Slashdot Mirror

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!

Ok, but what about the other person who looks at the same issue and then decides to, instead of switching away from IE, install SpyBot (which is free), plus a great free (for home use) antivirus (Avast Home Edition).

These seem like steps one should take no matter what browser one uses. SpyBot can even trap spyware right before it's installed... So if one went thos route, there is little incentive to switch away from your browser, which works, and whose interface you are familiar with.

If they are going to stick with Windows, the three things I always install are Zonealarm - free firewall, Adaware spyware removal - free for personal use, and Spybot search and destroy - another free spyware removal that complements Adaware also inncoculates IE against common exploits. There are also good free virus checkers (don't know any off the top of my head) but people I have helped have all already had virus checking software installed at least.

I also usually try to get them to install a router with a built in firewall for extra protection.

I have had no problems migrating people from IE to Firefox 1.0PR. It has imported bookmarks and cookies flawlessly so far.

Get AdAware SpyBot S&D, and my favorite flavor of anti-virus/firewall Trend Micro Pc-Cillin I'm too lazy to make a user account to post this once. - Nate MC

This is a bit offtopic but what the hey. You ask serveral questions in this post so I my answer may not answer all your points:

To the best of my knowledge Firefox will only offer to migrate IE bookmarks. It doesn't do cookies although if you are willing to mess about by hand I think you can get IE to export it's cookies to a file and then copy the cookies file to the firefox profile.

Will the migration be painless? Who knows? It's been generally painless for me on recent machines but that's no guarantee for you.

Two of the most famous spyware removal utilities are Adware and Spybot search and Destroy.

I haven't really customized my firewalls. All the software I use is free.

Win2k: AVG, Ad-Aware, SpyBot - Search and Destroy, Spyware Blaster

Linux: nada

We are still cleaning up and testing to ensure that the infection does not return. We did discover that we had several machines throughout the organization that had various spyware and other downloaded games and programs. One that stands out and may well have been the entry point for the worm is the ARES P2P program.

Sounds like p2p is only one of many potential culprits in this case. From prior experience, I'd be more inclined to blame spyware programs which are deliberately designed to socially-engineer users into compromising their own systems.

Once you've got spyware running, the security of your system becomes dependent on the integrity of spyware creators who have already passed the ethical brightline of coercing users to install their product through either dishonesty or direct exploits.

The content that can be reached via P2P software poses some degree of security risk in untrained hands, but that risk is miniscule compared to the mind-boggling insanity of discounting the danger of spyware which has gained access to your network without necessarily even being intentionally placed there by a user. If spyware is running, the system is compromised. End of story.

...and that's why I run PeerGuardian Lite with the malware/evil only blocklist and Spybot S&D in active-protect mode on my system and anywhere else I have access to. You should too.

However, desktop firewalls can serve as a backup defense in a layered security model. They are also useful for providing a layer of security that is based on applications and addresses (IP/port#) which augments the (external hardware) router's security of addresses and packet inspection. Another benefit is redundancy: If the hardware firewall has a (yet unknown) bug, the software firewall may prevent any attack based on it.

Another best practice is to not log into an OS as Administrator/root, especially to read e-mail, browse the web, IM (Instant messaging), etc. Check your system logs, run anti-virus software and anti-spyware programs (I use a combination of Java Cool's spyware blaster & spyware guard, and Spybot Search & Destroy (the programs are complementary, each one protects in its own way).

Error Messages received when loading SP2:

Title of error message: migrate.exe - Entry Point Not Found

Error message 1: The procedure entry point GetIUMS could not be located in the dynamic link library MSDART.DLL.

Error message 2: The procedure entry point GetTextExtentPointI could not be located in the dynamic link library MSDART.DLL.

Resolution: There is a new MSDART.DLL in Windows XP Service Pack 2. Apparently, SP2 sometimes tries to use MSDART.DLL before it has copied it. If you happen to have an old version of MSDART.DLL on the system you are upgrading, it crashes and destroys your entire installation of Windows XP. After the crash, one machine would still boot, but the initial boot screen said "Windows Media Center" instead of "Windows XP Professional". This particular machine has been used by a very responsible office manager for two years without problems, and has never been near Windows Media Center. Very weird.

The newest version of MSDART.DL_ is in the random folder name created when running SP2, in the i386 sub-folder. This folder is deleted after SP2 finishes.

