I can't enable protection for 12 items in SpywareBlaster

By the way, for those who have this problem, I noted back in post #8 on this thread that in my system Spyware Doctor's Computer Immunization function was clearly to blame.

Some of you are running a slightly newer version of SD than what I had, but have you tried shutting off the Immunization to see if that is still the issue?

 

I have SD version 5.1.0.273 (which I guess is the latest). Turning off Immunization doesn't help, as that allows over 1000 items to not have protection enabled when SB starts up...

I get the 12 items not being enabled on about every 2 out of 3 start-ups.

 

Well, have you tried turning off Immunization just to see if that's the cause of the problem for you? You don't have to leave it off, as obviously it doesn't make sense to sacrifice 1000 items for the sake of 12.

It's odd that for you the 12 are not enabled only part of the time. I wonder if that has something to do with the order in which startup items load. Just by looking at the icons in the system tray at startup, the loading sequence varies somewhat for me on my machine.

 

I should have said, yes I tried it. When i did turn off Immunization, instead of 12 items not being enabled, it was over 1000 that weren't enabled. With Immunization back on, its only 12 items. But as i mentioned before, it doesn't happen every time as approx every third startup, all items are enabled...

 

I am here for the exact reason this thread was started. I select all and click protect all and when I look later there are 12 enabled again. Hotbar is one of them. I also have spy doctor version 5.1. I will disable immunization and report back.

 

I just re-read this and don't like to disable the immunization. I hope someone finds a cure.

(full version of SD is 5.1.0.272)

 

A cure if it exists lies with PC Tools and their Spyware Doctor app. At least that is the case for me and others who have posted here.

As I understand it, and someone please correct me if I am wrong, SpywareBlaster works by setting 'kill bits' that effectively disable the malware it recognizes in its database.

For some reason Spyware Doctor apparently resets some of these, often 12 in total, through its own immunization function.

I don't see that there is much of anything that Javacool can do at their end, other than to contact PC Tools and try to work out a solution, which shouldn't be that hard to accomplish. These items do appear to be malware, and even if there were some controversy on that point, why would SD care?

There's no way of knowing, but I wonder how many users who have both SB and SD installed have this same issue whether they know it or not.

 

I'd have to assume every user has the same problem. I wonder if the 12 items SD disables are on their own immunization list? If they are this is much ado about nothing, as long as they are blocked. I like both SpyBlaster and SD and hate to choose just one. Maybe someone could check SD's blocked list? I don't see anyone with 'the power' here with anything to say. Odd. I certainly wouldn't use the pay version till this problem is resolved.

 

maybe, instead of its being SD 5's "immunization" that is causing the problem, it is SD 5's other realtime protection that is, somehow, causing the problem.. that is my thinking..

i use SD 4.1 and its "immunization" and it had not caused me any problems with spywareblaster.. however, i don't use SD 4.1's realtime protection..

 

I disabled immunization and had 62 items in protection at SpyBlaster unchecked (rather than the usual 12). So you may be on to something.

One thing for sure though, it's not Spy Doctor's problem to fix, their program works fine. SpyBlaster has to address this problem and soon would be nice.

 

Hi,

Unfortunately, we can't fix it from our end - because the problem is being caused by Spyware Doctor.

For some reason, Spyware Doctor *removes* the protection for those 12 items when you *enable* its immunization. In fact, it only zeroes the Compatibility Flag value (i.e. removes the block) if it's set to block the item - not if it's any other value.

You might also notice, if you scroll through SpywareBlaster's block list, that the items for which Spyware Doctor removes blocking are for a few specific programs.

If you are a Spyware Doctor customer, I would highly suggest (and kindly request) that you contact them about this issue - and let them know that their program is disabling the blocking of certain items when you enable its protection.

I imagine that stopping such seemingly contrary behavior should be a quick fix.

Best regards,

-Javacool

P.S. This problem has been reproduced with Spyware Doctor 5.1, regardless of the "OnGuard real-time protection" setting. It appears as though the "Computer Immunization" function is the sole culprit.

 

I got a reply from Spy Doctor. They wanted to know the 12 items that keep unchecking themselves. They wanted a screen shot but I don't know how. I did ask them to refer to JavaCool for more info and sent them the 12 items. I don't know why they were deleted from the forum. We should be hearing from them soon.

I hope I didn't over step by referring them to you JavaCool?

 

Not at all - hopefully they will get in touch with us soon (or fix the problem).

For reference, the entries that Spyware Doctor 5.1's immunization resets to 0 are:

Code:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{FC327B3F-377B-4CB7-8B61-27CD69816BC3}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{100EB1FD-D03E-47FD-81F3-EE91287F9465}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{69FD62B1-0216-4C31-8D55-840ED86B7C8F}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{B195B3B3-8A05-11D3-97A4-0004ACA6948E}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{B5EF836B-7582-4D82-9246-17F6C40DDF0F}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{C1E58A84-95B3-4630-B8C2-D06B77B7A0FC}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{0352960F-47BE-11D5-AB93-00D0B760B4EB}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{1717A4A5-D63A-4F70-B373-AE4AA46D1236}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{53CBEE82-D747-11D3-9ED0-005004189684}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{ED8DB0FD-D8F4-4B2C-BB5B-9EF040FE104D}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{E2F2B9D0-96B9-4B25-B90C-636ECB207D18}\Compatibility Flags
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{FEE7FD53-3356-4D4D-8978-2C4AE3A7E109}\Compatibility Flags

Best regards,

-Javacool

 

They replied, with a warning that I can't reproduce what they said in the email. But the jist of the matter is they don't think what is blocked is mal-ware.

