Does anybody use the program SpywareBlaster ... just wondering if it is useful to have on my computer in case of spyware and such ... or if anybody knows of other programs that are more powerful with similar functions please feel free to share.

Adaware and Spybot are both very good and free.

 

If you want to pay I recommend Spyware Doctor.

 

There's a lot of products out there and a lot comes down to personal preference. It is advised to have a variety because each product will detect things that other products will not.

I agree with 5614 - Adaware, Spybot and Spyware Doctor are powerful tools.

 

I also reccomend SywareBlaster for its blocking features - its a good addition to a good, clean PC

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

I use Adaware, Sypbot and an antivirus program and they all seem to work well.

Some ppl recommend using Spybot in conjunction with Adaware ... what do you guys think?

Some ppl recommend using Spybot in conjunction with Adaware ... what do you guys think?

 

Yea they go together fine, I have never had compaints about it

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

That is exactly what all 3 of us suggested.

 

We all made additional/different suggestions, but we were talking about having all of what we suggested, it wasn't a "pick one of these" it was meant to be a "have all 3 of these" kind of thing.

 

So yes, clearly we do all suggest having Spybot and Adaware. We also all suggested having something aswell, but we disagree on what.

 

[edit] RyanJ's post was not there when I started typing this post

Spyware and Adaware target different things and they get rid of different computer ailments so having both is a good idea. You will also need a virus program because, as far as I know, neither of those target viruses (not sure though).

No neither of them specifically target viruses.

 

An anti-virus and firewall are needed in addition to these antispyware programs.

That is exactly what all 3 of us suggested.

 

We all made additional/different suggestions' date=' but we were talking about having all of what we suggested, it wasn't a "pick one of these" it was meant to be a "have all 3 of these" kind of thing.

 

So yes, clearly we do all suggest having Spybot and Adaware. We also all suggested having something aswell, but we disagree on what.[/quote']

 

Oh, I do appreciate all of your suggestions and I'm not saying, oh which one is the better one because different computers have different needs, so to speak it. The reason why I pose the question is because I am currently using Norton antivirus along with Adaware, but I want another one for spyware ... I'm just wondering if there are any incompatibilities between certain programs or whether they have been glitches upon installation etc ...

Oh, I do appreciate all of your suggestions and I'm not saying, oh which one is the better one because different computers have different needs, so to speak it. The reason why I pose the question is because I am currently using Norton antivirus along with Adaware, but I want another one for spyware ... I'm just wondering if there are any incompatibilities between certain programs or whether they have been glitches upon installation etc ...

I use Norton, Adaware, and sypbot and they function quite well together. Although my free norton is up in 2 weeks. My brother said ZA or something was a good free anti-virus so I may have to search for it.

Oh, I do appreciate all of your suggestions and I'm not saying, oh which one is the better one because different computers have different needs, so to speak it. The reason why I pose the question is because I am currently using Norton antivirus along with Adaware, but I want another one for spyware ... I'm just wondering if there are any incompatibilities between certain programs or whether they have been glitches upon installation etc ...

 

I hate Norton it seems to be incompatible with... everything.

 

All of the programs in this thread (minus Notron) should work with each other as for Nortons reaction to them I have no idea as I avoid it.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

All of the programs I have suggested work with Norton Internet Security 2005 for me. I think I also once had SpywareBlaster installed alongside these, so there should be no problem (that is a compatability problem) with that either.

 

Anti-spyware and anti-virus (AV) software are meant to be used alongside each other so there is no deliberate programming to stop them.

 

The issue with multiple AVs and multiple firewalls being non-compatable does not apply to anti-spyware programs. If you imagine that the firewall is the king of the computer and monitors all internet connections, you can't have two kings because each tries to monitor the other. Norton scans ZoneAlarm (ZA) and then ZA scans what Norton has just scanned and then Norton will scan what ZA has scanned and there is clearly a problem. Obviously this is technically incorrect, but it's meant to explain that firewalls and AVs are incompatable due to their function and how they work. Anti-spyware works in a different way and isn't the "king" of anything, it just opens up and does a scan. So they almost always work alongside each other and alongside other software (e.g. AVs/firewalls)

I forgot to metion I disable norton's "Auto-Protect" as it screws up everything. I only use it to search for viruses. I just got a new computer and it came on it but I'm looking for a better one.

I like Norton's firewall.

 

I like the Avast antivirus.

 

I like Spybot, Adaware & Spyware Doctor.

 

But like I said, a lot if down to personal preference.

On my windows computer I use ZoneAlarm for a firewall (the free package includes no anti-virus) and AVG as an anti-virus utility. You should note that both AdAware and Spybot can miss things, so running both of them might help you detect things that you may otherwise miss.

In addition, the free version of ad-aware doesn't come with active protection, whereas spybot does, which is another reason to install spybot aswell as adaware.

 

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This is quite a good free (online) scanner, that i usually use instead of ad-aware (although its still in beta)

 

http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/