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http://www.lavasoft.de/ ring a bell?

• Openoffice.org (use word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, database, and similar applications)
• Picasa (view/edit photos)

Internet Tools

• FireFox (browse Web sites)
• Gaim (chat with users of AIM, YIM, MSN, IRC, etc.)
• Thunderbird (e-mail)
• Pegasus Mail (e-mail)
• Macromedia Flash Player (watch Flash animations within Web browser)
• Java Plugin (run Java applications inside Web browser)

Basic Tools

• 7Zip (compress/decompress files)
• EditPad Lite (edit text files)
• vim/gvim (edit text files--advanced)
• Adobe Acrobat Reader (view PDF files)
• PDF Creator (create PDF files)

Security Tools

• ZoneAlarm (firewall - detect unwanted Internet access)
• Avira Antivirus (detect/remove viruses)
• ADAware Personal SE (detect/remove spyware)
• SpyBot Search & Destroy (detect/remove spyware)
• HiJackThis (detect/remove spyware)
• Discombobulator (make Windows more secure)
• Shoot the Messenger (make Windows more secure)
• Unplug-n-pray (make Windows more secure)
• PGP (encrypt/decrypt files or e-mail for privacy) - see admin for more details

Advanced Tools

• Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel for Windows XP (mount ISO images as filesystems) from MSDN
• IMAPSize (manage/search/backup an IMAP mailbox)

Norton and Mcaffee both suck. I mean, they're both terrible, poorly written, resource-intensive programs. The best anti-virus software I've found is AVG Free Edition. Though, realistically, you only need AV software if you open email attachments and download stuff from websites that aren't obviously trustworthy.

For antispyware software, the only ones to use are Spybot and Ad-Aware. Again, you only really need those programs if you use Internet Explorer. Don't. Get Firefox instead.

What else is good and useful? VLC has been mentioned, it's the best media player. Some of these Powertoys are useful, especially TweakUI. For Instant messaging, Trillian is the best, though GAIM gets better all the time.

Other than that...games. I don't have any recommendations for those, you'll just have to find what you like. Have fun.

* Crimson Editor An amazingly powerful freeware text / script editor.

  * uTorrent Is there an open source Torrent Client in under 200k? Does it have RSS searching, bandwidth scheduling, automatic resume, and trackerless support? Yes? Oh, good then.

  * As -U- Type. Spell check anywhere. It's a great piece of software, if you can get over the fact that the author barely speaks any english.

  * 3 Plane Soft Screensavers. Ok, they're screensavers. And they're a rip off. But damn they're nice.

  * Trillian. 'nuff said.

  * The Bat! The second best mail client created, behind only KMail.

  * IZarc If there were need for zip clients anymore, this would be the one to have. Also handles about 50 other file standards, integrates really well with explorer, is small and efficient, and did I mention free? Best unzipper out there, including the pay options.

  * Folder Size Shows you how big your folders are. If explorer were made by Apple, it would do this by default.

  * True Crypt Data so secure even it doesn't know if there is more to be found in a file.

  * Thumbs Plus Arguably there are a lot of good applications in this space, and there are ones out there with better interfaces. But it is the only thumbnail application I've ever used that can handle upwards of 20,000 files in a single directory. If you take lots of pictures, this is the one.

  * DVD Decrypter Recently bought out by Macrovision to shut down it's decryptey goodness, DVD Decrypter is really a no-nonsense, no-fuss DVD ripper and burner. Want to rip a movie from a DVD so you can watch it later? One button. Want to rip it back to a DVD? Another button.

  * Microsoft Power Toys Nifty stuff from people who both hate and make the operating system.

And remember to use an antivirus, a firewall, and two anti-spyware suites. My personal favorites are AVG Antivirus, Kerio Personal Firewall, Spybot, and Ad Aware.

AVG, Zone Alarm, AD-Aware and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and you should be set.

Whats wrong with multiple AV software packages installed?

I can understand your point with regards to multiple software based firewalls, thats redundant. ;-) But multiple AV software is a good idea, and one that I subscribe to on my only Windows machine.

Having said that, the 2 I use are AVG and ClamWin. Not exactly bloated in the same way Symantec Norton Internet Security is.

There is no guarantee that a single AV package is going to get all viruses. Just the same that something like Ad-Aware isn't going to get all Malware on its own. So it often gets combined with something like Spybot S&D. In my opinion, it is far better to hedge your bets.