Run the command: EXPAND.EXE msdart.dl_ to unpack to MSDART.DLL. Then copy the new, SP2 version of MSDART.DLL to the C:\winnt\system32 or C:\windows\system32 folder, whichever is correct. (The second may be correct if you upgraded to Windows XP from Windows 98.)

I talked to someone at MS Tech support about this, who correctly identified that it was a problem with MSDART.DLL, but told me to download MDAC_TYP.EXE from Microsoft and install it. This did NOT solve the problem. MDAC_TYP.EXE has an old version of MSDART.DLL that does not contain the needed entry points, apparently.

The MS technical support representative spoke very slowly and said a lot of inappropriate things. I think it a big company like Microsoft could give its employees a better grade of weed.

After you have this problem with SP2, if you fix SP2 while it is running by copying the new version of MSDART.DLL, you MUST load SP2 again. Otherwise some users may have inoperative icons. Very weirder.

If you use the words "Microsoft" and "Quality" in the same sentence, does God strike you dead? Apparently not.

You can call Microsoft about SP2: Call 1-800-936-5700. Choose 1. Wait until the recorded message gets through trying to get you to go elsewhere and press 5. It was free for me, at least. The two support representatives to whom I talked did not help me. However, they were pleasant and conceivably might help reduce a feeling of loneliness.

Other issues:

SP2 may not be able to run on an infected system. Run virus checkers and spyware checkers before trying to load Windows XP SP2. I recommend Grisoft's AVG free personal virus checker.

For spyware removal, run both the free AdAware Personal and the free Spybot Search and Destroy. One may find things the other doesn't.

Virus Checkers: Disable virus checkers and non-SP2-aware software firewalls while loading SP2.

ZoneAlarm software firewall: Upgrade to the latest version of ZoneAlarm, if you use it, before trying to install SP2. Disable the Windows firewall; ZoneAlarm Pro provides much better security. For example, ZoneAlarm Pro renames the file name extensions of attachments that have file name extensions that signify an executable file. There are 44 of those, if I remember correctly. ZoneAlarm provides outgoing protection, as well as incoming protection; the firewall in SP2 provides only incoming protection.

Disable harassments. After you load SP2, there are two new entries in Control Panel: Windows Firewall and Security Center. Go to Security Center/ Change the Way Security Center alerts me/ to disable the messages that haras

I prefer Spybot

Not that I use windows or anything...

Because there are still people who don't know:

Ad-Aware
Search & Destroy

To keep your pc running fast and without too many crashes..

I use all three of these programs. No one program finds everything. Oh, and also use a virus scanner, of course.

I've found that Spybot Search and Destroy" is actually better than Adaware, though I make no guarantees, and often use both.

I'd suggest giving it a try as well, though, for those persistent problems.

I've found the following helpful for the no-budget set:

Avast Home Edition Virus Scanner

Spybot Search and Destroy

HijackTHIS - Find out whats in your PC. (semi-advanced)
The site for HiJackThis seems to be down for now. THere are a few other little nifty freebie aps in there, too. Heres a mirror download site

AdAware - picks up a lot of crap in your PC

(Anyone wanna offer up a few opinions on this stuff? You know you do.)

Of course, the obligatory comment of "Use Mozilla, keep your shit patched, don't click every OK button you see" still applies.

Bah. Im suprised no one has mentioned housecall yet:

http://housecall.antivirus.com

Housecall is a web-based virus scanner that, since it is loaded anew every time, always has the latest virus definitions. Since it installs nothing but temporary cache files, you dont have to worry about it slowing down your machine.

Because of the nature of the application it can't always clean the offending virii/malware, but it will at least alert you to their presence and give you their names so that you can manually remove them. When combined with stinger, spybot and google it's an excellent choice for on-site calls to machines without AV or for your old boxen that just cant afford the extra cycles for full-time AV bloat.

If you prefer to do the offline thing, try the Knoppix anti-virus distribution (weak link I know). Once again it isn't a permanently installed application and since the OS isn't running it can slap down bugs before they're loaded into memory.

Cheers!

ok if you run windows you need a virus checker

are you a home user ?
if so

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/

and get avg for free
Now you need a firewall

http://www.free-firewall.org/

then I would advice get rid of spyware with spybot
donate something to the project if you like it...

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/


regards

John Jones

The trick with qttask.exe is that you've got to rename the executable. qttask.exe.bak or the like.

Even with Sysinternals' ProceXP, Spybot, Ad-Aware, BHODaemon, Hijackthis, ect, I can't find the damn thing's entry point.

