SpywareBlaster vs IE-Spyad

[jgollehon]

OK, I really like potential safety the autoupdate feature of SpywareBlaster can provide. However, I'm looking for a product does the best job. I manage the network (8 computers) at my small company and am looking for any easy way to manage the blocked sites settings on the user machines.

What I can't figure out is the difference between SpywareBlaster and IE-Spyad? If they both do the same thing (which is what it seems like), then I would definitely go with SB. Is the only difference the way the database is managed/created? If Spyad is better at managing it's database, then maybe I need to figure out a way to install/update it on the client machines from our server. If SpywareBlaster is better, I would install pay the yearly fee for each machine and be done with it.

Hopefully I can get some unbiased info here.
Any answers are greatly appreciated.

[Blackspear]

Hi Jgollehon, an easy way to manage blocked sites is through Windows Hosts file, very simple and very effective. Setting up a Hosts file is also very simple, navigate to:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

Copy and rename the copy of your current Hosts file to "Hosts OLD"

Download the latest version of HPguru's Hosts file, open up the zip file and copy the contents of "HOSTS.TXT"

Open up "Hosts" with "Notepad" and paste in the above contents and save.

Note: Make sure you rename hosts to HOSTS (all capital letters), and that you do NOT have an >TXT extension on it. I also use "Hoster" by Toadbee v1.4 to make the Hosts file read only: http://members.aol.com/toadbee/hoster.zip

There is a post here on settings for a large Hosts file: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=365139

You may also want to take a look HERE (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=62972) regarding security setups, as well there are further discussions HERE (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=45284&page=1&pp=25) and even more HERE (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=43117).

Hope this helps...

Cheers ;D

[TopperID]

Thus you have three ways of doing it:-
1) SpywareBlaster, which prevents certain known bad ActiveX components being downloaded onto you;
2) I.E.-Spyad, which places an awful lot of sites in your Restricted Zone, preventing those sites from using Java, ActiveX etc; and
3) Hosts File, that prevents you from going to those bad sites in the first place.

You can use all three methods. I only use SpywareBlaster because I prefer to configure my browser for safety, which makes the other two unnecessary.

[Ronin]

-{ Quote: "Thus you have three ways of doing it:-
1) SpywareBlaster, which prevents certain known bad ActiveX components being downloaded onto you;
2) I.E.-Spyad, which places an awful lot of sites in your Restricted Zone, preventing those sites from using Java, ActiveX etc; and
3) Hosts File, that prevents you from going to those bad sites in the first place.

You can use all three methods. I only use SpywareBlaster because I prefer to configure my browser for safety, which makes the other two unnecessary." }-

I would add that the main difference between putting a site in the restricted zone and blocking it in hosts, is that the former merely neturalises the site (depending on the settings you put for your restricted zone it might block activescripting, activeX) but it's still accessible, while for the former you will be totally blocked from accessing it.

Spywareblaster's CSLID killbit blocks based on ActiveX control and does not care what site you are on.

Some more notes.

A) A site that is in the restricted zone is still accessible but run under greater restrictions , one that is in the hosts set to 127.0.0.1 can't be accessed

B) Spywareblaster also adds sites into the restricted zone like IE Spyad

C) Spybot S&D immunizator also blocks activeX by CSLID like in 1)

[jgollehon]

Thanks for all the usefull information guys.
Still, my question isn't really answered. I get that I should probably be using both programs, I'm just trying to truly understand what each one does.

In addition to blocking CSLID's, SpywareBlaster adds sites to the restricted zones list. It seems that adding sites to the restricted zones list is IE-SpyAd's sole purpose. So, does IE-SpyAd keep a more up to date list than SpywareBlaster.

I'm running a small network here. My goal is to get as safe as possible with as little continuing management of the programs installed as possible (which is why SpywareBlaster seems to fit the bill pretty well).

Thanks again!

[jgollehon]

-{ Quote: "It seems that adding sites to the restricted zones list is IE-SpyAd's sole purpose." }- Just to clarify, I didn't really mean "sole purpose", I meant "most useful" purpose above and beyond what SpywareBlaster does.

[Bubba]

-{ Quote: "In addition to blocking CSLID's, SpywareBlaster adds sites to the restricted zones list. It seems that adding sites to the restricted zones list is IE-SpyAd's sole purpose. So, does IE-SpyAd keep a more up to date list than SpywareBlaster." }-The only thing IE-Spyad does is add "a long list of sites and domains associated with known advertisers, marketers, and crapware pushers to the Restricted sites zone of Internet Explorer"....but....it is a high quality list(~8000 entries)....and IMHO....the best list around. As far as up to date lists....both programs IMHO have a very good track record when it comes to updating the databases when the need arises. Both software programmers work very hard for the Internet Community....helping us protect our privacy and security.

