Free Spyware Doctor Edition

Discussion in 'other anti-malware software' started by Oleg, Jun 30, 2005.

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  1. Oleg

    Oleg Registered Member

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    O yes it will we also have tested spybot,microsoft anti-spyware
    Well results are microsoft anti-spyware was unable to clean many infections as for spybot it did not detect all infections :p
     
  2. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    I ran the Live Update of Spyware Doctor. Did a Full System Scan again.
    Nothing changed, still the same false positives, 100% CPU and slow scan.
    I give it time till 2005.09.01, if it is still not fixed, I won't need SD anymore.
     
  3. JRCATES

    JRCATES Registered Member

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    I finally heard back from PC Tools customer support tonight, Erik, and have emailed them with the false positives and information concerning other areas that need to be addressed (CPU and memory useage, HOSTS file scanning, ect.), so hopefully I will have something to pass along within the next few days. As I've said earlier, the first several months the product was very good....but these issues have all come about just recently. Hopefully they will address and correct them here shortly.

    BTW....the reason the scans take longer now than previously, is because they scan the ENTIRE HOSTS file....and for people like you and I, that have rather large and extensive HOSTS file protection already, scanning that area isn't necessary (but unavoidable). Hopefully in their next version they will include options such as "Areas to scan" that will allow users to bypass scanning areas like the HOSTS file, and options like "Ignore" and "Always Ignore" when a false positive is first flagged.....
     
  4. Spyros

    Spyros Registered Member

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  5. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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  6. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    JRCATES,
    Thanks for the updating and I hope they will solve all these problems in the near future.
    Right now it's very unpleasant to work with SD and it's the worst scanner on my computer.
    It was good of you to report these problems directly to the right persons.
     
  7. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    All that article really says is that it doesn't beat SpySweeper or CounterSpy.. it's right after them in the rest of the test, though.. not bad for a freebie :)
     
  8. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    I agree with you.... ;)
     
  9. peakaboo

    peakaboo Registered Member

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    VaMPiRiC_CRoW or anyone,

    did you figure out if the download file at Spyware Doctor website http://www.pctools.com/downloads/sdinstall.exe

    allows the free features of both scan and remove?


    The file at PC Tools above link has same version number 3.2.1.359 but different MD5 a6c509c00a2662b51097fb9eb8d5edb6 it is also slightly smaller in size than the one from C/Net

    C/Net file http://dw.com.com/redir?pid=1030979...ctools.com/downloads/download.com/sdtrial.exe

    MD5 for c/net file is e7814ce2397f228512df25d4ea8052dd

    also notice one clearly is named sdtrial.exe and downloads as sdinstall.exe and the other from the website is sdsetup.exe
     
  10. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    I forgoten to say that after I tried the download file from the SD website and works...
     
  11. peakaboo

    peakaboo Registered Member

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    Thanks VaMPiRiC_CRoW,

    if both allow scan and removal then I'll try the one from PC tools since it is likely the latest iteration.

    Even though version # is same something is different if size and MD5 is different but if functionality is same, i'd rather get it straight from the horses mouth so to speak ;)
     
  12. peakaboo

    peakaboo Registered Member

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    1) The Spyware Doctor 3.2 version I downloaded from their site (PC Tools) allows you to customize your scan... under settings, General, scan button action --> select custom - then apply

    then go to start scan - it will allow you to customize the scan

    If your version does not allow this then this is an area where the c/net version (if that is the version you are using) differs also I wonder if the c/net version allows fixes without registering?

    2) My scan once it got thru cww 1400+ checks, and browser favorites & browser scanner (rogue) seemed very quick especially when it did the file check...

    3) The problem I had with this version is it found something called unstall.exe (media motor) in order to remove it I had to register - I guess by register it means I have to buy the product? Maybe I'll scan again and see if all I have to do is register and not buy... otherwise I guess I can do a manual wipe, and maybe run a HJT scan just to ck...

    Anyone using C/Net download version do you have to register to use the remover spyware it finds?

    SSD has never found the above file on my pc on numerous scans...

    I'm liking this proggie...

    the version I am using also has ignore options...
     
