GameBanshee Forums

I am a bit miffed with all the spyware that seems to be everywhere. I have Kazaa and Netscape 4.71 in my PC. One fine day when I downloaded the latestAd Aware version 5.8, it unearthed spyware by the dozens, which I didn't even know existed until recently!

Admittedly, I am rather laidback (lazy) when it comes to housekeeping, which I do about once a month. Question is, besides running freeware like Lavasoft, is there anyway to stay vigilant against spyware? It seems to permeate reputable utilities, programs and even browsers nowadays. Is privacy a big issue with you or can you bear with it and turn a blind eye?

Presently, I have uninstalled Netscape (and gone to IE 6) and Kazaa (which I am uninstalling for the second time). No music for me.

Kazaa

Gaxx emailed me a patch to remove that spyware on Kazaa sometime ago - I've installed it. But never got opportunity to check using adaware due my PC unstability. if you want I can send it to you

Hmm, check your PM, BGFan. There's good alternatives to Kazaa.

Edit: bah, forget the PM, you can't handle anymore it says.
There is an 100% clean version of Kazaa, however.

@Quark : if what you refering is kazaalite

It is supposed to have
No Adware
No Spyware
No banners
No bitratelimit for mp3 files
No irritating websites loaded into KaZaA
No crappy BDE Viewer
No * Bonzi Buddy
Set up multiple users with the included PseudoTrack tool

Actually I've just got this info from a member of my mailing list, try search for kazaalite using search engine

*been yelled at for putting that up publically before*

@ BGF, was there a problem with the patch I sent you?

Moosoft has a product called "The Cleaner" (somehow, I find that name endearing ) which will seek out Trojans on your computer. The spyware in Kazaa is considered a Trojan by the software and it will remove it but allow Kazaa to still function. The Cleaner is shareware with a 30 day free trial.

Originally posted by Gaxx_Firkraag
@ BGF, was there a problem with the patch I sent you?

Sorry for the late reply, no, no problems. It's just that I still found things that I didn't really like.

Regards.

Originally posted by Gaxx_Firkraag
@ BGF, was there a problem with the patch I sent you?

No, no problems at all with the patch. It's just that I still found things that I didn't really like.

PS Sorry for the late reply.

Regards

There is also Cookie Pal, which easily tracks all the cookies installed in your pc's registry. When you run Ad-aware it presents you with a list of the modules and spywares, and most of them are the same with cookies found by Cookie Pal. If you set Cookie Pal to deny access to certain cookies, there wouldn't be any more spywares stored on your pc.

Cookie Pal is a 30 trial shareware, and then you have to buy it. Don't remember the web page. I think the company is called Kagaroo or something like that. Use a search engine to find it.


Cheers

Originally posted by Aubrey
There is also Cookie Pal, which easily tracks all the cookies installed in your pc's registry. When you run Ad-aware it presents you with a list of the modules and spywares, and most of them are the same with cookies found by Cookie Pal.

Not so. For example, when I visited a $@*$&?&%! website that ran and automatically downloaded the Comet cursor spyware program onto my computer, 28 separate entries were found by Ad-Aware. Only 4 of these were cookies. Most of 'em were a variety of files, including (obviously) a pair of executables. Spyware doesn't simply shoot a cookie onto your machine; otherwise, everything from Google to GameBanshee would be spyware. Spyware introduces a series of files that actually call up a specified web address when you access the web, and "tells" it where you've been and what you've done on the Internet. There are also claims that spyware can pass along sensitive information about computer settings and content, but that seems more open to question.

In any case, to remove spyware requires more than just selectively removing cookies, though that's certainly a good start. Ad-Aware actually sniffs around for the seven or eight major spyware engines that are in use, finds these, and then identifies every part of the offending spyware program. You can choose to remove every bit of it. I've used it for over a year, and been pretty happy with it.

Oookay, Fable. You did put some extra anxiety on me.
I am, too, quite happy with Ad-aware; that's why I have been using it for the last two years.

So, we end up with the conclusion that there is no program in the market to prevent spywares from "entering" your computer in a first place? I mean, without having to do the cleaning afterwards?



Cheers

Perhaps a pop up killer does about the same thing?
I'm not all that technical, just thinking outloud.

Originally posted by Rob-hin
Perhaps a pop up killer does about the same thing?
I'm not all that technical, just thinking outloud.

Pop-up killers aren't quite the same thing. However, you may find programs that do both--kill pop-ups, and stop cookies--as part of a single package. I use WebWasher for that purpose. It also stops animations, scripts, and referrers. It's free, and can be downloaded from http://www.webwasher.com/

I had downloaded WebWasher once, but there was a conflict problem with Explorer and sometimes I couldn't open some web pages... Perhaps it was my fault or, perhaps it was Explorer's fault... I don't know.


Cheers

You might want to see if it works well with or without the "use a proxy server" option checked. Also, be sure to check the program out on the website's test page, which includes several imbedded banners and pop-ups.

I had never checked the "use a proxy server" option, but once. Better results with this option unchecked. I might try to experiment once more.

However, I tend to believe that Explorer often causes problems without my help at all


Cheers

Gator

What is this, and why does it leave a bunch of programs classified as spyware on my computer.

I've recently had a long over due upgrade of my anti-virus software and an improved firewall. Finding the odd trojan wasn't really a surprise, but this Gator really got my blood boiling. It had programs everywhere hidden all over the place...

If you have downloaded a shareware or trial version of GetRight, Gator is coming along. I don't know how it actually works, but this is what happened to me. I think that somehow it was associated with this version of the program.


Cheers

Originally posted by Tamerlane
Gator

It's a password retrieval system that also installs something called Offer Companion, it is freeware which they presume gives them license to install lots of adware on your machine. I think it is IE4+ specific, not a bad program to use but i wonder about the whole adware part of it. I used to have it but i have since chucked it due to my paranoia