FULL COMPATIBILITY: Windows XP Professional x64-bit Edition

[Dustyn]

Hello my name is Dustyn... (AKA: Dusty)

Does SpywareBlaster 3.5.1 offer complete protection with Windows XP Professional x64-bit Edition? For example, are the blacklisted, tracking cookies, and fraudulent sites placed in the correct registry key in XP64?

XP64 and XP32 uses two different registry keys:

XP64 uses: ESCDOMAINS and ESCRANGES
XP32 uses: DOMAINS and RANGES

I discovered this little problem with IESPYAD not being able to provide protection on an XP64/2003 Server OS. IESPYAD is by default designed to put all the restricted sites into that XP32 registry key. It does not even take into account that XP64 uses DIFFERENT registry key locations! :'(

In effect, I get ZERO bad sites listed in IE7 restricted sites because IESPYAD put all those sites in the wrong REGKEY location!! >:(

So back to the topic at hand...
How does SpywareBlaster 3.5.1 fare at completely protecting an XP64/2003 Server OS?

Thanks for any help you may provide me with. :)
~Dusty~

[Dustyn]

Will investigate further.
Looks like it might just affect IE-SPYAD2 and not IESPYAD.

[Peeved McAfee User]

From the following:
Ad Blocking Resources
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/resource.htm

-{ Quote: "IE-SPYAD (original) vs. IE-SPYAD2

IE-SPYAD comes in two different versions: IE-SPYAD (original) and IE-SPYAD2. IE-SPYAD2 is designed to address two problems that users might encounter: 1) some users might want to install IE-SPYAD on all user accounts on a PC simultaneously; 2) some users (esp. Windows XP users) have reported that the IE-SPYAD block list does not show up in the Restricted sites list of Internet Explorer.

Most users should use the original version (which is downloaded in IE-SPYAD.ZIP and IE-SPYAD.EXE). IE-SPYAD2 (which is downloaded in IE-SPYAD2.ZIP and IE-SPYAD2.EXE) should be used only if there is a compelling need to do so (see below for more information).

IE-SPYAD2 can be downloaded from the same web page as the original IE-SPYAD (see below).

Differences

Both versions of IE-SPYAD install the same block list -- the only difference is the Registry location where that block list is installed.

IE-SPYAD: Installs to...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains

IE-SPYAD2: Installs to...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains

In other words, the original IE-SPYAD installs to the Registry location for the current user of the PC; IE-SPYAD2 installs to the global machine location, thus affecting all users and accounts on the PC.

When to Use

Most users should use the original version of IE-SPYAD. IE-SPYAD2 should be used only if:
The administrator of the machine wants to install the block list simultaneously on all user accounts.
The original IE-SPYAD block list is not appearing as expected in the Restricted sites list for Internet Explorer.
How to Tell the Difference

You can tell the difference between IE-SPYAD (original) and IE-SPYAD2 by opening IE-ADS.REG and inspecting the Registry keys listed. Registry keys that point to HKEY_CURRENT_USER indicate that you're using IE-SPYAD (original). Registry keys pointing to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE indicate that you're using IE-SPYAD2.

Switching Between Versions

If you've been using one version of IE-SPYAD and would like to switch to the other version, make sure that you uninstall the previous version of IE-SPYAD using the uninstaller that came with THAT version of IE-SPYAD. After you've uninstalled the old version, you can install the new version.

Side Effects

When you install IE-SPYAD2 you should be aware of two side effects of using system-wide settings as opposed to user-specific settings for the Restricted sites list.

First, if you've added sites to the Trusted sites zone, the new Restricted sites may not show up in the Restricted sites box (Tools >> Options >> Security). This appears to be a quirk of Internet Explorer. What's happening is that Internet Explorer won't display sites loaded in the HKLM Registry hive (from IE-SPYAD2) if there are sites already loaded in the HKCU hive (from the Trusted sites zone).

Even though the Restricted sites may not display, however, Internet Explorer will still use the block list to restrict sites covered by the list.

Second, one other downside to using system-wide settings is that non-administrator users in Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP may not be able to see and edit the Restricted sites list in Internet Explorer." }-