Why can't Spybot find anything on my computer?

[gypsyman]

I have ran updated versions of Adaware and Spybot for the past several months.. Lately, Spybot can't find a single item. I then run Adaware and it finds all kinds of items. Is Spybot a trial or crippled program that expires in some fashion? Thanks for any help.

 

[Budman]

adaware is just probably finding cookies that spybot doesnt search for.

 

[gypsyman]

Thanks Budman. The odd thing is that for the last few scans, I use Spybot first. Not a single hit. Then I go to Adaware and it finds 20 items. It used to be that when I ran them consecutively, that they would each find a fair amount. Now Spybot comes up empty everytime. Something is wrong. Tonight I had not run a scan for 5 days. I ran Spybot and nothing. I ran Adaware and 19 items..

 

[Super56K]

I get that a lot with spybot too recently. I think it's just because adaware seems to update more frequently than spybot. On my last system scan last week I had updated both of them and only adaware picked up some stuff. Another little quirk I have with spybot is that it always takes a little while to scan. Adaware is usually done in under a minute or so, but spybot takes 3-4 on average i'd say.

 

[vshah]

you sure you updated spybots search files?

 

[Sid59]

adaware gets cookies. ... you can prolly get 10-15 cookies in 10 minutes of surfing.

nothing to be alarmed about.

 

[eBauer]

Something definately fishy is going on here. I too would usually would get 5-10 entries a day in spybot, but the past 4-5 weeks spybot has yet to find one thing... Comes up emtpy everytime. While adaware on the other hand, still catches 5-10 a day just like spybot used to.

 

[ParatoOptimal]

I agree something seems odd.

I used to find that Spybot found things that Adaware didn't.

So, I stopped using Adaware.

If I do a clean install of an OS or I remount an old ghost image of an OS partition, Spybot finds things for a week or two.

After that, I simply get, "Congratulations". It finds nothing.

I've got to reload Adaware and maybe Bazooka.

 

[amnesiac]

Some magazine/website did a comparison against the two.

In a single pass, both did very well. Ad-aware found more files, all of them minor (cookies, etc.)

Running one after the other showed that both missed a "few" files.

Overall? Ad-aware worked better.

Best solution? run both!

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: amnesiac

Best solution? run both!

why stop there?


Run CWS smartkiller removal tool

Run CWShredder check for updates and run

Run Spyware blaster and keep spyware from being installed, update first then apply the new ones
NOTE: if spyware blaster says msvbvm60.dll is missing, install this or if it says MSCOMCTL.OCX cannot be found, install this

Install IE-SPYAD, Spyadd is similar to spyware blaster, except its a registry patch, and serves to block many attempts at hijacking, unauthorized installation of spyware, script based popups and bad cookies. IE-SPYAD is updated about once a month, so check with them often. You should run both spywareblaster and SPYAD.

for even more protection, try spyware guard, it functions much like zonealarm, except for spybots, with an item in your tray, and will help in real-time spyware protection.
NOTE: if spyware guard says msvbvm60.dll is missing, install this or if it says MSCOMCTL.OCX cannot be found, install this


you should be safer running all 7

 

[eBauer]

This sheds some light on the situation...


http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=11499

So much for the ppl that thought nothing was up...