On the flipside, a software firewall is better than nothing, but I personally don't rely on them. Multiple firewalls are pointless and more likely to cause problems that provide a functioning service. So I understand your point in that regard.

Far better to get a machine that is specifically set up for the purpose of providing firewall services and only firewall services. Or, if people must use Windows, get the Windows version of Checkpoint FW-1 instead of Norton Internet Security and do things properly ;-) But I'd still prefer to see it on something like a dedicated Nokia IPSO box thats been properly hardened.

Artifex Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
November 18th, 2005 at 12:47 am

So, does Ad-Aware offer detection and FULL removal (and not just de-cloaking)?
If not, why not, if we're relying on you to detect such things? That is what you advertise your products are for: detection and removal of malware.

Should we start relying on someone else, instead?

Do you mean Ad-Aware? If so their personal edition is still available for free download,

http://www.lavasoft.de/

Products is the second section in the left hand navigation bar, Ad_Aware personal is the fourth link. Easy.

More often than not these days, the real tough buggers have randomly generated process names. Here's how I clean a machine:

Tools required:

Process Explorer(procexp) from http://www.sysinternals.com/
autoruns.exe from the same, or hijackthis.exe from http://www.merijn.org/
Any good virus scanner(McAfee's Enterprise scanner is decent. Use a simple scanner if possible, not a scanner/firewall/spam filter/personal servant. It will be generally be faster and simpler.
Ad-Aware from http://www.lavasoft.de/
LSPFix from http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm/
Updated Stinger from McAfee http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/
Experience enough to know valid windows processes and files.

Have all of this on a USB drive or CD. Will probably fit on a 64mb drive, unless your virus package is bulky.

Boot to safe mode

Start Task Manager or Proc Explorer and kill anything that doesn't look good, or everything that you know isn't part of windows. You could go to Control Panels:Admin Tools:Services and stop all services first, this will narrow the field.

Run Stinger, just let it scan memory and running apps. Don't wait for it to do a full system scan.

Run Ad-Aware, do the same. Just trying to ditch bad things that are actually running.

If you've gotten this far in 15 minutes, the machine probably isn't in too bad of shape. Dump all temp files, c:\temp, c:\winnt(windows)\temp, c:\documents and settings\username\local settings\temp, c:\documents and settings\username\local settings\temporary internet items

Update virus definitions and do a full scan. Latest SuperDAT from McAfee or Definitions from Symantec or whoever you use, should also be put on the USB drive or CD.

So, virus scan didn't deal with it, or couldn't stop/remove it? This is where it gets tricky and completely manual. This is the point where most people give up, since you really need to know what should be where in Win2k/XP/2k3. I'm really not thinking of 95/98/Me, if those are hosed just wipe it clean and move to XP home for $99-199

Run HiJackthis and look for gremlins. This tool really requires an eye for what is supposed to be there, but pay special attention to startup objects and BHOs(Browser Helper Objects aka evil Internet Explorer plugins)

Add/Remove programs. Go through it with the client. Anything they don't recognize, or know they don't need, ditch. This can be risky, since people forget, but compared to a reinstall . . .

Now for the real manual part . . .

Run lspfix and check for foreign entries. There are normally 2-4 LSP's present. I usually only do this if there are persistent network failures.

Check Hosts file at c:\winnt(windows)\system32\drivers\etc\hosts There really should only be one entry in here, for 127.0.0.1 localhost. You may have already checked this with hijackthis

Browse to c:\winnt(windows). Sort by date. On a default install, the file modify dates are going to be a long time ago. If you see anything from within the last few months, get suspicious. Ignore log/text files, but don't ignore those without an extension. Do the same for c:\winnt(windows)\system32 This can be a bit trickier, there are way more files in system32 than winnt(windows), but the same rule generally applies. Anything from the last 3-6 months is suspicious.

Do the same for c:\program files Delete any empty folders that your previous uninstall didn't remove. You should have an idea what is supposed to be here, after doing Add/Remove programs, so hack and slash the folders that you don't think belong.

In one of these deleting sprees you are sure to find something bad that won't let itself be deleted, usually a .dll that is registered and can't be removed. Never fear! Write down the .d

This is *the* spyware program right now. It used to be Gator (as that was included with Kazaa and many other popular programs) but CoolWebSearch has, at last glance (I no longer do tech support for a living), vastly surpassed it for number of infected PCs.

