un-installing Ad-Aware

Please comment on the following given by an instructor, Thank you :
"Step 3 . Un-installing Ad-Aware
It's advisable to uninstall the software after
every use. as some adware can detect pro-
grams that detect them! If they detect that your
computer is installed with Ad-Aware, they will hide
themselves so that Ad-Aware cannot detect them."

 

I have been using Ad-Aware for 4yr+. I would send the Instructor to The Back Of The BUS. Ask HOW and WHERE ?

 

http://img116.exs.cx/img116/1231/z7shysterical.gif I'm certainly glad that you thought to seek a second opinion. As just one example, the worm W32/Mytob-BH turns off antivirus software. There are others that have disabled Microsoft updates or the firewall. I wonder if that instructor thinks that means users should disable their A/V. I should certainly hope not.

The best thing is to maintain a secure system, with a firewall, Windows patches up to date, install and update software like Javacool's SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard, keep your A/V updated, consider an alternate browser (i.e., Firefox or Opera) or if using IE, install IE Spyads.

I would also suggest Tony Klein's often referred to article: "So how did I get infected in the first place?". There is a previous version here with the one just updated yesterday posted at LzD and FL (reproduced with permission).

 

If you think about this a bit, purely from a programming perspective, why allow the choice to exist if it's malware? Why wouldn't the author just cloak it from the start? Well, they would...., if they could. It's a really strange comment when you think about it...

Blue

 

Good ole' Google. I found the cached story

Its from

"The Straits Times Interactive"
Aug 16, 2005
Pull the plug on POP-UPS
CANICE PANG gives the lowdown on those nasty pop-up windows and how to detect and banish them

The thing is, for Canice Pang to have specifically showcased Ad-Aware for removing popups, she should recommend the Plus or Pro version's Ad-Watch to keep pop-ups out in the first place. Of course, we all know there are many other options as well. .

 

That's just one dumb statement. Why would one program a malware to detect whether Ad-Aware is installed, if it can hide from it anyway?

 

Indeed, TNT. That does tend to make me doubt the validity of any other advice provided by that individual.

 

Horse riding instructor?