Re: Ad-Ware remover....

Aron,

   As always, you are the ultimate thorough warrior! One other item worth
mention. Is the University looking at using an alternative browser, like
Firefox? This would help to cut down on many problems....

Cheers,

Roy

At 01:14 PM 11/16/2004, Aron Roberts wrote:
>At 12:44 -0800 2004-11-16, Roy A. Baril wrote:
>> With all the spam and viruses attacking us, much has been done to help
>> protect us in the form University licensed Symantec Antivirus and
>> Firewall. As well, the fine people at UCLink have fortified our email
>> system. But, nothing has been done about combating a newer threat, that
>> of "AD-Ware".
>
> As Karl Grose pointed out during a Micronet mailing list discussion in
> April 2004, Symantec Client Security (SCS) 2.0.x, available on the free
> C_at_B 2005 CD <http://cab.berkeley.edu> and for download from the WSS
> Software website, <http://software.berkeley.edu>, includes an 'Expanded
> Threat Detection' feature which "recognizes unwanted applications such as
> spyware and adware."
>
> You and other Micronet members are encouraged to send us your feedback
> about this feature, either directly via email or via the "Submit comments
> and feedback" link at the bottom of each page on the C@B website.
>
>> I have been testing several products that seek out and remove spyware
>> and adware -- these annoying and sometimes destructive little programs
>> that get put on your computer while you are browsing the internet. I
>> have one program, Webroots' "Spy Sweeper" that does the job very well.
>> It also comes in an enterprise edition.
>
> Several notes:
>
> 1) Bruce Satow and Tim Rew provided some detailed information
> about tools to find and remove spyware and adware - or to
> protect against getting it in the first place - in a Micronet
> discussion less than a month ago, below.
>
> 2) One extensive website covering this topic has placed Webroots'
> Spy Sweeper, as well as several products on Bruce's list,
> including Ad-Aware, Spybot Search & Destroy, and Spyware Guard,
> on its "trustworthy" products list:
>
> http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm#trustworthy
>
> 3) At the July 20th Micronet meeting, one participant claimed
> that the license terms for Spybot Search & Destroy allowed
> it to be used at no cost in the campus environment.
>
> Some other products, even those offering free personal use
> licenses, are apparently not free for campus use. As one
> example, the vendor for Ad-aware Personal writes
> <http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/faq/#licensing>:
>
>>Can I use Ad-Aware Personal (free) version at work?
>>No, Ad-Aware Personal 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.
>
> 4) If you have specific suggestions for products you'd like
> to see licensed by the campus, such as Spy Sweeper,
> please feel free to post these suggestions to the BITS Forum:
>
> http://bits.berkeley.edu/
>
>>I really think we should be adding something like this to our arsenal of
>>tools that are on the C@B disk.
>
> We're certainly open to investigating anti-spyware software for
> possible inclusion on a future revision of the C@B CD.
>
> Also, it would be worthwhile hearing from those maintaining the campus
> minimum security standards about this topic. Back at the July 2004
> Micronet meeting, I came away with the impression that those folks
> weren't ready to put spyware/adware on their radar at that time.
>
>Aron Roberts
>Workstation Software Support Group
>
>--
>
>Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 14:36:15 -0700
>From: Tim Rew <trew@nature.berkeley.edu>
>CC: micronet-list@lists.berkeley.edu
>Subject: Re: [Micronet] My overkill and favorite anti spyware & virus &
>malware
> program list
>
>Bruce Satow wrote:
>
>Dear Folks,
>
>Everyone keeps asking me what I use for anti-spyware, anti-virus, and
>anti-malware programs. Most of the programs I personally use are free
>except for a few. Donations are good if you like the products. Yes, it
>is true that I use all of them. Remember that these are my personal
>favorites and not what campus recommends.
>
>Here is my list:
>
>Ad-aware Personal (free from http://www.lavasoftusa.com )
>Spyware Blaster (free from http://www.javacoolsoftware.com )
>MRU-Blaster (free from http://www.javacoolsoftware.com )
>Spyware Guard (free from http://www.javacoolsoftware.com )
>Spybot (free from http://www.spybot.info/en/home/index.html )
>CCleaner (free from http://www.ccleaner.com )
>HijackThis(free from http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html )
>and
>Trojan Remover ($ from http://www.simplysup.com/tremover/ )
>Tracks Eraser Pro ($ from http://www.acesoft.net )
>and of course
>Symantec Anti-virus (campus licensed)
>
>Some of these programs need to be installed per user or only works in
>administrator mode. Others are smart enough to run by anyone. Spybot
>should be run in advanced mode. Many of these programs need to be
>updated manually. Careful with the HijackThis program. It is very
>powerful and you can removed required items from your system.
>
>If you feel that your computer is infected, even though your anti-virus
>says it is not, I tend to run an online scanner such as the free one
>from trend micro or panda software to double check.
>
>Also make sure that the above list of programs is NOT running or have
>been uninstalled prior to installing SP2 for XP else you might have the
>problem where XP will hang at the splash screen.
>
>Another tip, when you are setting up a new XP machine, make yourself a
>Win XP pro installation CD that has SP2 on it. You can also make a CD
>with all of the available patches which you can install offline. It is
>easy to do and you can find all the instruction and the free utilities
>at http://www.autopatcher.com Autopatcher will allow you to make a CD
>with all the available patches and AutoStreamer will let you make an
>installation CD with SP2. That way you can install Windows XP and all
>the patches WITHOUT connecting to the internet, and prevent worms from
>infecting your new systems.
>
>
>
>
>
>Bruce Satow
>Space Sciences Laboratory
>University of California
>Berkeley, California 94720-7450
>
>(510) 643-2348
>satow@ssl.berkeley.edu
>
>"War doesn't determine who's right, war determines who's left."
>
>AST:7731^29u18e3
>
>
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>
>Thanks for that list, it's pretty comprehensive.
> From personal experience, the single most helpful program in eliminating
> spyware for me has been mozilla firefox (insert your own non-IE browser
> here). IE can be set up to be less spyware-friendly, but for me it's
> easier to use another browser.
>
>A note for automation, spybot search and destroy allows you to create a
>scheduled task, as does ad-aware 6.0 personal (using command line
>switches, e.g. "C:\...\Ad-aware.exe" "c:\" +C +A +1), but the new ad-aware
>SE does not support command line unless you use a paid version. Also
>ad-aware 6 could be updated through a third party program, the Unofficial
>Adaware Updater: http://home.earthlink.net/~ringomei/UAUpdaterprogress.html
>however they do not yet have a version for Ad-aware SE.
>I also strongly second the notion that HijackThis be used with extreme
>caution. If you aren't sure, post a log to one of the forums listed here:
>http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/forums.html
>Also if you aren't experiencing any noticeable problems you probably don't
>need to post a log, which will save time for the nice people on these forums.
>
>For a backup antivirus utility, I use trendmicro's housecall. It can
>sometimes be a good idea, in cases of major outbreaks when not all virus
>scanners have gotten their defs up to date.
>
>Tim Rew
>ESPM computer support
>trew@nature.berkeley.edu
>
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Roy A. Baril
Director of Technology
U. C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
121 North Gate Hall
Berkeley, CA. 94720
(510) 643-9215

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Received on Tue Nov 16 13:26:18 2004