If you happen to be in the unfortunate majority infected by it, download CWShredder (free) to get rid of it, then get something like Ad-Aware to get rid of anything else you might have gotten along with it (as spyware often gets installed in packs, so to speak).

By the by, if you'd like to slashdot these people a bit, here's the CoolWebSearch website, though I obviously don't condone anything like that. ;^)

The Ad-Aware download page lists WhenU as its "latest uninstaller"

I can agree that installing spyware without someone's consent onto their computer is wrong, especially when that spyware, which I can bet those companies never internally tested to make sure nothing else that was harmful (like Dyfuca/related crap) would end up on the computer in the same fashion due to their own software.

On the other hand, I can still see and understand the need for advertisement.

Yet I still do not see how companies (like AOL, which installs crap that I don't need like the viewpoint media player, etc) can get away with forcing software onto your computer without your permission, especially when the software you're downloading is FREE TO ACCESS/DOWNLOAD/INSTALL. What I think should be done is that for every piece of unwanted software that gets installed on your computer, without your permission (like bargain buddy, 180 solutions, etc.,) you should have the legal right to charge this company for the usage of your hard drive space, system resources, etc, and have the legal right to sue them for damages that their spyware/adware/malware/etc., causes due to the companies not checking the reliability of their partner's sites/software. Say.. fifty dollars for every kilobyte of space you consume, and for evry copy that is found of said software on your computer, another 500 bucks for trying to violate the privacy and security of your computer.

On a side note, anti-spyware companies that fail to recognize these threats should also be able to be held accountable, on an individual case-by-case basis, to pay reparations/punitive damages done to the computer in question, whether by performance degradation, or even (in some rare cases) the loss of connectivity due to you removing that software (I've had this happen twice using Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE which requires a full format and re-install of an OS.

Just my thoughts, it'd make companies more liable across the world in any international court if something like this were to take effect. This would make them more responsible for their unwanted advertising, and would make them liable for ANY problems it causes due to negligence.

Lavasoft has put out something on that in their press release yesterday. The removal is not because of bribes, but because apparently WhenU no longer meets their threat threshold to be included in the spyware definitions database.

Microsoft Antispyware Beta running on it immediately detected an adware bundle (starts with a "G", I forgot the exact name)

Grokster. Mercora. Compare the two. They both have the matching string "er" preceded by an "o". Yup, same thing. And after all, who knows more about insecure programs than MS?

Yeah, it's a false alarm. Try AdAware. Maybe eventually MS will get their antispyware program working properly, or maybe it will follow the path of Microsoft AntiVirus (remember that POS? Granted, it was a while ago, and soon slipped into richly deserved oblivion.)

On the other hand, the question is about windows. Here's the best freeware list I've found, taken off of the neowin.net forums. These are not guaranteed Clean, but most of them are. Also, you might want to check tinyapps.org, which specializes in SMALL apps (usually not enough space for ad/spyware).
Category 3D Graphics: ----JunkCharactersToDefeatLameness/CharacterCountF ilterForAValidList----
3Delight Free - http://www.3delight.com/index.htm
Anim8or - http://www.anim8or.com/
Aqsis - http://www.aqsis.com/
Blender - http://www.blender3d.org/
gmax - http://www.discreet.com/products/gmax/
Houdini (Free Edition) - http://www.sidefx.com/apprentice/index.html
Maya Personal Learning Ed. - http://www.alias.com/eng/products-services...ple/i ndex.shtml
Now3D - http://digilander.libero.it/giulios/Eng/homepage.h tm
OpenFX - http://www.openfx.org
SOFTIMAGE|XSI EXP - http://www.softimage.com/products/exp/v3/
Toxic - http://www.toxicengine.org/
Wings 3D - http://www.wings3d.com/
Category Anti-Virus:----JunkCharactersToDefeatLameness/Char acterCountFilterForAValidList----
AntiVir - http://www.free-av.com/
Avast - http://www.avast.com/i_idt_1018.html
AVG - http://www.grisoft.com/
ClamWin - http://www.clamwin.com/
Category Anti Spyware:----JunkCharactersToDefeatLameness/Charact erCountFilterForAValidList----
Ad-aware - http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/
Bazooka - http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/index.html
Diet K - http://www.dietk.com/
SpyBot Search & Destroy - http://spybot.safer-networking.de/
SpywareBlaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.htm l
SpywareGuard - http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html
Category IRC Clients:----JunkCharactersToDefeatLameness/Charact erCountFilterForAValidList----
BersIRC - http://www.bersirc.com/
BitchX - http://bitchx.org/download.php
HydraIRC - http://www.hydrairc.com/
TinyIRC - http://www.tinyirc.net/
XChat - http://www.silverex.org/news/
Category Audio Players:----JunkCharactersToDefeatLameness/Charact erCountFilterForAValidList----
1by1 - http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~pesch
Billy - http://www.sheepfriends.com/?page=billy
CoolPlayer - http://coolplayer.sourceforge.net/
DeliPlayer. http://www.deliplayer.com/
Foobar 2

