have to keep re-enabling Blaster

[genihanna]

It seems as though every time I do a restart I have to re-enable Spyware Blaster. Why?

Also I just ran Ad-Aware SE and it detected 11 critical objects - so what the heck do Spyware Blaster and Guard do? I thought they prevented spyware!:(

[ThunderZ]

-{ Quote: "It seems as though every time I do a restart I have to re-enable Spyware Blaster. Why?" }-

Sounds like you may have a problem. Some of the bad guys target anti-spyware apps. This could be your problem with SW. Did you run Ad-Aware in safe mode? After running it and allowing it to remove the critical objects did you run it again to make sure that it had? If they are gone then I would suggest disabling all protection in SW. Un-install it, then re-install, update it and see what happens.

-{ Quote: "Also I just ran Ad-Aware SE and it detected 11 critical objects - so what the heck do Spyware Blaster and Guard do? I thought they prevented spyware!:(" }-

Not all anti-spyware products catch all of the bad things all the time. That is why a layered approach, multiple programs are suggested.

You are also talking about 2 different kinds of protection. SW & SG are real time protection, pro active. Much like an anti-virus. Where in the case of Ad-Aware, re-active, it can only detect things after the fact when a scan is run.

[Bubba]

While I definetly can not disagree with ThunderZ that "bad guys target anti-spyware apps"....I would ask that before going to the extremes of an un-install\re-install of Spywareblaster that we take a moment and get some of our usual Support questions asked first Please :-\

-{ Quote: "It seems as though every time I do a restart I have to re-enable Spyware Blaster. Why?" }-The important question would be which protection of Spywareblaster are you having to re-enable after re-start ?

If it is the Internet Explorer ActiveX protection....does this user have Admin priveligies if this is a NT(2000\XP) operating system. ?

-{ Quote: "I just ran Ad-Aware SE and it detected 11 critical objects" }-Considering Adaware reports tracking cookies as Critcal Objects....it would be very important to know what those 11 objects were.

[genihanna]

Hi Bubba and all! I'm sorry I did not check here earlier. Tonight I ran AdAware nd it found 20 critical (tracking cookies) objects - several are repeats! (That's what really bugs me - despite all of this security, how in the heck can these creeps keep getting through and how are they allowed - I just don't get it! :)

You asked about the previous 11, but here are the current 20 (yes, I verified that they were "removed") here they are: zedo.com; xml.bravenetmedianetwork.com; tribalfusion.com; realmedia.com; rccl.bridgetrack.com; questionmarket.com; mercury.bravenet.com; media.adrevolver.com/adrevolver; hitbox.com; fastclick.net; ehg-commjun.hitbox.com; casalemedia.com; bravenet.com; bluestreak.com (106 hits!); apmebf.com; advertising.com; ads.revsci.net/adserver; ads.pointroll.com; adrevolver.com; and finally, 2o7.net.

I hate them all! LOL I'm joking, but they are such a hindrance. i have to endure the bravenet-related ones, because I have my websites there. But the other ones really "try" my patience (or lack thereof!)

[ThunderZ]

If you are using IE as your browser, please see post #6 of this thread. http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=758795#post758795 Give it a try for a few days and see if it dose`t at least cut down on the cookies Ad-Aware finds.

[Bubba]

Even tho only half of those URL's are contained in Spywareblasters cookie database....it should be blocking those items if you are using IE\Mozilla\Firefox as a browser and have that protection selected. So one question is what browser are you using that Adaware is finding these tracking cookies ?

Since tracking cookies(3rd party cookies) are nothing more than .txt files that have no adverse effect on your browsing if blocked....I would suggest you consider blocking all 3rd party cookies in the browser you use. There would then be no need for an extra layer of protection concerning tracking cookies.

Links of interest:

Why do other anti-spyware applications detect so many more tracking cookies? (http://www.spybot.info/en/faq/37.html)

Privacy and third-party cookies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie#Privacy_and_third-party_cookies)