I would only summize that they've accepted payment not to block them. They also say that different spy detection services operate differently and 'in essence' they have no intention of changing anything.

THIS IS PARAPHRASED

This is indeed bad news. Short of getting A LOT of people to boycott SD, I don't know what to do. As for me, I guess I'll get rid of SD and just run a free Norton Scan every week.

Sucks, huh?

 

Obviously Spyware Doctor can choose what particular software or files to include in their database. I'm not sure whether the person who answered your e-mail understood that that isn't the problem here.

The problem is that Spyware Doctor removes some of the protection that *other* programs put in place - when you enable *Spyware Doctor's* protection.

If their goal was to remove some of the blocks that previous versions of Spyware Doctor may have added, there are many better ways of accomplishing that - while also ensuring that a user's ultimate choice is preserved. Instead, it sounds like Spyware Doctor will continue to effectively reduce the protection on your system (by removing your ability to block certain software), when you enable the "Immunization" feature. That is indeed unfortunate.

For anyone who comes across this thread, there are two things I'd like to mention:

1.) If you are a Spyware Doctor customer, please contact PC Tools. Hopefully if enough people keep contacting them, they will indeed fix the issue. I've provided a brief description of the problem below, which should hopefully help clarify the issue:

2.) I will continue to ensure that SpywareBlaster works well with other good security and privacy software. After all, there's no 100% solution to security and privacy problems. One of the keys of a decent design is that the program gets along well with other tools that people may use and preserves user choice - and that's been the goal from day one with SpywareBlaster.

Best regards,

-Javacool

 

"....due to differing detection algorithms between different Spyware detection programs, it is normal for discrepancies in results and what is considered to be malware or spyware to occur between products...."


So I'll copy and paste what you wrote as the problem and reply to their email. I'll let you know if they reply. Others out there: You can contact Spyware Doctor at support@pctools.com

Spy Doctor is now a part of the 'google package', maybe an email to google would help?

 

I have the exact same issue listed in this particular thread and am using SpywareDoctor 5.1.0.273. If I disable it, I can reboot and SpywareBlaster does not have anything disabled. If I enable SpywareDoctor and reboot, then the 12 items are disabled. I have written pctools about this and referenced them to this thread. Will let you know their reply. BTW, I'm using XP Pro SP2 as my operating system. I've tried Vista and am going to wait until Bill gets it together a bit more before I go back to it.

 

I hope they read this: "Problem: Spyware Doctor 5.1 prevents other programs from enabling all of their protection. The Computer Immunization feature, when enabled, constantly removes certain blocks.

"Further Details: This is not a problem with what Spyware Doctor targets - but a problem with how the program constantly removes blocks for items that are (presumably) now removed from the Spyware Doctor database. This interferes with a user's ability to choose to block those items if they so wish, using other software (including SpywareBlaster and Spybot S & D). There is no need for this particular behavior in the software - removing the blocks *once* should erase any that were put in place by previous versions of Spyware Doctor. (Users would then be able to utilize other security software without Spyware Doctor conflicting.) "

And I hope you get further than I did when I wrote them. If it's that easy to fix, and they won't fix it, it looks bad on them.

 

I updated SpywareBlaster today. SpySweeper complained about the updates so I allowed it and told SS to always allow SB to update. When I clicked to enable all protection it hung about 75% along the line but eventually, after closing and restarting it, it did enable all protection

 

The problem is with Spyware Doctor.

 

Got the following message back from pctools today. All we can do is see what happens!!


Thank you for your patience.

Your emails has been escalated to our Development Team for further investigation. We will provide a fix as soon as we have a solution in hand. Currently we are running thorough tests to cover all possible errors with the issue.

If you require further assistance on this specific request, please reply to this email.

Kind Regards,

Jose Grayda
Technical Support Representative
PC Tools Customer Support Services

 

In my experience SpySweeper always wants to block SpywareBlaster updates. What I think happens is that when you try to enable all protection for SB, everything goes well until SS encounters the new items; then it tries to block them and holds things up.

My solution is that when I run an update for SB and actually get one, which is not very often, I right click on the SS icon in the system tray and shut it down. Then I complete the SB update by enabling all protection, which only takes a few seconds. Finally I double click on SS on the desktop to activate it again, and all 12 shields come back in well under a minute.

It's a bit of a pain, but it seems to go flawlessly, which is something.

 

I don't run SS.

Wouldn't you think that if this can happen with another spyware feature someone could do the same with a virus code?

I'm still waiting on Spyware Docotr to fix the problem.

 

I believe one of the recent trends in advanced malware is to first attack and disable antimalware found on a machine by exploiting their discovered software bugs, before trying to install malicious code. Some of the latest malware can shut down AV and AS apps, disable updates so that zero day threats cannot be detected or removed, and so on; scary stuff if you rely on software alone to protect you. It seems now that security software may be as vulnerable as the OS or browsers they are trying to protect, but the vendors know the issues and are doing their own patches.

It hardly gives you a sense of security to realize that your own security software is vulnerable to malicious directed attacks.

 

I'm not having 12 items blocked I'm having over around 2000 restricted sites items protection disabled.

I noticed this just a few weeks ago. I'm not at all sure why it is happening but having read the posts on this thread can safely say it isn't due to Spyware Doctor - I have never installed it on my pc.

I can enable all protection, close the SB box, reopen it and have the same problem so mine isn't due to pc rebooting.

The only antispyware I have on my pc besides SB and SG is SuperAntiSpyware although I did once install Spybot but uninstalled it as it made my system run slow.

Any help out there please?