Not really true. Some CWS variants are really really hard to remove (in extreme cases, using the oxymoronically-named HackerDefender rootkit to disguise itself, plus hide and shut down CWShredder, AdAware, Spybot S&D et al when you try to install them), but everything is possible.

Basically, if CWShredder, Spybot and AdAware don't work for you, and you can't see anything on your HijackThis! log, first step is to search on the now slightly outdated CWS Chronicles and then on many of the excellent anti-spyware forums out there, all of which have encountered more variants of CWS than you could ever imagine. If you can't find someone else with the same problem, then post your HJT logs and other stuff and someone should be able to help you.

These parasites (it's not all spyware anymore) are now really, really, really out of hand - the CWS people, especially, but there's even worse people out there - and something needs to be done to stop them. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen anytime soon - since the companies that make most of these are "legitimate businesses", as opposed to idiot teenagers with Visual Basic. Shame.

Yeah, my other computer is Linux too. So what?

The several hours to install all that stuff included a lot of time wandering away from the computer while it took forever to do who knows what and download various updates (and sit like a brick waiting for user input). 25MB of updates just for the preinstalled Norton software and it made me reboot no less than six (6) times during that process, so every time you go back to the computer it's sitting there like a lump waiting for you to click "reboot". Just because you aren't around doesn't make the time go any faster. It usually makes the whole process slower since you aren't there to click every unnecessary dialog that pops up.

The time also included Spybot S&D, Adaware, Spyware Blaster, Norton's firewall, and configuration of the various options in each application to make them actually do what they needed to do without user intervention, which the owners were not capable of. Plus configuration of three different desktops for the people who would be using the computer, so they can keep all their files and settings separate. The 3-5 minute login/logout/reboot processes must have ended up adding an hour or more to my time. After the RAM upgrade it logs in/out in like 20-30 seconds. Still slower than a Mac at less than one quarter the "speed".

Instant on? Any fool knows desktop computers aren't instant on. No need to be facetious or sarcastic. But when someone buys a brand new 2.8GHz computer with 256MB RAM and it boots up and switches between users slower than an old 333MHz with 32MB I have at home, I find it upsetting and ridiculous. A 2.8GHz computer should be fast, especially when it's not running anything. The extra 512 made a lot of the problem go away, but it shouldn't have been necessary, and it added to the base cost of the computer. Before the RAM upgrade it was not "perfectly usable", it was dog slow, like their 5-year-old PC which runs Win98 and is basically dying. For further comparison I've also seen an ancient 350MHz iMac running Mac OS X and it is perfectly usable and was even before we upgraded its memory. Booting up and logging in and out are all reasonably quick, and that computer was new in 1999.

Remember what they say about assumptions. I said "we" there because "we" as a group decided that she should invest another $100 with Crucial.com and get another 512MB stick of RAM. It turned out to be a good decision, since it made the computer "perfectly usable". Before that it was not "ok", which was the whole point. It was so slow it made me and the owners think that a lot of cash had just been wasted on a piece of junk.

I don't buy PCs. The next computer I do buy will be a Mac. Also, you can almost always get cheaper RAM upgrades from someplace like Crucial.com rather than buying from the OEM. Yes, you can even get RAM upgrades for Macs there, you don't have to buy everything from Apple.

Then use Linux. I wasn't talking about 'the total cost of ownership', just the initial cost of purchasing one from Dell and Gateway vs. other PC manufactures.

I was just making a comment that I didn't think base cost was the whole story. It wasn't aimed directly at you, but at anyone who might read it as they browse the comments attached to this story. I raised a separate issue for consideration by others. Ask yourself if it was really necessary to respond by talking to me like I'm an idiot.

You may also want to read that link about Dell's customer service that you gave me, funny thing is I see a lot of hardware problems being discussed. Hard drives dying after a week, things like that.