  13. JRCATES

    JRCATES Registered Member

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    You are right, peakaboo, thanks for pointing that out.....I stand corrected. I am using version 3.2, and there is a "Custom Scan" feature that does allow users to ignore certain areas. They don't exactly make this feature well known, though, so it's no surprise that I was unaware of it. The only problem with this option, is that it has to be run manually....you can't "schedule" scans using the custom option.

    As for the "ignore" options with scan results, I still haven't seen those yet. I don't mean the option to "uncheck" what it finds, I mean an option to select "Always Ignore" for a particular entry so that future scans don't even flag the item. If you have that option, then I would really appreciate it if you would share with me how and where you found it.....
     
  14. peakaboo

    peakaboo Registered Member

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    JRCATES,

    I found this in SD help:

    1) To Set Spyware Doctor to ignore specific items

    To ignore specific malware, move the malware items to the Ignore List. On the infections list screen, select the check box of the item you want to ignore, then right-click on it and select "Move Checked to Ignore List". Each time you conduct a scan, items in the Ignore List are ignored.

    Ignore List
    To view or remove items from the Ignore List, click the Status button on the left of Spyware Doctor's screen, and click "Click to View Ignore List". To remove an item, select the required item from the list and click the Remove Selected button. The items are then removed from the ignore list.



    2) infections list screen:

    When the scan is complete, if infections are found you will be taken to the infections list screen, where you can select which malware infections you want to action.

    -----

    following the above my version which I downloaded from Spyware Doctor site (PC Tools) does not allow me to select or right click the adware I found unless I purchase a registered version first.

    Let me know if you downloaded using the C/Net download version - I'm thinking that C/net trial version will allow you to correct items found and or add them to the ignore list.


    __________________

    btw I have gotten the scan down to about 4 minutes (approx 16700 items scanned using the latest 7/4/05 3.02490 ref file of over 30k sigs) from 22 minutes by unchecking Browser defaults favorites and zonemaps under custom scan.

    I'm posting while scanning even with 100% CPU utilization - they really need to fix that ;)
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2005
  15. JRCATES

    JRCATES Registered Member

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    Thanks for the follow-up, peakaboo. I appreciate that you found this info....but their wording still leaves a little to be desired.

    For example, when I first encountered these two false positives....I looked at the IMMEDIATE screen where they appeared, and the ONLY option was worded something like "Fix" or "Repair" (no "Quarantine". or "Ignore", etc.). From what you posted.....it sounds as though by choosing that option (Fix or Repair, or however it was termed) that it would take the user to another screen that would provide the "option" to choose. But just from the wording of the following "To ignore specific malware, move the malware items to the Ignore List. On the infections list screen, select the check box of the item you want to ignore, then right-click on it and select "Move Checked to Ignore List", they don't make real clear exactly WHICH screen you should enact this from....because the first screen they show doesn't give these options (and knowing that I did not want them "fixed" or "repaired", I simply unchecked each box and clicked close.

    Oh, BTW.....using "Custom" I was able to turn a 25-30 minute scan into 9 minutes, simply by leaving out the option to scan LSP and HOSTS files. But you're right....even though with On Guard enabled the memory useage is much better today than has been the past several weeks....the CPU useage still needs to be improved upon (the spikes are still way too high right now, even WITHOUT scanning)....
     
  16. peakaboo

    peakaboo Registered Member

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    Yes it is confusing but I think when your scan is completed, the infections screen is brought up - just right click on the item you want to ignore and I think I saw the right click context item of add to ignore list.

    I just checked Spybot v1.3 and on my old pc it is hitting 100% cpu on scan with a swap file of about 47Megs - Bot check took about 21 minutes; I think version SSD 1.4 is much faster...

    I think I remember Spyware Doctor hitting about 54 Megs on the swap file. Sounds like 100% CPU is the way it is at least on this pc... so as I said before Spyware Doctor if I can get it to clean is looking real good to me.

    I just downloaded again from C/net on a separate laptop, I'm hoping this trial version will enable the cleaning option. As noted above in one of my posts, I did not install the cnet version and instead went directly to the PC tools website, this version I am using appears to not allow cleaning, just scanning and ref file updates, and maybe the guards which I am not using.
     
