Somewhat Off Topic- Recommendation for Malware Detection

Somewhat Off Topic- Recommendation for Malware Detection
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Subject Author Date
Somewhat Off Topic- Recommendation for Malware Detection Lewis Angel 03-07-2008
Posted by VanguardLH on March 9, 2008, 9:52 am
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> Oh, and when trialing an anti-spyware product, you might want to
> check how much memory it eats up. PC Tools Spyware Doctor eats up
> about 36MB but can occasionally jump up to over 150MB (even with you
> doing nothing in its GUI).
>
> There are some system protections in Spyware Doctor that duplicate
> what Windows Defender and other security suites will protect.
> Duplication means duplicate prompts regarding the same detected
> change. However, many of these protections (under OnGuard) are
> disabled in the free version of Spyware Doctor. Browser Guard,
> Network Guard, Process Guard, and Startup Guard are all disabled and
> you cannot enable them in the free version. So to have those
> system-level protections, you WILL need to get something in addition
> to the free version of Spyware Doctor. Considering that all but one
> (File Guard) is disabled in the free version, Spyware Doctor
> consumes too much memory.
>
> Spyware Doctor is useful but understand that it is lureware trying
> to get you to "upgrade" (i.e., PAY) for the full version.
> Considering that almost all the "guard" protections are disabled, I
> would normally suggest to just leave their OnGuard function disabled
> and use Spyware Doctor as an on-demand scanner; however, disabling
> OnGuard does little to return the memory that Spyware Doctor
> consumes. 35MB is way too memory to consume for a security program
> that is only ran as an on-demand scanner (i.e., when you are not
> running the on-demand scan, the product should not consume ANY
> memory!).
>
> Unless you are buying the full (paid) version or you are willing to
> have a bunch of disabled "guards" consume memory then I'd suggest
> not bothering to use Spyware Doctor.

Oh, forgot to mention, PC Tools Spyware Doctor will NOT fix any
problems that it detects. It won't even delete tracking cookies.
When you attempt to "Fix" the detected pests, a window pops open
telling you that you have to *BUY* their commercial version. That
means Spyware Doctor is lureware, and bad lureware since not only do
they have you upgrade to get missing features from the crippled
version but they also require you to upgrade to do anything about any
detections they claim as pests. This is lureware that degenerates
into trashware (the trashbin is where this crap belongs).



Posted by Sebastian G. on March 9, 2008, 10:10 am
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VanguardLH wrote:


> Oh, forgot to mention, PC Tools Spyware Doctor will NOT fix any
> problems that it detects.


Well, how should it?

> It won't even delete tracking cookies.


Tracking cookies don't exist.

Posted by VanguardLH on March 9, 2008, 12:57 pm
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> VanguardLH wrote:
>
>
>> Oh, forgot to mention, PC Tools Spyware Doctor will NOT fix any
>> problems that it detects.
>
> Well, how should it?

So you run anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware or other security
products for what purpose? Just to alert you to a pest but then you
choose to go manually trying to eradicate the pest yourself without
any knowledge of even how the security product decided you had the
pest? Well, enjoy doing all the work yourself.

>> It won't even delete tracking cookies.
>
> Tracking cookies don't exist.


You don't understand the concept of cookies? You don't understand
that they can be used for tracking? You don't understand that they
are just .txt files and aren't themselves spyware but almost all
anti-spyware programs like to pretend they are so they have
*something* to report to the user of those products to make them look
like they are doing *something*?


Posted by Sebastian G. on March 9, 2008, 1:09 pm
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VanguardLH wrote:


>>> Oh, forgot to mention, PC Tools Spyware Doctor will NOT fix any
>>> problems that it detects.
>> Well, how should it?
>
> So you run anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware or other security
> products for what purpose?


Junk filtering and intrusion detection.

> Just to alert you to a pest but then you

> choose to go manually trying to eradicate the pest yourself


Indeed.

> without any knowledge

Flattening and rebuilding doesn't require any special knowledge.

> of even how the security product decided you had the pest?

Of course the first step is to verify the alert.

> Well, enjoy doing all the work yourself.

You're talking as if there was any alternative.

>>> It won't even delete tracking cookies.
>> Tracking cookies don't exist.
>
>
> You don't understand the concept of cookies?


No, you don't.

> You don't understand that they can be used for tracking?

I do understand that they can't be used for tracking on any sane browser
configuration, and especially that the usage of the DOMAIN attribute doesn't
make it intended for tracking.

> You don't understand that they

> are just .txt files and aren't themselves spyware but almost all
> anti-spyware programs like to pretend they are so they have
> *something* to report to the user of those products to make them look
> like they are doing *something*?


Obviously I do understand this.

Posted by VanguardLH on March 8, 2008, 10:20 am
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"Bud" wrote in message
>
> SpywareTerminator
> http://www.spywareterminator.com/


You might want to read the license agreement presented during
installation regarding their Crawler "services", and read their
privacy "policy" at http://www.crawler.com/privacy_policy.aspx.
Crawler is the author of Spyware Terminator, and who really want you
to use their search toolbar so they can collect the ad revenue through
the redirects and ads in their search results. Crawler "services"
collect personally identifiable information about you. I don't know
if uninstalling the Crawler Toolbar (they called it opting out) gets
rid of all Crawler processes or behavior.

The original author of this product is a self-professed spyware
author. That is, he used to write the spyware that now he writes a
product to detect, similar to a thief that becomes a security
consultant. So he gained his experience to write the anti-malware by
first infecting users hosts with malware. Do you trust a convert (who
could convert back again and do so rather easily considering the tool
that you allowing him to install on your host)? At one time, Spyware
Warrior listed this as rogueware
(http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm) but eventually
removed it when it was less offensive; see
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm#spyterm_note
(there is another same-named product and which is still listed as
rogueware).

Seems like the stuff that you are trying to get rid of using this tool
is included with this tool. This type of bundling with crapware is
not rare, especially with "free" software, but they should be polite
in letting you choose NOT to include the bloatware *during* the
install. During the install, you can deselect to install the "Web
Security Guard Toolbar". This is their way of hiding that it is the
Crawler toolbar. Later you get to choose to NOT participate with
their Spyware Central to send information when new (unknown) spyware
shows up on your host, but if it is new and unknown then their program
won't know about it. Anti-spyware software is just as prone to
zero-day attack as are anti-virus software. After installing Spyware
Terminator, and even if you deselect using the Crawler toolbar and
sending info about unknown programs to them, you might want to visit
the Settings in the program to further restrict what info gets sent to
them.

Besides other Crawler bloatware, they also bundle in Clam AntiVirus.
Pest coverage is poor (ClamAV at only 48%), worse than Comodo's poor
AV product (53%), when compared to other freebie AV products (Avira,
Avast, AVG). Don't bother with installing Clam AV.

Personally, I stay away from Crawler's Spyware Terminator. It is
still too tarnished for my taste based on its past, the company that
proliferates it, and the bundled fluff included with it.


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