Actually, Dell will be more than happy to remove spyware for you. I have a friend who ran into this exact situation the other day, but Dell wanted to charge him $40+ to remove it, since this obviously isn't included in the warranty or regular tech support. The solution? I pointed him to http://www.lavasoft.de/ and Ad-aware removed it for free.

This is because Microsoft allows spyware to be installed as part of its critical updates!

Last month I watched as a friend:

1. removed his machine form the network
2. installed Windows 2000 on a new box from CDs
3. installed both spybot and AdAware 6.0 pro (anti-spyware tools).
4. ran a scan of the system (no spyware problems were found)
5. plugged in his machine behind a firewall
6. accessed (via IE) the Microsoft OS updates and office 2000 updates sites
7. downloaded the service packs and critical updates
8. disconnected his system from the network
9. installed the service packs and critical updates
10. Reran the spyware scan
11. looped back to step 5 until there were no more service packs and critical updates to install in step 6/7

During the last update and spyware scan cycle, AdAware discovered a spyware issue in the registry!

FYI: The spyware entry came into by friends system as a result of one of these Microsoft critical updates:

• Office 2000 Service Pack 3 - English version
• Outlook 2000 SR-1 View Control Security Update
• Office 2000 Security Update: UA Control Vulnerability
• Office 2000 Security Patch: KB822035
• Word 2000 Security Patch: KB830347
• Word 2000 Security Patch: KB824936
• Excel 2000 Security Patch: KB830349
• Outlook 2000 Update: December 18, 2002 - English version
• Outlook 2000 Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) Update: Security - English version
• Microsoft Office 2000/Windows 2000 Registry Repair Utility - English version
• Office 2000 WordPerfect 5.x Converter Security Patch: KB824993 - English version
• Access 2000 Snapshot Viewer Security Patch: KB826292 - English version
• Security Update for Office 2000: WordPerfect 5.x Converter (KB873380) - English version
• Microsoft GDI+ Detection Tool (KB873374)
• Security Update for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 (KB833989)

AdAware discovered:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 20-09-2004 10-33-41.bckp)
ALEXA
obj[0]=RegKey : SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\{c95fe080-8f5d-11d2-a20b-00aa0 03c157a}

For more info on ALEXA spyware see:

• http://www.itellu.com/spyware_alexa.htm
• http://simplythebest.net/info/spyware/alexa_spywar e.html

This is not the 1st time that I have seen somebody install a Microsoft critical update and receive spyware. No wonder Gates is not interested in building anti-spyware into his products!

does it automatically and painlessly migrate all necessary MSIE data?

In my experience, yes. It moves everything across, including saved passwords according to the list... same with Thunderbird. If your non-techy user has installed any application before (InstallShield etc) then they'll figure out Firefox easily. Just follow the instructions to install, and when it's run, it'll import everything from Internet Explorer straight away.

And what about utilities to remove the spyware his machine may already be infested with? Any suggestions?

I've used Ad-aware (http://www.lavasoft.de/) a bit but normally I run a scan using that and then find and take the rest out manually. Ad-aware would probably serve to confuse if the user isn't at all techy however, and no malware removal tool works every time.

Was it only me that misread the article summary that it's adware and not AdAware http://www.lavasoft.de/? Its been some time since I used that product....(MS-free for a year now)

Most of my work as a PC tech these days is removing spyware and trojans from user's machine. Some of the stuff out there is really, really nasty. Spyware creators have now started employing trojan tacticts such as wrapping the spyware files in rootkits to hide files and registry entries. I suspect this is mostly due to the money involved. The more bucks that are in the game the nastier these critters will become.

I just wish everyone ran a tool like Trojan Hunter or Ad-aware, as it would make my job much easier. After cleaning the same stuff from the 10th machine the same day you get kind of fed up...

We all know spyware is a fucking waste of both resources and internet bandwidth, please do everyone a favour and install either Ad Aware from http://www.lavasoft.de/ or Spybot Search & Destroy from http://www.spybot.info/.

If you happen to run an OS where these aren't supported (everything but win*) just ignore this post :-).

PATIENT (raising his arm): Doctor! It hurts when I do this. What should I do?
DOCTOR: Don't do that!

My partner and I carry CD's with the latest patches (Blaster, Sasser, etc.), Stinger, Spybot, AdAware and CWShredder.

The XP machine doesn't connect to the network--router or not--until are the patches are on, anti-spyware measures are installed and the built-in firewall is configured. No exceptions.

