Microsoft AntiSpyware software launched

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fowkesp

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Anyone else tried this software, which was launched today?

It seems to work very well and, rather alarmingly, discovered over 4000 (yes, that's four thousand) problems on one of my kids' machines. This is a machine that came up clean using all the other spyware/adware /anti-virus software that I use (all free software, I may add, which may be part of the problem).

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&DisplayLang=en
 
fowkesp said:
Anyone else tried this software, which was launched today?

It seems to work very well and, rather alarmingly, discovered over 4000 (yes, that's four thousand) problems on one of my kids' machines. This is a machine that came up clean using all the other spyware/adware /anti-virus software that I use (all free software, I may add, which may be part of the problem).

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&DisplayLang=en
Click to expand...

hope it can hanle www hijacker..................the sod seems to mutate into 60 variants when you try to remove it...my computer man says it can be removed if you are computer buff...
 
dolton,

Why not give it a try? It seems to be quite intelligent. For instance, it will stop a running process if it is holding control of a file that needs to be deleted. It also seems to scan for related items in the file system and registry and clean them up too. It got rid of something on one my machines that I had no luck with using other tools plus my best efforts at stopping services, deleting registry keys etc.

Initial thoughts are that this is an impressive effort from Microsoft.

Paul
 
Goodbye www.lavasoft.de
Goodbye spyboy

It also includes an active real time protection system thus rendering all the paid for solutions obsolete.

Another killer from Microsoft.

This afternoon I ran Adaware followed immediatly by the Microsoft product.

This new offering found 5 entries, 4 of which were pretty harmful.

JonnyT
 
Thanks .............these are the list of progs that failed to clear it

bT Yahoo
Lavasoft
CWS Shredder
..........
 
Thanks for bringing this to the forum's attention. I have just run the program on what I thought was a clean machine (Ad-aware Pro and Spybot checked) and found 15 threats ranging from moderate to severe.

Another program to tackle this rubbish can only be good news, and it's free. Well done Microsoft - better late than never!
 
Bluewave said:
Thanks for bringing this to the forum's attention. I have just run the program on what I thought was a clean machine (Ad-aware Pro and Spybot checked) and found 15 threats ranging from moderate to severe.

Another program to tackle this rubbish can only be good news, and it's free. Well done Microsoft - better late than never!
Click to expand...
I concur. Similar results. Makes a change for MS to bring out something really useful.10/10 so far..... :cheesy:
 
To be fair to Ad-aware, I used it to do a full scan after using the Microsoft program, and it found a few registry entries to do with "Search relevancy executable", and the usual tracking cookies.

So I guess the best thing is, like anti-virus programs, to use a combination of them to get rid of the filth for good.

I'll see how good the Microsoft real-time spyware stopper is in the next week.
 
Hi

I use Spybot only for this kind of stuff. I like Spybot as it can immunize against ("certain") spyware/adware so that it cannot again gain access.
Does the Microsoft product immunize against spyware/adware? I am slightly concerned with the Microsoft product being a beta (trial) version - should i be?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&DisplayLang=en

Beta Support Policy

Important Information:
This is pre-release (beta) software distributed for feedback and testing purposes. Microsoft does not provide technical support for beta releases (see below for information about how to gain access to newsgroups). If Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is causing an issue with your system, we recommend removing it by using Add or Remove Programs and even using System Restore if the problem persists.
Click to expand...

Also, I use Firefox as my browser, what impact will this have upon the effectiveness of these products - if they are primarily designed for Internet Explorer users?

Cheers

jtrader.
 
in the not too distant past I had relied solely on Lavasofts excellent Ad-Aware prog to keep my system free of spyware.

Imagine my dismay when I tried SpySweeper and it discovered over 40 serious threats that Adaware had missed, including a keylogger!

I have been much more diligent since then, but this new MS anti-spyware prog has discovered several threats that my collection of other progs had failed to clear.

I am very impressed - looks like i can dump my array of other progs and just use this. MS got it right first time with this one, astonishingly!

i also like the fact it has an active blocker to prevent spyware installing exploits in the first place, and a regular updater to protect against new threats, to which you contribute to the database by running this system - and a browser hijack protection / restore function.
 
Last edited:
I'm not totally convinced - yet.

Ran the M$ product yesterday, got a clean bill of health. Ran AdAware right afterwards - and it picked up 22 files (all tracking cookies, admittedly) that the M$ product had apparently missed. I won't junk the others just yet.
 
I have had some problems with Microsoft Antispyware(I think). After it updated at 9pm I got a strange noise from my power supply, like it was overloaded, then a click and then a blue screen. The screen gave a warning to check software or hardware installations and then went on to give a lot of guff about safe mode and some sort of technical code about the problem.

I uninstalled it and ran a registry scan which picked up 30 problems caused by Microsoft Antispyware! :rolleyes: All seems well now.

I am not 100% sure this was caused by this software

Anyone had problems?
 
Aarie5, no, I've certainly not had any problems like that! Anti-spyware does push my processor load up as you'd expect, but not as bad as Spybot Search & Destroy.

To me it sounds like you had a hardware problem which just happened to coincide with the update. Perhaps your power supply is on the way out? Or a memory chip is faulty - believe me, this one can cause all sorts of strange things to happen!

Registry scanners, in my experience, are not totally reliable in what they flag up as a "problem". I would advise a lot of caution in using them. But if you did have a hardware problem while the software was trying to update, that might explain the corruptions in the registry.

I've been using Anti-spyware since it was released and have had no problems with it at all, apart from it not finding some spyware that other programs did.
 
Bluewave said:
Aarie5, no, I've certainly not had any problems like that! Anti-spyware does push my processor load up as you'd expect, but not as bad as Spybot Search & Destroy.

To me it sounds like you had a hardware problem which just happened to coincide with the update. Perhaps your power supply is on the way out? Or a memory chip is faulty - believe me, this one can cause all sorts of strange things to happen!

Registry scanners, in my experience, are not totally reliable in what they flag up as a "problem". I would advise a lot of caution in using them. But if you did have a hardware problem while the software was trying to update, that might explain the corruptions in the registry.

I've been using Anti-spyware since it was released and have had no problems with it at all, apart from it not finding some spyware that other programs did.
Click to expand...

I think your right bluewave I am still having problems after uninstalling. :( the system just hangs and the hard drive light just flashes on and of until I give the tower a kick with my size 7 (re-boot) then it springs into life! :confused:
 
Just installed the microsoft antispyware (I hope) and during installation the spybot window appeared and told me that resident had blocked registry change of 'cgasserv' I think it was.Has Spybot blocked the microsoft install in some way?
 
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