Having said that....since both programs simply merge entries into the registry....and do not run in the background....my suggestion to you is to use Spywareblasters ActiveX protection....and use IE-Spyads Restricted Sites protection. If for no other reason than the fact that there is redundant entries in each program....in regards to their respective Restricted Sites list and when you remove the protection in one program....you have also removed some of the redundant entries found in the other program.

Regards,
Bubba

[Nick]

Hi, SpywareBlaster and IE Spyad are two different things. SpywareBlaster does have the restricted site list feature, but it is not nearly as comprehensive as IE Spyad and is not updated as often. SpywareBlaster has just over 1500 sites in it's restricted list now, while IE Spyad has almost 9000.

Another item to consider is that SpywareBlaster adds the restricted sites to the current user key in the registry, which means if you ave more than one user per computer, you must log into each user and run SpywareBlaster to add the restricted site protection for each user. FYI, the active X protection is sytemwide, so you only need to do that one once and all users' are protected. IE Spyad is the same, but there is also IE Spyad 2 which adds protection for every user on a machine. IE Spyad 2 details (http://www.spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=7626)

So I would suggest using both, neither program needs to run to protect you.

[Bubba]

-{ Quote: " IE Spyad is the same, but there is also IE Spyad 2 which adds protection for every user on a machine. IE Spyad 2 details (http://www.spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=7626)" }-For those choosing to use IE-Spyad 2 that NIck has linked to....Please do not overlook Eric's post in that same link concerning a quirky Internet Explorer behavior....a behavior that has had a number users coming here for help having not known about this quirkiness.

-{ Quote: "A quick followup about some quirky Internet Explorer behavior that you may see if you use IE-SPYAD2.

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." }-

[jgollehon]

Thanks for all the great information everyone. I now realize that restricted zone sites are housed in the registry, and that all IE-SpyAd really is is a bunch of registry entries. This is great (because I can use it on my custom windows xp install cd, but I'm finding there are many other lists (reg files) out there.

I noticed this comment over an a thread at MSFN.org.
-{ Quote: "To those using IE-SPYAD.. I gave up on this product a long time ago. As comprehensive as it is, it simply broke too many web sites. This includes Yahoo and MSN, and that is unacceptable to most of my clients. Further, in reviewing the list of sites supplied by Spywareblaster, I was perfectly satisfied with that list." }-Here's a link (http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=38201) to the full thread.

I'm not sure how long ago this guy gave up on it, but I was wondering if anyone here has experienced problems with the SpyAd database? Did it exist at one point and then get fixed?

[Nick]

The way that IE Spyad can "break" a site is if the site loads some of it's content from 3rd party sources that are on IE Spyad's list. Normally it will be banner ads and other unwanted things that won't work, but some sites will have some of their content served up by 3rd party sources, thus it can cause problems. For example, the Schwan's (http://www.schwans.com/) website used to have the majority of it's content served up by hitbox.com and so the site wouldn't work properly with IE Spyad. It's not like that now, but you can still see tracking cookies from hitbox.

A site like MSN or Yahoo has content loaded from many sources, so depending on what that 3rd party content does, IE Spy Ad may cause problems. An excerpt from the IE Spyad help file:

-{ Quote: "Web pages can draw content from multiple sources, including third party sources. Thus, for example, you might visit www.cnn.com and encounter a widget on that page that doesn't work. But that widget isn't being drawn from cnn.com (which isn't even IE-SPYAD). In this case, you'll have to identify the sources for the content on cnn.com's home page. It's likely that the widget is being pulled from some third-party source (say, doubleclick.net) that IS in IE-SPYAD's list of Restricted domains and servers. If you can identify the source for content that isn't working, you can then remove the entry which is causing the problem from the Restricted sites zone.

It can be a bit tricky to identify all the sources for a web page's content. One good tip-off that a web page is drawing content from multiple sources is the "Mixed" zone icon that you might see in the bottom right-hand corner of Internet Explroer. A "Mixed" zone means that a web page is drawing content from multiple sources which fall into different zones. One of those sources is likely in the Restricted sites zone.
" }-

If there is a site that is in the list that you don't want included, you can open the security tab in Internet options and select the Restricted sites zone and go through the list and remove the one that is causing problems.

[MushfiQ]

I have been using Spyware BLaster....& happy with it though does Spyware Blocklist file have any extra reg entry which not included in SB ?

http://www.spywareguide.com/blockfile.php


Cheers
:)

[bpm3k]

I use both ie-spyad and spywareblaster. I also use the immunize feature of spybot s&d.