New to SpywareBlaster - questions

[decohelenred]

Hello,

I am not that familiar with these types of programs. I was running XoftSpy but my subscription ran out and I wanted to see if I could find a free download and went to the Kim Commando website and found the link for SpywareBlaster. XoftSpy would run periodically and I would have to opt to remove the selected items. It seems that this just runs in the background? Is there an option to run the program (I know I have spyware that needs to be removed as my XoftSpy would Scan Only). Also do I need an additional Spyware program similiar to XoftSpy that will manually remove Spyware? I did download the SpywareBlaster and read the minimal instructions that accompanied it. Do I need to do anything besides search for updates once a week.

I am not that astute of a techie so would appreciate any help and feedback from those of you who are.

Thank you.

decohelenred

[ghodgson]

Hi There,
Spywareblaster does not scan or remove malware. Nor does it run in the background. The programme sets kill bits in the registry to prevent the installation of certain malware on the PC when using Internet explorer browser.
You will need another antispyware application such as Superantispyware or A squared--both are excellent and scan and remove malware and both are free unless you want real time protection.
Regards Gordon

[decohelenred]

Thank you Gordon for the information.
Decohelenred

[benzmum]

Hi. I've always been mystified by Spywareblaster, though I did install it on my computer because it was recommended. But it never seemed to do anything. Gordon, you said it "sets kill bits in the registry to prevent the installation of certain malware on the PC when using Internet explorer browser." I assume that means these kill bits intercept any malware before it gets on my computer. It doesn't ever make announcements about having just detected malware and destroyed it, though, does it? I guess I wish that would happen. Then I'd know it was actually working.

Does it only do this with IE? I use Firefox most of the time. I see Firefox listed in the software which I've assumed means it's keeping watch over it as well.

Do I need to be doing anything with SpywareBlaster, besides making sure it's updated regularly?

[javacool]

-{ Quote: "Hi. I've always been mystified by Spywareblaster, though I did install it on my computer because it was recommended. But it never seemed to do anything. Gordon, you said it "sets kill bits in the registry to prevent the installation of certain malware on the PC when using Internet explorer browser." I assume that means these kill bits intercept any malware before it gets on my computer. It doesn't ever make announcements about having just detected malware and destroyed it, though, does it? I guess I wish that would happen. Then I'd know it was actually working.

Does it only do this with IE? I use Firefox most of the time. I see Firefox listed in the software which I've assumed means it's keeping watch over it as well.

Do I need to be doing anything with SpywareBlaster, besides making sure it's updated regularly?" }-

Hi,

SpywareBlaster utilizes several different methods to help protect your computer, however all of them are what we call passive protection. It doesn't have to remain constantly in the background, using up CPU time or memory - rather, it uses multiple methods to secure the common entry points against a whole bunch of potentially unwanted software, cookies, sites, etc.

This does mean, however, that unlike "active" forms of protection it cannot alert you in real time.

But the benefits are many, and it couldn't be simpler to keep your protection up-to-date: just ensure you check for updates regularly and enable the latest protection (or get AutoUpdate).

Best regards,

-Javacool

[benzmum]

Thanks, Javacool. I'm now inspired to do updates daily (whereas I was only doing them weekly before).

[letigre]

Regarding the "restricted sites" capability, is there any way
to add sites that give one problems to this list?

[benzmum]

I actually have a new question now (not to detract from yours, letigre):
I've been manually updating SpywareBlaster daily since Javacool explained how it works to me. Today I opened it to do the update and found a message saying that 190 items have "protection disabled." Yesterday there were 0 items with protection disabled. There were also no updates to download yesterday, and there were none today. I certainly didn't visit 190 web pages in the past 24 hours. How in the world would I have acquired 190 unprotected items? Note also that these were all associated with Internet Explorer. I haven't used IE since last week, working exclusively with Firefox, and I'm the only person who has access to my computer. I'm mystified. How does this work?

[Firebytes]

-{ Quote: "I actually have a new question now (not to detract from yours, letigre):
I've been manually updating SpywareBlaster daily since Javacool explained how it works to me. Today I opened it to do the update and found a message saying that 190 items have "protection disabled." Yesterday there were 0 items with protection disabled. There were also no updates to download yesterday, and there were none today. I certainly didn't visit 190 web pages in the past 24 hours. How in the world would I have acquired 190 unprotected items? Note also that these were all associated with Internet Explorer. I haven't used IE since last week, working exclusively with Firefox, and I'm the only person who has access to my computer. I'm mystified. How does this work?" }-

Do you have AVG 8.0? There have been problems between AVG and SpywareBlaster recently. See this (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=212617) thread.

[benzmum]

ahah! Thanks, Firebytes. I looked at the current download version of AVG and it's the same as the one I've got. So if they're going to fix that glitch, maybe it'll happen in one of the updates (which I get daily). At least I know what's happening. Appreciate your help:) .