SCI/TECH: Microsoft Offers Anti-Spyware

Plagued by pop ups? Spyware got you down? Tired of searching for free anti-spyware and removal tools? Spending a lot of time removing and cleaning up spyware? If you use the internet, chances are you have experienced the misery of fighting this constant attack on you and your family. There may now be a light at the end of the tunnel if you're a Microsoft fan. Microsoft has started allowing downloads of their new BETA anti-spyware software. While this is just the beta release, hopefully, this will begin the first big push to help relieve our nightmares of spyware and pop ups forever.



I have no information on how well this beta will work. As with all software there is the possibility that it will cause some other problems, thus the beta release. However, I for one will be testing this. I am sick and tired of removing spyware from my pc's, and fighting those pop ups. In case you are interested, I have provided the link to Microsoft's Anti-spyware beta download and information page below. I do suggest that you read the FAQ, particuarly about the system requirements, and known issues before installation.

Related News Links:
Microsoft.com
Microsoft.com
Microsoft.com



[edit on 8-1-2005 by Banshee]

So far I've actually heard more good than about about this software. A fellow php developer I talk to said when he ran it that it picked up more items than Ad-Aware did, which suprised me greatly. I wonder if we can expect to see this integrated into the next Service Pack for Windows?

Coroprate business = Offer people an insecure product, instead of fixing it, get another product and charge people again for fixing something that should be fixed for free in the 1st place.

Anyway, I ran it and it turned up nothing more than Adaware apart from thinking Emule (and Ive also seen shareaza cause the same) was spyware, so for me it was worse than Spybot or Adaware. You really have to watch out for false positives with this program.

The better option is to dump IE and your spyware will drop to nothing.

If Micorosoft would make IE more secure and less vulnerable they wouldn�t have to come up with it. With this they have another product to sell...
Use Firefox and you will see allready less pop-ups and less # is coming on your PC aswell.
Of course Firefox has its problems aswell, ie. not all websites are made for it. But still, it is worth the effort to change. Or try it out.
The question that also comes in mind with Microsoft again is what else is in the SW...
And that it finds more than ad aware and other progs i doubt..
If you are a little carefull with what you do, then you won�t find much spyware.
Btw. There excists a program now that bundles a few spyware progs.
--->hitman.pro till now only in Dutch, but you only have to install it and run. Note that the version of spysweeper is only a trial though. But still nice done. If someone wants to try it out and doesnt understand something, feel free to send me a pm.

Unfortunettly, since Microsoft is the target of many creators of these spyware programs, I'm not going to use a product that those programmers will be using as a standard to break. 3rd party software is always the way since the majority of spyware is made for Windows, and they get more clever at finding exposed spots in this OS. Goes to show how easily these computers were my to be accessed, well at least thoughs running on windows.

I installed the beta version. It is a program known as Giant. I have found that it works pretty well, by comparing results with Spybot and Ad-aware.

The Microsoft version found a number of adware programs and quaranteened them, while both Spybot and ad-aware ignored them. Ad-aware is good at finding tracking cookies.

I have Spyware Blaster installed as well.

I recommed all of the se programs.

microsoft is known to make programs that report home on a regular basis. has anyone seen any attempts by this program to do the same?

This is also discussed on ATS here, to tie the two articles together:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I'm interested to see what others who have downloaded it have to say. Before I install a FIFTH anti-spyware program:
SpyBot
Ad-aware
WinPatrol
SpywareBlaster

Pity it's necessary. And, before all the atit-microsoft people get on board, if the alternatives were as widely used, they'd probably have the same attack risks.
Why attack something that doesn't have the potential for lots of damage and/or drama?

[edit on 10-1-2005 by DontTreadOnMe]

Here's another article about the new microsoft anti-spyware:

Though still in beta, Microsoft AntiSpyware was able to detect more infected files than the current leading anti-spyware applications in the market today, Ad-Aware and SpyBot S&D. AntiSpyware’s user interface is better looking than both SpyBot and Ad-Aware, not to mention much easier to use than SpyBot. Though Microsoft AntiSpyware was able to use better detection than both Ad-Aware and SpyBot, there is still the difference of cost between the three. Ad-Aware and SpyBot offer great performance for free, yet when Microsoft debuts its AntiSpyware application, it will require a subscription fee. Is Microsoft AntiSpyware really worth the subscription fee when there are currently good spyware removal applications out there that will do it for free? My answer to that question would be, if you can afford the fee, it is absolutely worth it; however, if you chose to use Microsoft AntiSpyware as your spyware removal tool, you will still need to run other tools such as Ad-Aware and SpyBot.

www.flexbeta.net...
(this site also has a forum with a topic on the new tool)

Depending on how much the subscription will be, I may not go with M$ tool. Unless, of course I find a GGOOD free firewall/anti-virus set-up

I'm guessing this news won't surprise many people.

