MS released the beta of the antispyware tool they are planning to offer soon. Hopefully the tool will remain as freeware. You can download it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...e/default.mspx

Just installed it now. Very clean interface, with auto-updating and even real-time protection, which is offered with Ad-aware in the paid version only.

EDIT: lol just discovered one problem, albeit its on the false positive side which isn't so bad. I installed Kazaa lite to see if it would detect it as spyware/adware. And it did. (for those who don't know, Kazaa lite is a spyware-free version of Kazaa). None of the other antispyware programs detects this as spyware normally.

Second Edit: The program detected 2 other spyware/adware items that Ad-aware and Spybot didn't detect. Cleaned them out, and allows you to configure your browser in one small Window (with the homepage, search page, etc) after you remove a browser hijacker. So far so good.

Looks like it works good here, some new detections (even hijackthis didn't get those...)

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Won't install on Win98, yet another M$ nail in its coffers.

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By asking questions we sometimes get the wrong answers, from wrong answers we learn to ask the right questions.

As is the fact that it's now about 7 years old

Well, it seems that somehow I lost symantec antivirus corporate edition (legal version, but I don't own the cdrom). Well, I hope that antivir+windows antispyware gives enough protection. (toghether with xp sp2)

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

So is my pc It won't take ME or XP either! I am trying Yahoo anti spy (free) as well as all the other free anti spy stuff out there. Yahoo does pick up somethings others don't but misses some as well. Because my system is so old it's very sensitive to any unwanted backgound process. I know immediately if something has sneaked in.

Thing is M$ said they would keep 98 serviced because of older computers in poorer nations but they seem to turn their back on it when it suits them. As this is only a beta demo and not the full shilling I doubt very much if it will continue to be a free stand alone. More likely they will use it as a bloat bundled on whatever the next generation of OS is going to be. As a lot of sypyware/malware exploit unfixed holes in current M$ software I do find it somewhat ironic that they launch an anti spyware prog.

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By asking questions we sometimes get the wrong answers, from wrong answers we learn to ask the right questions.

I tried it and it tells me that PalTalk is spyware, is this correct or has my install been corrupted?

EDIT to add, ok - now it's finished the scan, it tells me that the PalTalk thing is a LOW risk.

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The meek will inherit the earth ... the rest of us will go to the stars.

Heh it's not very hard for them to port it to the older versions of Windows that's for sure. Although I don't appreciate their style of shutting out pre-Windows 2000 customers, I believe the security and features that XP and 2000 justify spending the time and cost to upgrade to them, especially since the official support period of 98 and ME should have ended a long time ago but MS extended it.
Still, they shouldn't just shut out part of their customer base like this.

I wish it was as simple as that. Problem is for almost all programs that do install adware/spyware, they do so with the user's permission, with terms states in the terms and conditions license agreement for the software. Only it's buried in there and people normally don't read this. Also, a lot of spyware manages to get on a person's PC because of incorrect browser settings like allowing ActiveX controls on untrusted websites, or driveby downloads, or malicious scripts on websites, a lot of which the IE features in SP2 help a little in fixing.

I got a rather unwanted automatically opening website again, after a full scan. It also tried to change my homepage, but that event got blocked. I hope these sites stop to pop up, they are the ones I couldn't get rid of using other tools...

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Slick program.

Found a bunch of registry entries and dead folders that SpyBot SD and AdawareSE didn't find. Thats to be expected since MS probably has a lot more insight to the registry than most and a LOT more resources than SpyBot. I'm going to test it for as few weeks and see how well it works and also see if it interferes with Firefox. I also want to test it on a few of the machines in the office that have been infested in the past - just to see what it finds.

As for W98 - my guess is that the finished product will probably work on '98 but I may be wrong. MS really wants to get as many people to W2K or XP just for improved security of these OS's and they can spend there resources on newer projects.

FWIW - I figure the best way for MS to get rid of '98 is to offer a cheap upgrade from '98 to a non-upgradeable version of XP home. No benefit to larger businesses but a definite plus to individuals. If only MS would listen.

The program gives a very good description of why it classifies software the way it does. Take the time to read the info in the right pane - very informative.

This is a very good anti-spyware program. It picked up on 14 adawares that Adaware SE missed.

I'm using this from now on. 8)

The company they bought which made this antispyware solution, GIANT software, was pretty good, though not widely known.

Cool.

I'm already noticing an improvement.

So the Microsloth tradition continues, i.e., this "Microsloth" anti-spyware software was created in the same manner as the original "Microsloth" operating system.

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What do you mean by "antivir"? If the Symantec program was your only antivirus program, don't expect an antispyware program to take its place. You still need a separate antivirus program.

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I think he means that having an antivirus solution AS WELL AS Windows antispyware should provide enough protection.

"Antivir" is an antivirus program called "Antivir" (I thought this program was well known). SO now I use antivir against virusses and Microsoft antispyware against, well, spyware... 8-[

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

I still get www . southbeachday . com /.... popping up from time to time. Why ô why can't I just make a list in Internet Explorer saying: never open these sites:

#-o
Anyway knows an easy way to block sites?

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

I recognize it now that you've capitalized it.

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Use Firefox. Unlike IE, one can use Firefox for weeks without collecting any spyware whatsoever. Just carefully read and follow the instructions re setting up the security system.

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Have you already tried to search your Registry for "southbeachday" ?

WinPatrol has a built in cookie filter you can add to (has a lot of other great stuff too and it's free or you can get the +version for a 1off life fee), Yahoo has a free popup blocker as well as antispyware and spam controls.

Edit: I get a 404 from southbeachday (IE and Opera) but yahoo search comes up with a few references - all of them nasty.

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By asking questions we sometimes get the wrong answers, from wrong answers we learn to ask the right questions.

I have the google popup blocker. This southbeachday site opens even when no other internet window is opened, so I don't know whether this technically is a pop-up. Anyway, it is an automatically opening site which I don't want to be opened.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

I searched the registry too, the only place it still can be found is in an "internet settings list" among all kinds of other nasty URLs, but this list appears to me as the list of unwanted sites, so I think it is best to leave that entry. It is located in internet settings.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Could you post the name of the whole key?

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-220523388-1060284298-1417001333-1003\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Int ernet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\southbeachday.com

With a submap "www"

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

delete it.
Does not look like a important key.

Tried out the Microsoft AntiSpyware and had to actually admit I was impressed. Very nicely designed interface, picked up more items than AdAware, not to mention keeping backup settings in case your computer does get high-jacked by a spyware program. It may the first time I've had anything close to a warm fuzzy feeling towards Microsoft since they came out with Age of Empires. (I've entered the XP world kicking and screaming)

*** Edited for sp., grrrrr... you'd think I grew up in the word processing spell check era.

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Photons have mass? I didn't even know they were Catholic.