have found numerous imitators that are actually spyware. And with the rootkits, if she did actually have one, I seriously doubt an AV program would find it, they are incredibly nasty little things and are nearly impossible to find and more so to remove. Also, I don't doubt that your browsing habits are being tracked, mine probably are too. the fact is that deep in many of those privacy policies and terms of service that nobody reads they actually clearly say we will sell your email address and your browsing habits. This is completely legal due to 2 things, 1, you agree to this, and 2, SPYACT, which is actually an acronym for something but it is a law that *bans* spyware, but actually makes it legal through defining it, i.e. anything not called spyware by it is legal. Anyways, Get the 3 mentioned anti-spyware apps, get a good anti spam program, start reading the terms of service, and get pissed off at the U.S. Government for legalizing spyware (They are also in the process of doing the same thing for spam).

If I've ever read a post that didn't contribute anything, this is it. Nobody likes spyware, it's not a question of whether or not it's legal. Also, Firefox does not track your browsing habits, as it is open source software -- this means everybody has access to the source code, and those that work on it (mostly volunteers) would not let that happen. As for IE having pop-up blocking, yes, there are 3rd-party programs that will provide this functionality, but it is not a feature of IE at all. Pop-up blocking, along with all of the other features I've mentioned, are built-in features of Firefox, not plugins (although you can further expand the functionality of Firefox using plugins).

 

[ThePenguinCometh]

Speaking of tracking your browsing habits I don't know if you guys have ever seen this article. I've tested the theory given here on about a dozen machines running various flavours of Windows and IE and have not yet failed to find the files mentioned. Yet another reason to switch to Firefox.