I was battling ad/spyware by hand the other week, then downloaded a demo copy here at work, on recommendation from a buddy.

I was amazed at how much crap (about 6 - 8 processes and about 5 -8 objects, a few Registry keys and dozens of other files)had gotten onto my system (128 MB RAM 700 Mhz PIII XP box - I'm a Fed). The machine seemed to run about 30% faster after Ad-aware full-cavity searched out the schmutz.

I'd heartily recommend Ad-aware to anyone. If Spybot's better, that's gotta be a heckuva product.

are all y'all nuts? Reinstalling the OS once a month or even once a year? Holy shit! My current box is 4 years old and I've never reinstalled the OS and hope I never have to.

Once a month I consider rather excessive, but for a Windows box, reinstalling at least once a year greatly reduces the kruft. After a clean install, you can feel the improved responsiveness.

Anyway, my list of the first ten (+1 x2):

0) Turn off half of the default Windows crap (services, the recycle bin, CD autostart, etc), and perform assorted registry tweaks to stop Windows from acting like a crippled DOS-box-with-GUI (ala Win95) with only 64MB of RAM (such as LargeSystemCache, NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate, CompletionChar, and DisablePagingExecutive).
1) PageDefrag, which keeps your registry and pagefile in a single contiguous file (though you should always have your min and max pagefile the same, so that doesn't get fragmented in the first place).
2) AntiVir. No sane person goes without an AV program, and IMO, this counts as the best of the free ones (for that matter, I consider it better than Norton as well - Slightly more awkward autoupdates, but it doesn't hog system resources). Best of all, as a non-USian program, it doesn't deliberately ignore "official" virii such as the FBI's Magic Lantern.
3) AdAware. We all know what it does.
4) SpyBot. Ditto, and it catches some things that AdAware doesn't (and vice-versa).
5) Mozilla, of course.
6) Winamp. I still prefer the v2.x series, but, gotta have at least one of them.
7) TeraTerm Pro and TeraTerm SSH. Technically two installs, but only a moron would use unencrypted telnet these days.
8) Calypso, a really nice (and free-as-in-beer) email program. Want the latest, greatest features in your email program, making it all but indistinguishable from a full-featured web browser and media player? Don't use this. Want a safe medium for text communication, with fairly powerful regexp filtering? You'll consider Calypso a godsend.
9) The GIMP. 'nuff said.
10) Finally, a compiler (or three... The next dozen installs after this one would include various other dev tools). Currently I still prefer Borland C 5.02, sadly not free. Although advancing technoology has already made it basically obsolete, it has what I consider the most straightforward IDE of any development suite out there.
0, part 2) Repeat step 0, since by this point Windows will have tried to undo half of my changes from the first time.

Okay. Ego-post of the day done.

Amen to the comments on EditPlus! Great damn program for the money.

I have more than 10 in my "start from scratch" install, so here goes:

• Acrobat 5
• AdAware 6
• EditPlus (the best damn win32 text editor.)
• Macromedia Fireworks
• Microsoft Remote Desktop (damn good Terminal for Win32)
• Microsoft Office (counting it as one program)
• Nero
• Offline Explorer Pro
• Putty (god bless Simon Tatham!)
• Screen Calipers
• Trillian
• TweakUI
• VirusScan Enterprise
• WinAmp
• WinZip

I'm going to have to check out FileZilla... I've used CuteFTP, LeechFTP, and some others... I've never found one I'm completely happy with. PDF Creator and SpyBot SS look like good programs to have too... thx for the links!

Cygwin usually goes on a machine after a while, but it's an "install as needed" item. I've decided to use RealAlternative instead of installing RealPlayer for the rare occasions I need to view a RAM stream.

FYI, I am posting AC for a reason. The company I work for does roll-outs and tech support for small cable companies. Scripts are in place to automatically deactivate accounts with high upload/download bandwidth (meaning trojan p2p programs) and techs monitor e-mail usage. Problem with an account? Notify account holder and de-activate account. If the account holder can't be notified, the account is de-activated anyways.

It's time people start taking responsibility for their actions when using a computer. Computers need to be patched frequently with Windows Update. AntiVirus programs such as Norton Antivirus, Mcafee VirusScan, or Trend Micro PC-Cillin (my personal favorite) are needed with updates and scans run, at the very least, weekly. Computers also need anti-trojan programs such as The Cleaner and anti-spyware programs such as Spybot Search & Destroy and Adaware. Even go as far not to use the default Internet programs, Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Instead, use free, open source programs such as Mozilla Firefox (browser) and Thunderbird (e-mail).

