[CS-FSLUG] Anti-Spyware Tests, Results & ALERT!!!

[Fred A. Miller]

The bellow applies to ALL MickySoft users!!!

Fred
________________

http://spywarewarrior.com/asw-test-guide.htm

Note- The report at the above URL does not test the adware removers against 
the most powerful adware infective known, CoolWebSearch (cws), and the best 
agent for its removal:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html
 " The difficulty of removing CWS from a user's system has grown from slightly 
tricky in the first variant to virtually impossible for the latest few. Some 
of the variants even used methods of hiding and running themselves that had 
never been used before in any other spyware strains.

The chronological order in which the CWS variants appeared is detailed here, 
along with the approximate dates when they appeared online. However, since 
the evil programmers of CWS have released over two dozen versions of their 
hijacker on the advertising market in such a short time, and are crunching 
out new ones steadily practically every week, this document might be out of 
date at times.

The CWShredder tool to remove Coolwebsearch will always be up to date and is 
updated as fast as possible when new variants emerge." -JLK

Below is the spyware removal test info:

 "Critical" Detections

>From those logs as well as from information gleaned by manual inspection of 
the hard drive and Registry, a list of "critical" detections was generated, 
with each detection being assigned a unique ID (see below for details). 
Included in these "critical" detections were:

    * executable files (.EXE / .COM)
    * dynamic link libraries (.DLL)
    * BHO-related Registry entries
    * toolbar-related Registry entries
    * browser setting-related Registry entries
    * browser extension-related Registry entries
    * auto-start Registry entries

These "critical" detections comprise only a subset of the complete collection 
of files and Registry entries added to the test PC by the installed spyware 
and adware. As such, the test results reported here do not provide a complete 
picture of the performance of the anti-spyware applications tested. 

Nonetheless, these detections are "critical" because they constitute the most 
important files and Registry entries installed by the spyware and adware 
applications

......

Lessons & Conclusions

If any lessons or conclusions can be drawn from these tests at all, they are 
quite general:

    * Spyware and adware can prove quite difficult to remove, even for 
dedicated anti-spyware scanners. 
       
      In the second and third group of tests, for example, one of the 
installed programs prevented the anti-spyware scanners from running on 
reboot, a common method used by anti-spyware scanners to remove stubborn 
spyware and adware that is currently in memory on a PC. As a result, some 
spyware and adware was not removed by the anti-spyware scanners during reboot 
that otherwise might have.
       
    * No single anti-spyware scanner removes everything. (1) Even the 
best-performing anti-spyware scanner in these tests missed fully one quarter 
of the "critical" files and Registry entries.
       
    * It is better to use two or more anti-spyware scanners in combination, as 
one will often detect and remove things that others do not.
       
    * Where possible, users should become familiar with the use of HijackThis! 
in order to remove stubborn spyware and adware that standard anti-spyware 
scanners fail to remove. Less experienced users should know how to get help 
from the expert volunteers who provide free HijackThis! log advice and 
analysis at major anti-spyware forums.
       
    * Prevention is always preferable to scanning and removal, and users 
should securely configure their PCs and install anti-malware protection to 
prevent the installation of spyware and adware in the first place. 
       
    * Moreover, users should learn to practice safe computing habits, which 
include avoiding web sites and programs of unknown or dubious provenance and 
carefully reading End User License Agreements and Privacy Policies.

-- 
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to 
have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the
vote." - Benjamin Franklin 1759