As far as Real goes, I'd recommend Real Alternative instead.

Just in case his site gets /.'ed, here is his impressive list of links. - Jonah Hex in non-karma whore mode.
Downloads
Linux Wipe Tools: Three shell scripts for securely wiping all data from the swap partition, wiping unused disk space on the root partition, or wiping an entire disk, by Thomas C. Greene.

No Messenger: A batch file that eliminates Windows Messenger and fixes the problem of Outlook Express loading slowly when Messenger is absent, by an anonymous friend of The Register.

FileCheck MD5: A free, simple, lightweight MD5 utility for Windows, courtesy of Brandon Staggs.

Errata: A text file containing my various blunders and ommissions in the book (right-click and "save as," or view as HTML). Last updated 6 June 2004.

Links to Other Goodies
Mozilla: A free, open source Web browser and e-mail client for Linux and Windows, feature rich and far more secure than Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Recommended for novices.

Firefox: A free, open source, stand-alone Web browser for Linux and Windows. Very light and fast. Recommended for intermediate users.

Thunderbird: A free, open source e-mail and news client for Linux and Windows. Recommended for intermediate users.

GnuPG: Gnu Privacy Guard; a free, open source replacement for PGP, for Windows and Linux.

WinPT: Windows Privacy Tools; a free, open source GUI frontend to GnuPG for Windows.

Anonymizer: Various services for anonymous Web surfing, e-mail, chat, etc.

OpenSSH: A free, open source SSH (Secure Shell) client and server for Windows and Linux.

PuTTY: A free, open source GUI frontend to OpenSSH for Windows.

Ethereal: A free, open source network traffic analyzer for Windows and Linux. Windows users will need to install WinPcap before installing Ethereal.

Ad-Aware: A free, closed source adware/spyware scanner for Windows.

SpyBot Search & Destroy: A free, closed source adware/spyware scanner for Windows.

Sam Spade: CGI gateways to numerous online tools, such as whois, traceroute, etc.

SourceForge: A vast repository of open-source software for Windows and Linux. The site can be overwhelming, but it has a search engine to help users locate packages.

GNU Project: The home base of the open source movement. A repository of open source products, chiefly for UNIX-compatible systems.

Security Information
About Internet/Network Security: An informative and useful site dealing with computer and Internet security, with reviews of security products and books, practical howtos and tips, and links to numerous tools and information resources, geared toward beginners and intermediate users.

SANS Institute: An educational and research organization with a vast archive of security research documents, news, and advisories, geared toward intermediate and advanced users.

CERT/CC: Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Cente

Norton Internet Security is shit. As you found out, it doesn't really protect you against anything.

I run Spybot S&D v1.3 with TeaTimer (aka Resident System Settings Protection) enabled. It watches the 235 places in windows things can make themselves auto-launch at startup, and a few important registry keys (such as the one where BHOs install themselves), and if anything so much as thinks about installing itself, you get a nice confirmation dialog.

As an added bonus, it actively monitors for 1,161 blacklisted malware processes and terminates them instantly upon detection (subsequently popping up a dialog informing you of what it's done and allowing you to undo it).

I find Adaware does an good job, but "SpyBot Search & Destroy" is an excellent companion to it, together they seem to get just about everything.

Spybot S&D also has an integrated BHO tool which will allow you to toggle a selected object as enabled or disabled, or remove it entirely. I have been using it for quite a while (though I don't bank online), and it seems to work pretty well.

• Click 'Tools', then goto 'Internet Options...'
  
• Click on the 'Advanced' tab, and look for the 'Browsing' section.
  
• Make sure the following options are unchecked:
  
  • Enable Install On Demand (Internet Explorer)
    
  • Enable Install On Demand (Other)
    
  • Enable third-party browser extensions (requires restart)
    
  
  
• Now click on the 'Security' tab. Make sure the 'Internet' zone is highlighted.
  
• Click on the 'Custom Level...' button.
  
• Make sure you have the following settings:
  
  • Download signed ActiveX controls: Prompt
    
  • Download unsigned ActiveX controls: Disable
    
  • Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe: Disable
    
  • Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins: Enable
    
  • Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting: Enable
    
  
  

If nothing else (it will be extremely difficult to police, after all), this bill will hopefully increase spyware awareness amongst the average n00b user. While most users are aware of the need for up-to-date antivirus packages, especially after the recent spate of high-profile hits, most are blissfully unaware of programs like Spybot Search and Destroy or Lavasoft AdAware, which I feel are just as critical a part of my security armoury as my firewall (ZoneAlarm) and my AV (NAV).