Naturally, the majority of people on /. know this, but we need to spread the word.

Kazaa lite isn't as bad as Kazaa. Not only did Kazaa load my computer with spyware, but when I got rid of it with Ad-Aware, my network connection broke! Kazaa is evil, K-lite++ is, although not neccessarily good, better.

Adaware seems to not be maintained anymore

How do you figure? Ad-Aware 6 came out at the end of January 2003 and has had at least three point releases since then. The most recent signature update I have from them is 1/10/2004. Maybe you're not looking in the right place.

Ad-Aware rocks my world. http://www.lavasoft.de/ Works well for elminating spyware, and it's free.

In other news... our weapons for cleaning this crap off have not changed their names:

Spybot

Ad-Ware

Davak

While this software may have been legal, it's methods IMHO should definitely NOT be. I would jump at the chance to join the butt kicking posse going after the sleaze/parasite/spy-ware vermin!

"It's scum like this in my industry that lead to my handle"

From the website:

* Lock down sensitive areas in your memory and registry to keep them from being compromised!
* Real-time blocking of browser hijack attempts and drive by downloads!
* Real-time blocking of forced installations and activeX!

It has a pretty slick interface to boot. Worth a look.

The AC is probably right, though I wouldn't know for sure, since I wouldn't be getting pop-ups even if /. had/has them. Either way, if you don't have it, I would recommend getting Ad-Aware or Spybot (haven't used it personally, I hear it's better but there's more danger of messing up your system if you're not sure what you're doing). Then go download Opera or Mozilla and quit dealng with the pop-ups!

AVG AntiVirus (free for home use)

Mozilla.org: Suite (browser, mail/news); Firebird (browser); Thunderbird (mail/news) [all free]

OpenOffice.org office suite (free)

Kerio Personal Firewall (free for home use)

WinAMP multimedia (free)

Trillian IM client (AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Y!) [free version available]

AdAware privacy protector (free for home use)

AnalogX random ultilities(many freebies)

There doesn't seem to be a huge lack of free products that ship with most Linux distros, and I don't use it as a general OS enough to point to anything specific, hence most of my list (but not all) is Windows only. Sorry.

-bZj

Here is the correct link for Ad-Aware.

Some /.'ers have familiy that all know C++ apparently...anyway

Winamp
Ad-Aware
Sygate Personal Firewall(Zone alarm sucks)
cDex 1.51(CD ripping software)
Mozilla Firebird popup blocker is nice, esp for clueless users and children

Use AdAware to remove the scumware from your computer, and sleep a little easier.

So far I have had two friends come over to my house with thier PC's and tell me "It keeps rebooting."

Both had cable internet. One had no firewall and one had a software firewall. The software firewall had been helpfully turned off by some spyware program. Ad-aware http://www.lavasoft.de found over 200 spyware programs on the pc.)

I wish someone would release an anti code red worm or two. I still see pages and pages of code red attempts in my logs. After, how many months? , any machine that is not code red patched is probably not going to be.

While I am ranting how about an anti Kazza worm and an anti Comet Cursor worm.

I hope no one is working on a worm that changes the passwords in a windows box? That would create a mess.

Question:

I am seeing a lot of imcp type 8 traffic and domain-udp traffic aimed at my firewall today from all over the place. Much more then normal. Is the antiworm doing this or something else.

Fortunately there's Ad-Aware that helps to remove most of the spyware. It's usually the first thing I use when I have to 'fix' someone's windows pc.

Essentially, if you just get passingly familiar with browsing the registry, you can save yourself a lot of headaches in the long run. If anything is a problem, it's not that the registry is unmanagable, but that that regedit.exe is such a crude tool for browsing the database: really you ought to be able to use something with global find & replace, etc, but regedit doesn't provide anything like that. A better alternative is Lavasoft's RegHance, which makes working with the registry a bit easier -- and while you're at it, Lavasoft's AdAware for cleaning out spyware regularly.

In any case though, if you just get a rough feel for how things are organized, then you realize that there are only a handful of places where broken software can pull the system performance down. Just keeping the registry key for launching software on boot time well pruned gets you 80% of the way there, and pruning IE's reg tree of parasites (as AdAware can do for you automagically) gets you to 95% there most of the time.

