Spybot 1.3 Issues Explained.,Updated Nov 8th 2004

Spybot 1.3 has been and still is a wonderful and popular tool. Unfortunately, some people are experiencing problems with it. Those problems which I will describe a little further down in this post have been discussed many times on this forum. Some are benign, some are more serious. Those issues are all being worked on actively by the development team. An update of the main program will be issued in the near future (no I can't set a date, but as soon as it is known, I will update this post) which will fix those problems.
*DSO Exploit keeps returning even after Spybot fixes it
*Error during check!: ??various?? (Ungültiger Datentyp für ') ()
*Hangs during fix or scan
The first item on the list: DSO Exploit has been explained so many times and there is so much confusing information out in the forums that it is hard to resume all of this in a concise manner. But here goes:

The DSO Exploit was a problem in the way Windows handled the "My Computer Zone". Microsoft released a patch for this long ago. So if you have an updated Windows, you shouldn't be affected by this exploit. The reason Spybot flags it is simple. Before Microsoft came out with this patch, a security firm came out with a workaround "tweak" of the registry to restrict this Zone. Spybot looks for the implementation of that "tweak". If the tweak is not found, it flags the DSO Exploit object. Normally this shouldn't be a problem, you'd just let Spybot fix it and it implements the workaround, end of topic. The problem with 1.3 is that the workaround is not done properly during fix. Hence why Spybot flags it again. This has been fixed in the code and was tested for a while with version 1.3.1 beta.

Solution for now: Just ignore it. It isn't a problem if your windows is patched. When the next version of Spybot - S&D comes out, it will fix this problem.

More info on this:
http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=23930
http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=17159
http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=23663

Item number 2: Error during check!: ??various?? (Ungültiger Datentyp für ') () (where ??various?? is any number of malware names...)
This problem is a little bit more complex. I cannot explain it in detail as I am not a programmer. But to explain simply, when this occurs, it means that Spybot did not complete the scan and that even though it states Congratulations! No immediate threats found! those results are not accurate.
Some of you might find that if you download the advcheck.dll update dated October 4th 2004, this problem is fixed. If not, read on.
Most of these issues reported were fixed with the advent of 1.3.1 beta. Not all, but a lot of them. This bug is also still being worked on and should be fixed in the next update. If any of you are having this problem, you will have to wait for an update to be issued. There is no supported way of fixing this at this time. * See note at bottom of post *
More info on this:
http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=24364


Item number 3: Hangs during fix or scan.

This one is multi part. It can have a number of causes and a number of fixes....
If the program hangs during scan, and you have a computer equipped with a CPU with HyperThreading Technology, this bug cannot be fixed with the current version of Spybot. However, as with the other bugs I have mentioned, this has been and still is being worked on. An update will be issued shortly that will most likely take care of the problem. A lot of users who beta tested 1.3.1 beta said the problem had been fixed for them.

Edit - This problem can be worked around... Thanks to md usa spybot fan for bringing this to my attention.
Here is how:
Open Spybot, then leave it alone
Open Task Manager, and go to the Processes tab
Right-click on SpybotSD.exe, and choose "Set Affinity..."
On the box that comes up, check/uncheck boxes so that ONLY "CPU 0" is checked.
Go back to the already-open Spybot, and run a scan. It should complete without hanging or losing responsiveness.
More info:
http://forums.net-integration.net/index.ph...ndpost&p=113214
http://forums.net-integration.net/index.ph...t=0&#entry85933

If it hangs during fix, it is another matter. Depending on your operating system version, it can be the result of many things. Some users reported that the confimation dialog would not come to the front of the screen. This meant that Spybot would be waiting for input and wasn't hung. If this happens to you, you can try the following and see if it helps.

Open Spybot in advanced mode. Look in the top menu for the item "Mode" to set it to "Advanced" if you are not already in that mode.
Then go to "Settings" in the lefthand side. Click on Settings in the submenu that opens up beneath it. In the right hand side look for:
Main Settings
Display confirmation dialogs before doing critical changes
Uncheck that option and try to fix again.
If you are not using Windows XP, also make sure that both System Restore options in that same Main Settings category are unchecked.
If the above does not help, then you will also have to wait for the next update.

This new version of Spybot will be out, possibly as a beta download first, soon. As I said before, I cannot state a date for it, but it is coming.


*Note* There are workarounds being discussed in the forums to some of those problems. Some websites have decided to put up the beta version 1.3.1 for download, even though Safer Networking has removed it from their server. This is an unauthorized and unsupported version. If you decide to use this, no support will be given for it here.
Also a test version (1.3.1TX) had been released which was never meant for the public. It contained debug code for a specific problem and that release was also pulled from Safer Networking's servers. This one too, found its way on some websites. This is also an unauthorized, unsupported version.
And yet another one....
http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=24284


So it all boils down to this, an update will be issued as stated in the news link posted by Eagle1 in the Announcement. This release will be posted here and on the Safer Networking website as soon as it is released. A little patience is appreciated. Thank you.

Regards,

Galadriel

 

Thanks for the info

Link to the actual Announcement:
Spybot 1.3 Issues Explained., Updated Nov 8th 2004