On a slight aside, Norton AV does include a certain amount of spyware scanning in their latest version (NAV 2004).

And recently, Internet Explorer stopped opening for me.

Me too.

Solution 1: Spybot
Solution 2 (when I got sick of repeating solution 1): Mozilla.

Incidentally, that article page sure looks wacked in Mozilla 1.6.

http://www.safer-networking.org/

The fine folks at Spybot S&D have some choice words about Google.

The fine folks at Spybot S&D have some choice words about Google.

Spybot is about the best spyware cleaner out there. Ad-Aware is also pretty good, but I think Spybot catches more. Spybot also has the advantage of being configurable to auto-run at system start, before spyware programs can execute. It takes a while to do its scan, but if you can spare the startup time, it's worth it. Also, it contains a tool called Resident that's supposed to install in IE and prevent known spyware from installing itself. Not sure how well it works, but maybe someone else can comment.

I also use Trend Micro's online virus scanner. Along with killing viruses, it also recognizes some malware programs. It isn't a substitute for Ad-Aware and Spybot but a complementary tool.

Also, for public access computers, you really need to jack up the security settings of Internet Explorer, or, better yet, ditch it in favor of Mozilla.

Education is also important. Many people have heard of viruses and worms, although they don't seem to have a clue how to protect themselves. Spyware, OTOH, is an unknown term to many people. They don't know what it is, what it does, how it got there, or how to remove it. Whenever you clean someone's computer, take an extra minute or two and sum up what happened to them. They may not seem to understand, but you've at least planted a seed of information, so maybe enlightenment will eventually come.

I deal with this crap every day at work, so I feel your pain.

what's the best way to get rid of this crap?

• Ad-aware
• Spybot
• Cool Web Shredder Specific to CWS, but if you've got that, this is a necessity
• And while you're at it, for your own computer, don't forget the virus-checker, the hardware firewall, and maybe even the software firewall. Public computers are a Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy, so if you're forced to use them, mentally adapt your practices to account for that. (Expect every virus/trojan/keycapture program written.)

And for the love of all that is holy, tell everybody you know to stop using IE. If you're the tech support guy for your friends and family, have them start using firefox. Because sooner or later, if you don't, they'll get CWS and you'll be at their house helping them for a LONG time.

You can get rid of it by running a personal firewall such as Kerio and scanning your system for spyware and what not with Ad-aware,Spybot-S&D, and Others

I took some precautions with my computer to prevent spyware but my roommate managed to mess it up pretty good, since then I have taken the correct steps to ensure protection. This is what I recommend if you want to keep a Windows computer safe from everything without paying for anything.

Whenever possible enable Automatic Updates for all applications (including Windows itself), if that's not an option update manually on a weekly basis.

System Protection:

Only use admin account when necessary.

Virus/Worm Protection/Removal:

Install AVG
Don't use Outlook Express use Thunderbird

Hacker/Worm Protection:

Enable XP Firewall (easiest) or Zonealarm or Kerio (my favorite)

Adware/Spyware/Pop-up Protection:

Don't use Internet Explorer use **** Frefox ****
If you have to use IE install the Google Toolbar
Run Spyware Blaster to give IE &/or Firefox more protection.
Install Spyware Guard and place in all users startup group to give real-time protection.

Adware/Spyware Removal:

Run SpyBot & Ad-Aware
In my experience each product alone doesn't get rid of everything, using both is the best way to go.

OR

Just take the Absolute Cheapest & Most Effective route and install Linux.

********
If you install Firefox you will want the following plugins, use Firefox to download the plugins.

Shockwave
Flash
Java

Why cant you? Almost any software can be script installed, pushed or pulled including SB. SB also includes a local update package to get updates from your own network similar to Norton LUAU and MS update for local networks.

I found that Spysweeper works better than SpyBot or others. It scans memory and can prevent Spyware and Adware from installing and schedules a regular scan in case they do install.

If you run an X86 PC system with Windows, There is a solution to the malware problem if you are not too chicken to use it. Buy Crossover Office if you really want to run MS-Office and other MS-Junk. Yes you heard me right, leave that POS called Windows for an OS that does not suffer from such bad malware and security prolems.

Is there anything better than ad-aware for solving this problem?