Microsoft is investigating an attack on its new anti-spyware system.

A spokesman says a malicious program known as Bankash-A Trojan tries to turn off or delete Microsoft's spyware removal tool, and suppress warning messages.
.....
It recommends users who believe they might be infected use other antivirus software to try to remove it.

New trojan attacks Microsoft's anti-spyware tool

I may be stuck with windows for the moment (98, I won't give them a penny more), but they are the last people I would trust the security of my system to.

They make the problem then offer your a product to fix it

I also find it ironic that MS have lots of spyware themselves, two example are media player reports back after you play something and all your IE history is stored in dat files which cannot be deleted. It doesnt matter if you delete your history and cache, they can still track where youve been.

Originally posted by Duzey

Microsoft is investigating an attack on its new anti-spyware system.

A spokesman says a malicious program known as Bankash-A Trojan tries to turn off or delete Microsoft's spyware removal tool, and suppress warning messages.
.....
It recommends users who believe they might be infected use other antivirus software to try to remove it.

New trojan attacks Microsoft's anti-spyware tool

Norton issued a virus definition for this trojan day before yesterday.


securityresponse.symantec.com...

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Norton issued a virus definition for this trojan day before yesterday.

Thanks for the info. I have been having real problems with Norton, and am changing away from it, so I didn't see that. I am constantly having to fix that stupid program, every 4 months or so, it gets corrupted. Sigh, time to format again.

I have had problems with mine getting corrupted also, but it has been quite awhile since that happened. It also helps to download virus definitions from this site as often as they are released, which is virtually daily.

securityresponse.symantec.com...

Norton gets the job done for me. I trust it, as long as I keep those definitions current.

The corruption issues are my only problem, the protection level seems to work for me. Now that I have ADSL finally, I have it set to update daily, so I will hold off on changing, perhaps I will no longer have these problems.

Thanks

microsoft is known to make programs that report home on a regular basis. has anyone seen any attempts by this program to do the same?

This is the beauty of the microsoft antispyware system. The network of users report back and alert the system of new spyware that is not yet blocked. It is in a way spyware but you have to use it to beat it. Also the reason microsoft products are attacked so much is because of their popularity. It's not that any other product is more secure it's just that there are more people out there using microsoft so then the blackhats try to break through it rather than linux or Apple OS. It's a simple system. Attack the king of the hill.

It's not that any other product is more secure it's just that there are more people out there using microsoft so then the blackhats try to break through it rather than linux or Apple OS.

That is the most random crap that i have heard. Document ur theories or don't post. Linux is Inherently more secure than Microsoft. Quit posting crap!!!!

Originally posted by Duzey
Now that I have ADSL finally, I have it set to update daily, so I will hold off on changing, perhaps I will no longer have these problems.

If you think that LiveUpdate will update your computer daily, you should read this. Personally, I don't use safe computing in the sense that I go where I want and let the Firewall and AV software do their jobs, so daily updates are essential.

Who should use the Intelligent Updater

Network administrators who are responsible for many computers, those who have a fast connection, and those who use newsgroups are at extra risk of viruses and other threats. They may want to use the Intelligent Updater. For them, the extra protection is worth manually downloading and installing definitions. The Intelligent Updater is updated daily.

Because the Intelligent Updater must be manually downloaded and run, it is a bit more difficult to use than LiveUpdate. The file that it downloads is also larger in size than the file that is downloaded by LiveUpdate.


service1.symantec.com...

[edit on 05/2/12 by GradyPhilpott]

You can download for free zone alarm firewall. This will allow you to block any outgoing traffic that you do not want leaving your computer. I use that along with nortons antivirus and have not had any problems at all. I use spybot about once a week to check for spyware. If you have boadband you should have a router between you and your isp with nat setup to make it more difficult for someone to penetrate your network. Google has a popup blocker that works pretty darn good called google toolbar.

google toolbar

[edit on 12-2-2005 by cryptorsa1001]