Hearing people say that a regular reinstall is a better idea than registry maintainence is like hearing people advocate regular engine rebuilds on your car when a periodic oil change would have been much cheaper & much less painful -- it's a weird combination of naivete, ignorance, and cargo cultism that has never really made sense, and is only worse now that Win2k & WinXP are really pretty mature operating systems that don't need to be handled in such a hamfisted way anymore. Please join the 21st century & quit reinstalling your OS -- you'll be glad you did :-)

Essentially, if you just get passingly familiar with browsing the registry, you can save yourself a lot of headaches in the long run. If anything is a problem, it's not that the registry is unmanagable, but that that regedit.exe is such a crude tool for browsing the database: really you ought to be able to use something with global find & replace, etc, but regedit doesn't provide anything like that. A better alternative is Lavasoft's RegHance, which makes working with the registry a bit easier -- and while you're at it, Lavasoft's AdAware for cleaning out spyware regularly.

In any case though, if you just get a rough feel for how things are organized, then you realize that there are only a handful of places where broken software can pull the system performance down. Just keeping the registry key for launching software on boot time well pruned gets you 80% of the way there, and pruning IE's reg tree of parasites (as AdAware can do for you automagically) gets you to 95% there most of the time.

Hearing people say that a regular reinstall is a better idea than registry maintainence is like hearing people advocate regular engine rebuilds on your car when a periodic oil change would have been much cheaper & much less painful -- it's a weird combination of naivete, ignorance, and cargo cultism that has never really made sense, and is only worse now that Win2k & WinXP are really pretty mature operating systems that don't need to be handled in such a hamfisted way anymore. Please join the 21st century & quit reinstalling your OS -- you'll be glad you did :-)

Gator along with other spyware has been responsible of 50%-60% of all unresponsive PCs I have had to deal with. It is a no-fun program that should be ranked right next to KLEZ or FunLove (probably even higher).

Last time I checked gator didn't provide an unistall feature. If you were going to get it out of your system you had to hunt it down manually in the filesystem and the registry. Fortunately the folks at Lavasoft provide an excelent cure for non comercial use. Ideally they should integrate their product with a decent AV scanner, and thus offer a truly complete solution.

I'd really like to know how effectual advertising via annoying popups really can be. I mean I thought it was proven that internet advertising doesn't work. Right now I'm reading slashdot with ads all over it, unless I'm looking right at them I'll never even think twice about them.

I've taken to running ad-aware checks on all the patron computers frequently

I'm a fan of ad-aware and all, but I'm not sure most people are aware of its licensing terms. From their FAQ:

Can I use Ad-aware Standard (free) version at work?

No, Ad-aware Standard is free for individual use only. For profit business entities, governmental entities, or educational institutions, must purchase a valid end-user license in order to use the software.

Just so you know.

That line is a little up for interpretation, though, and I haven't looked at the license itself. Perhaps a opensource equivalent should be created? Not that I, as yet, know anything about removing adware.

Just one more reason why I use mozilla religiously and disable activeX downloads in MSIE by using X-Setup.

Seriously, gator has gotten to epidemic levels. I'm a university student (in Canada) and I've gotten to the point where whenever I log onto a machine, I automatically fire up Ad-Aware and scrup the machine for spyware. (Every engineering student gets 500 mb to store/install whatever.) 60%+ of the time gator is running, plus there's a bunch of bonzibuddy shite. The really bad ones have cnsmin installed which is much harder to get rid of. (Ad-aware can't do it on its own.)

The point I'm trying to make here is that it's gotten to the stage where it's "everyone for themselves." The web is the wild wild west and only those gunslingers who are the fastest and smartest remain at the top of the food chain.

Perhaps the good people at Lavasoft could add this kind of scumware to their list of Naughties?

Just a thought.

Add a pass of Ad-Aware and you'll get a good picture of how I made the money to pay for my first year university books. If it's a family and they have kids, Ad-aware always turns up a bunch of sextracker cookies along with bonzi buddy, gator, cydoor, etc. I wonder how ethical it is to benefit from the ignorance of other people about the dangers malware/spyware/trojans/etc?

http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=spyware& tg=dl-2001

I would personally recommend Lavasoft Ad-Aware from Lavasoft.de. "Ad-aware is a free multi spyware removal utility that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware and scumware components and lets you remove them safely. It is updated frequently. If you are new to Ad-aware, we recommend you read the getting started tutorial."

Don't forget to download the Reference file Updater v2.01 for Ad-aware.