Why, yes, as it happens! ;)

I've read some suggestions to run both Adaware and Spybot - I've found either to be more than capable on their own, but then I tend to practice "safe-browsing": use Firefox, use Linux where possible, etc.

I support this kind of thing every day at work with the odd internet customer/staff member. Spybot has really helped out a lot - its free, small, and works great. I can believe the 12% figure, but here at the ISP I work for, its more like 60% of calls, only the customer doesn't know they are calling for this particular problem. For them, the internet and their computer has just bogged right down so they think something is wrong with the internet.

Spybot Search & Destroy [Best spyware cleaner IMHO, also immunizes against re-installation]
Javacool's Spyware Blaster [works well in conjunction with Spybot]

I used to use Lavasoft's AdAware but after it wasn't updated for a while someone recommended Spybot which I've stuck with.

I had an oppertunity to drive one of our state representatives around for a weekend. And one of the things that I came to understand is how incredably difficult it is to write legislation, that does what it is supposed to, only does what it is supposed to, is applied by procesecutor's that are too zealous and too lax and is not ripped appart by judges that are too conservative, liberal or senile.

It's kinda like writing a program that has to be bug-free on release, the spec's change constantly and the whole QA department is at a seminar the last week of production.

Slow and careful can be good, it's not like there isn't good antispyware software out there for free. Personaly I use Spybot S&D it's free as in beer, no cost, exceptS donations. You can find them at www.safer-networking.org.

Try Spybot (Decent speed download here).

Spybot is a bit over-sensitive (it whines about some tracking cookies and such minor issues), but it's effective.

The CoolWebSearch (CWS) browser hijacking variants are nasty alright! I have just helped someone get rid of one of these.

It's the first time I've encountered spyware that actually trashes your files. The CWS variant in this case had replaced the Windows Media Player executable with it's own little pet resident trojan. That was new to me. I had to resort to using the CWShredder (contains more info about CWS) and SpyBot Search & Destroy tools to remove all the cruft left on the system - Ad-aware couldn't handle it in this case. Of course WMP had to be installed afresh, so no anti-spyware tool can actually "repair" all the damage CWS variants cause.

I believe the line between spyware and virus is getting blurry.

Also of note is that I install Windows Media Player 9 because there is no way to uninstall WMP 8, but there is an undocumented way to uninstall WMP 9.

I also tune the services on the computer to only what is needed... This includes disabling the System Restore service. The only time I've found that the restore service would have been useful is when the computer fails to boot into windows. Unfortunately MS didn't have the foresight to allow restore points to be used from the install cd so the feature is useless.

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.

• Putty - A free (GPL) SSH terminal emulator
• Winzip - Yeah, you know what this is
• VLC - Free media player
• OpenOffice.org - I should stop doing these descriptions, its not as if youve heard of these things before!
• GIMP for windows - Yup, the infernal/eternal image editor
• Sharpdevelop - Free (GPL) .net IDE, requires the .net framework and SDK
• Bloodshed Dev-C++ - Excellent free (GPL) C and C++ IDE, using the Windows GCC port
• Thunderbird - Mail client
• Firefox - Web browser
• Adobe Acrobat Reader - PDF Reader
• PDFcreator - GPL PDF print driver for windows
• MessengerPro (Clickatell) - Non free SMS sender for windows, company does good bulk buy sms rates, i buy 500 at a time for less than $5
• Lavasoft Adaware and Spybot SS - For the essentials in life
• Topstyle - Free version of the excellent CSS editor for webdevelopment, if anyone knows a good free alternative, im open to suggestions :)
• SmartFTP - Great free for personal use FTP client, not found a better one yet! (I have, Filezilla it is excellent AND fully GPL, none of this non free shit, bub. :-) )
• MySQL-Front - Old version of the MySQL windows front end, much much better than the new one you pay for. Source isnt open and the old developer discontinued development, possibly one of the best advertisements for why OSS is good :(
• Editplus - Possibly the best editor ive found, not free im afraid, costs around $25

VLC -, like you mentioned, Free media player is a great media player, it blew me away. Better then Window's media player, and I know that my porno viewing habits are not going straight to Bill Gates.

One you didn't mention is Filezilla which is a good GPL ftp program instead of SmartFTP if you want to try another one out. (I must confess I use LeechFTP since I haven't gotten use to Filezilla just yet, although if you are into hosting files Filezilla is even better).