  17. JRCATES

    JRCATES Registered Member

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    A friend of mine downloaded version 3.2 from Download.com, and he was able to use it to remove detected items...so perhaps it does have something to do with WHERE you download it from. From what he told me....he was able to trial the fully functional version for 30 days (including On Guard, real-time protection...with scheduled scans, etc.). Not sure if he was blowing smoke or not.....but I was at his house one time when he used it to scan and remove, and while surfing the net the Cookie Guard did remove a few cookies, so maybe he was being legit. It's definitely worth a try anyway (and you should at least be able to "remove" identified items)....
     
  18. peakaboo

    peakaboo Registered Member

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    I ran the Spyware Doctor trial from Cnet on a laptop,

    MD5 for c/net file is e7814ce2397f228512df25d4ea8052dd (MD5 changes depending on when you download)

    This version allows for cleaning. adding items to ignore list, custom scanning but looks like the guards are disabled - I did not look to close at the guards since I run these disabled anyway - but it looked like you had to register to use the guards - I'll check and correct later if not true.

    ___________

    JRCATES,

    after I ran the scan using the cnet trial dl of Spyware Doctor, the list of found items pops up - this is the infections list screen

    to put something on the ignore list, select that item by placing a check mark by it, then click on the item so it is highlighted, then right click the item and you will see an option to add to the ignore list.

    I'm at the other pc now, and will uninstall the version which allows the guard but no cleaning in favor of the cnet download trial which allows cleaning but no guard

    BTW i did a custom 1st scan on the laptop and it blazed thru over 20,000+ scanned items using the latest ref file of over 30k sigs in less than 3 minutes

    sweet ;)
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2005
  19. JRCATES

    JRCATES Registered Member

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    Well, I put it to the test, peakaboo....and it worked.

    I followed your directions, and it DID "ignore" them for the immediate follow-up scan (even though those two items were once again identified....just as "ignored" and not threats).

    As of now, doing something about the CPU useage is the primary concern (for me...but probably others as well). Being able to schedule "CUSTOM" scans should also be something added to the next version of Spyware Doctor as well. Actually, perhaps the best solution for scans would be to have the "Custom" feature incorporated into and available for Quick Scans (rather than as a "separate" scan option, which can not be sceduled).....
     
  20. peakaboo

    peakaboo Registered Member

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    Spyware Doctor caught & effectively dealt with a download motor called unstall.exe

    Looks like this may have been a remnant from a prior drop in; this file has been on my pc for at least 4 years maybe longer.

    I've been using Spybot Search & Destroy for about 3 years, tried Asquared, trojan remover, Mcafee etc in the past & just scanned the file with Avast - not a peep out of any of these about unstall.exe

    plenty of info here on it though: http://sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/adware.medload.html

    Best advice seems to be to find at least 2 good Spyware scanners and hope that what one doesn't catch the other one will:

    http://spywarewarrior.com/asw-features.htm#rec

    _________________

    The Spyware Doctor scan once customized was very fast... under 4 minutes the signature file contains over 30k items and the program looked at about 17,000 items on my pc.

    This is a keeper for me ;)

    oh and yes this is the cnet trial referenced in post #1 offering custom scan, & cleaning which is what I was looking for...
     
  21. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    Someone knows if the free version use the same signatures database of the full version?

    Thanks
     
  22. JRCATES

    JRCATES Registered Member

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    From what I have been told, VC, everything in relation to the scanning engine and signature database is the same between the free and the pay....the difference is that the free does not offer real-time ("On Guard") protection, with the ability to schedule scans and schedule live updates. The free is purely an on demand scanner.....but everything else supposedly is the same.
     
  23. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    That's my understanding as well.

    After updating just now I have 31877 signatures with the paid version, for anyone that wants to compare.
     
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2005
  24. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    I thought the same but I'm starting to see Lite database one the updates and...

    I have 31708 with the lastests signatures update, so maybe my doubts have some reason of being... :(
     
  25. Beefcarver

    Beefcarver Registered Member

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    So after reading all your inputs about this which download is the one to go with Pctools or cnet?
     
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