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Any freeware programs that PREVENT spyware from getting on the computer?

JEDI

JEDI

Lifer
System has:
WinXP Sp3
IE 6.x
Avira antivirus (high level Heuristic detection)
Ad-Aware Anniversary edition
latest security updates

Ad-Aware Anniversary edition has something called ad-watch Live, which is on.

Yet I just cleaned Win32.TrojanD\.\aderNewMedia from their system.

they said they have no idea what they did... sigh..

Are there any programs that catch and PREVENT spyware from getting onto their computer?

THX
 
Get them off IE 6. IE 7 or 8 or Firefox 3.x are all better options.

Set them up with a Limited User account. This will solve 90% of your problems.

Malware Bytes or Super Antispyware are probably better options. You may have to pay for real time protection, though.
 
Drop SP3 while you're at it. Has really turned machines at our business into slugs. Revert to SP2 and run custom updates.
 
Originally posted by: MBony
Drop SP3 while you're at it. Has really turned machines at our business into slugs. Revert to SP2 and run custom updates.
Click to expand...

I've seen no issues with SP3. Your issue may be isolated to your particular environment (combination of hardware and software factors). SP3 isn't much more than a hotfix rollup anyway.
 
Comodo or Online Armor (free version) both offer inbound and outbound firewall protection as well as alerts for any unknown/suspicious program start-ups.

Firefox browser has good basic protection, plus offering additional modules for protection against scripts and blocking adware.

The combination I've found to prevent adware is Firefox + Adblock Plus module and the MVPS Hosts File.

SpywareBlaster is offered with innoculation lists for both IE and Firefox.

All free.

Perhaps Ad-Aware has improved since the last version I installed, but I found it essentially useless.

Hope this helps!
 
Originally posted by: KoolDrew
A limited user account.
Click to expand...

+1.

Also, check the system over with Secunia's free Personal Software Inspector and fix what needs fixing.
 
Dear god, IE6. . . . Once people stop using that, the world will be a better place. IE7 is leagues ahead of IE6 in almost every way, most of all security. I can't wait until people stop installing XP SP1/SP2 without updating to IE7.
 
Spybot Search and Destroy's immunize function and Spyware Blaster's own prevention stuff. Both are free and the combination of the two has worked quite well for all of the people I installed them on and for myself.
 
no issues with SP3 at all on all the machines i've put it on. in fact it seems a bit faster even.

as for the OP, i'd switch to firefox from IE6, and get rid of IE6 and upgrade it for sure!


Originally posted by: MBony
Drop SP3 while you're at it. Has really turned machines at our business into slugs. Revert to SP2 and run custom updates.
Click to expand...

 
No ammount of protection software can stop people in an admin account from clicking on links and says OK. Training and limited access accounts are what is needed.
 
Originally posted by: JEDI
System has:
WinXP Sp3
IE 6.x
Avira antivirus (high level Heuristic detection)
Ad-Aware Anniversary edition
latest security updates

Ad-Aware Anniversary edition has something called ad-watch Live, which is on.

Yet I just cleaned Win32.TrojanD\.\aderNewMedia from their system.

they said they have no idea what they did... sigh..

Are there any programs that catch and PREVENT spyware from getting onto their computer?

THX
Click to expand...

upgrade them to IE8, install firefox with adblock+ add-on
 
IE7/IE8 + Protected Mode and a limited account. Lock up the admin keys until they really need them.

Education would be better though, seeing as they do own the computer and they have no idea what the F they're doing.
 
ThreatFire I'm trying this on a charity box I'm setting up.
Won't be able to tell if it works for a while, but it installs ok and doesn't slow the old box down.
(P3 733).
 
Originally posted by: episodic
I hate to be the linux geek - but if all they do is web/email/lite word processing/ why not ubuntu?
Click to expand...

ditto!
My 64 y/o mother has been running Ubuntu since 5.04! Never had an issue 1.
 
Originally posted by: Muadib
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Originally posted by: KoolDrew
A limited user account.
Click to expand...

+1.
Click to expand...

Not going to work with XP Home. I'd bet money that's what they have.
Click to expand...

Limited accounts are available in WinXP Home, no problem there. It's Software Restriction Policy that got left out of XP Home.

 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Originally posted by: KoolDrew
A limited user account.
Click to expand...

+1.

Also, check the system over with Secunia's free Personal Software Inspector and fix what needs fixing.
Click to expand...

+2.

It helped tons when I finally switched my parents over to limited accounts. Definitely get rid of IE6 though, very vulnerable browser. At least be running an updated IE7, and preferably get them running an alternative browser as their default (with IE7 or 8 for anything that absolutely needs it for compatibility reasons).

Considering their light use (just general browsing, email, and computing not related to the net) there really hasn't even been a need for for any sort of malware protection at all with the more secure setup.
 
I got tired of periodically cleaning my sister's and parents computers of all sorts of malware. Then I replaced XP with Ubuntu. It's been a bliss ever since. My sister even learned to keep her Ubuntu up-to-date and to upgrade the distro. On my parent's PC I set up auto-updates on shut-down and because they live nearby, it hasn't been a problem to visit them to upgrade the distro twice a year.

There has not been a day I have regretted the decision to convert them to Ubuntu. And from what they've told to me, they haven't either. So far the only real problem has been Nokia linux phone support, which is rather retarded. Couldn't get them to work.
 
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