1. Firefox
2. The Adblock extension for Mozilla/Firefox
3. mplayer
4. Flash and Java plugins for the browers

Windows:

1. Putty
2. Firefox
3. Mozilla
4. The Adblock extension for Mozilla/Firefox
5. Spybot S&D
6. Flash/Java/Acroread plugins for the browsers
7. WinSCP
8. Cygwin (including XFree86 and Windowmaker)
9. OpenOffice

The only Windows I use is Windows XP Professional as a unix admin in a corporation, so some items may be notably absent. My entire Windows list is software that can be used royalty-free for commercial use )with an obvious emphasis on Free Software).

For example, I use XFree86 shipped with Cygwin for my X server, WinSCP for secure file transfer, Spybot S&D (and not AdAware, which is another excellent product, but would require a licensing fee be paid).

I don't use Winzip at all, since that functionality is built into the explorer interface in Windows XP Professional (don't know about the others), and is also available through Cygwin.

On the occasion I'm visiting a friend who runs Windows on a personal desktop, I also recommend Zinf, the audio player, since it's free software and just plays the music without any corporate spyware tie-ins, eg., contacting a server based on mp3 header fields as WMP and Winamp have started doing.

Considering the frequency with which I reinstall, here's my list for Windows (post-driver updates):

Mozilla Firefox - a must. even if it's not a necessity straight off as a browser, popup blocking makes it worth having immediately.
Trillian - what friends don't enjoy the logging on and off every 2 minutes as you have to reboot your comp for new settings to take place
SmartFTP - as a web developer this is a must, can't pretend to work without an FTP client.
Winamp (5) - I use it for everything media now. I'm an addict.
WinRAR - I know it's shareware but I still like it's ease of use and modifications to the Windows context menus.
Nero - my burning software of choice
ConTEXT - my editor of choice; see SmartFTP
Google Toolbar - unfortunately, I end up doing a lot of testing in IE and without this, I might as well kiss my peaceful browsing goodbye.
Spybot Search & Destroy - not so much of a necessity immediately, but the immunization qualities are great to set up from the get-go
Ad Aware - see Spybot

1. PuTTY (secure client)
2. Cygwin (Linux emulation layer)
3. Gaim (instant messaging)
4. Scite (editor)
5. Firefox (browser)
6. TortoiseCVS (version control)
7. Spybot S&D (malware detector)
   
8. Privoxy (filtering web proxy)
9. Gimp (graphics)
   
10. CacheSentry (to fix IE's cache, in case I use it)

These are not in the right order, just threw em up there as i thought of them.

I hope that by formatting, and reinstalling you mean, restoring a disk image? Ghost is the best I've found, not free (beer or speech), but saves you _a lot_ of time. If anyone knows a free equivalent let me know. Oh, and as someone else probably have mentioned, Ad-Aware and Spybot might save you the trouble...

• Mozilla
• Spybot S&D
• AVG Anti-virus
• Microsoft Visual Studio
• ActiveState Perl
• America's Army (gotta test the graphics card, you know.)
• Winamp 5.0
• Open Office

I install Mozzie first, then I download and run Spybot Search and Destroy and run the cleanup/immunize functions, and then I install AVG. Nothing else is an "absolute" but I usually install them. (I don't install Visual Studio on other people's boxes, of course!)

Well, I use my PC as a game box with some browsing only (with SSH if I need to access one of the unixish machines) so here's my stuff:

10 : Spybot Search & Destroy (Excellent spyware killer)
9 : Spyware Blaster (Recommended by Spybot author to run concurrently)
8 : Some form of browser.
7 : PuTTY (SSH client w/ tunnelling)
6 : Thief (awesome game)
5 : Thief 2 (more Thief!)
4 : Darkloader (allows one to run custom fan missions in the Thief games)
3 : System Shock 2 (creepy sci-fi rp/fps)
2 : For those days I feel like a slug-fest? Doomsday and the ol' Doom games. (adds real 3D and all the video card eye candy to Doom/Heretic/etc. A MUST HAVE!)
1 : Half Life You know it! (still has one of the best stories of any game around)

Actually, the first Google result on "Spybot Search and destroy", spybot search and destroy and even the single word spybot is... http://www.safer-networking.org/ which is, yes, the real Spybot Search & Destroy.

Yet again, Google does its job, which is why we like it so much.

However, the sponsored link over to the right, that's an impostor, which is why we're starting to get a bit iffy on Google. But hey, at least it separates 'em, doing what it was designed to do.