antispyware recommendation

[ellison64]

Is there a good real time antispyware programe that works on 98se , and uses little resources?.Ive tried quite a few and most are either too resource hungry or cause instabilty problems or are pretty much useless.The best one i tried was counterspy (derived from giant).That used little resources , detected any realtime threats but unfortunatly led to system freezes.Spysweeper is just too resource and cpu hungry for my system (p3 733,256meg of ram).Adware plus adwatch is just a waste of space really.Spybots teatimer cant be compared with counterspys resident monitor ,so its something like that im looking for .Are there any others that might be recommended?
tia
ellison

[beetlejuice69]

Have you tried Spyware Doctor?

https://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/

[ellison64]

Yes . i should have mentioned that in first post sorry.Its like spysweeper on my system....a little too heavy on resources with the realtime protection enabled , with the result that if its running with the gui open and i close an app like IE ...the gui looks like a blank "white" image.Usually ony a reboot will then suffice.I would say that i can run most programmes with no problems ,and with my av ,and at running plus mail prog ,firewall ,admuncher , and calender prog , i m left with around 73 system gdi and user resources.It just seems that some progs (especially those with fancy gui) brings my system to a stanstill.
elllison

[Mr.Ree]

Here's some brilliant programs to help protect you from all kinds of malware intrusions and more besides that i use.

Winpatrol - FREE and paid versions
http://www.winpatrol.com/

Winsonar - FREE
http://digilander.libero.it/zancart/winsonar.html

Desktop Armor - Free 30 day trial
http://www.desktoparmor.com/index.shtml


I also use Teatimer.

If you could fit some more ram that would help you. In the meantime shut down all uneeded programs that are running in the background.

[ellison64]

Thanks for those recommendations.I guess ive made a big mistake here.While searching on google i tried pest patrol from here......
http://majorgeeks.com/download1187.html
with a pic here...
http://majorgeeks.com/screenshot.php?screenshot=1187
I gave it a going over and it seems to work very nicely with my system and other progs.I scanned with it and it found some old .dlls etc in system folder that were from old malware ( i checked thier properties and they did seem to be malware)I was quite impressed and decided on the spur of the moment to buy there and then.However following the purchase link etc i downloaded what i thought was the "full" version only to discover after installation , that it was a newer version....This version (version 5 apparently) , doesnt even detect what the earlier trial version does.It doesnt seem to have half the options , of the earlier version , is a little unstable on my system and the gui opens half off the screen and doesnt remember when you move it (on my machine anyway).Ive sent a support email but i must admit hold little hope of being aable to use the previous version as i cant find it anywhere n the ca site.Guess ive juest learned a lesson here :(
ellison

[Blackspear]

Hi Ellison64, you might want to try CounterSpy, (http://www.sunbelt-software.com/CounterSpy.cfm) see my post on it here. (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=427577)

Hope this helps...

Cheers ;D

[ellison64]

Thank you Blackspear.I mentioned in my first post that , id tried that and it was my favourite,however it caused system instability,freezes etc .
ellison

[Blackspear]

-{ Quote: "Thank you Blackspear.I mentioned in my first post that , id tried that and it was my favourite,however it caused system instability,freezes etc." }-Sorry mate, missed that part, did you try getting it resolved through their support/help section? (http://www.sunbelt-software.com/support-HomeOffice.cfm)

Cheers ;D

[ellison64]

No i didnt try to resolve it.Ive found that with my system , it either works well or badly.It conflicts with something or other and would be too time consuming trying to find the problem.It could be anything really.Pest patrol version 4 works brilliantly.I am hoping i can somehow register the trial copy i have.It seems to update to todays defenitions anyhow.I have registered 5 and have a serial number but theres nowhere to put it in this trial version.Im waiting on ca support to see what can be done.
Thanks again for suggesting anyway.
ellison

[Mr.Ree]

Hi ellison,I thought you should know before it's too late,that PP consistantly throws up lots of false positives,and many ppl including in this forum are aware of this!

What can happen is that ppl may very well end up deleting required programs/files etc from your HD which could obviously be disasterous.

I would advise you based on my own personnal experiences with PP to use it Only as a guide as to what Might need removing,and then double check those entries to be 100% certain the're not required by your system etc.

Sorry to break it to you,but better now than later hey.

[ellison64]

Thanks for info about PP.I usually check any files marked for deletion by thier properties anyway to make sure.Its basically for the resident scanner that i want it , and as i say version 4 works very well.5 is a different matter.I havent heard from support yet whther i can use the earlier version , and somehow register it.
ellison

[Paranoid2000]

How about prevention rather than detection? If you are using an alternate browser and a web-filter (either a specialised one like Proxomitron (www.proxomitron.info) or the filters included with many firewalls) to screen out web-page code (ActiveX, Java, Javascript), then there is virtually nothing that can get onto your system.

The downside is that you have to spend time loosening permissions for trusted sites (to allow cookies, etc) but for casual viewing, there should be little that needs doing.

[ellison64]

IM pretty careful with IE settings and browsing,that has never been the problem.I guess im just a "try any new programe" freak.I try LOTS of new , and varied programes just for the hell of it.Some can be infected with adware or spyware though i do try to check that they are not.Its just extar protection for the ones i miss and let slip through.
ellison

[wolfpack]

I agree Pest Patrol 4 is not really worth trying to acquire IMHO. I have version 4 and it is nothing but false positive city. Its real time memory scan is quite poor as well. Its cookie patrol is ok though if you still use IE.

If you feel you really have to have it, then I would do as Mr.Ree suggested and only use it for double checking what other anti-spyware scanners may find. But don't delete anything you detect with PP without asking about it first, is my advice.

I have never deleted anything I have found with PP, and boy am I glad I didn't because later I have found that nearly every single detection has been a FP. Luckily I only paid $20 for this "false postive king" a couple years back.

[ellison64]

Thank you wolfpack for your views especially as you have version 4.Possibly version 5 has addressed the FPs a little as after trying version 4 and buying i was directed to version 5 which is giving my system a headache.It didnt detect the stuff that version 4 did so maybe its tamed a little.As i mentioned it was a spur of the moment desicion to buy it.Perhaps ill put it down to a lesson learnt and possibly try more with counterspy to see whats causing the hangups.
thanks again
ellison

[richrf]

Hi,

Based on Blackspears recommendation, I decided to give CounterSpy a try today.

I've been running Giant AS for several months, and it has caught a thing ever since MS took it over. So I decided to see if CounterSpy could find something (I already ran Ad-Aware and Ewido which did find a tracking cookie, so my machine should be pretty clean).

On my machine, which is protected by KAV 4.5, RegDefend, and ProcessGuard, CounterSpy found nothing. Too bad. :-\ But on my son's machine, CounterSpy actually found a tracking cookie after running Giant, Ad-aware and Ewido! :D

Well, I know it is nothing major, but I have felt for some time now that Giant has little value to me, and the only kind of program that can possibly find anything nowadays is a program that is aggressively looking for stuff. What also surprised me was that CounterSpy's scan was completed in a fraction of the time of Giant's. Clearly they were not looking at all the files - but they must have found some sweet spot that they are going to concentrate their software logic on.

Bottomline, if I was going to spend any money on anti-spyware, I would at this point choose CounterSpy over MS AS.

Rich

[Graphic Equaliser]

Why not try MJ Registry Watcher at http://www.jacobsm.com/mjsoft.htm ? It is free and has minimal resource usage and cpu utilisation. It also protects Win9x as well as it protects WinXP.

I run it with ZoneAlarm and Firefox and I almost never get any viri or troja (plural of trojan?!? :) )