Arovax Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 Signs of Spyware Activity and Unauthorized Control Sign 1. Suddenly you discover a small device attached between the keyboard cable and its nest on the back PC panel. Question. Did anybody offer you to set up a ?better? or ?faster? keyboard or special keyboard software? Diagnosis. A Spyware that records all information entered from your keyboard (Keylogger) is installed on your PC. Sign 2. Suddenly you discover a small device plugged into USB-port of your system block back panel. Question. Did anybody repair your PC or offer you to ?try? new removeable data storage? Diagnosis. A device which can record enough confidential information to compromise you or your company is installed on your PC. Sign 3. You find expensive phone calls which you have never made in your phone bill. Question. Does anybody use your phone or modem when you are absent? Diagnosis. If you exclude the ability of secret phone calls, it means that a Dialer was installed on your PC without your notification. Most probably it had happened during your carefree surfing the Internet. When your modem is on, the Dialer connects with its service-provider offering sex-porno-services (video, audio, etc.) that require payment. Read more>>> Do you know any other signs of spyware activity on a PC? What do you think about all these signs guys? Arovax Resources: Arovax Antispyware | Arovax Blog | Arovax Community Forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldmannen Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 You just want drive traffic to your website, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfenech Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 If someone gets in my house and installs physical devices on my PC, then I probably have bigger problems than spyware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 1, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 1, 2006 You just want drive traffic to your website, lol. I was thinking the same thing but declined to make any statement about it after the IE7 thread because I'm using Arovax Shield which they kindly provide as freeware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators rridgely Posted March 1, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 1, 2006 Some of this stuff is kind of rediculous. Anyway andavari what do you think of arovax shield? I tried it but didnt keep it because I had MSAS but since defender has come out I have seriously been considering alternatives. Defender's interface and lack of options really bugs me. It dosent even have a visible update button, its hidden in the help menu under the about menu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 1, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 1, 2006 I'm using the last version of Arovax Shield 1.2.314 because I found a bug in the newest version 1.2.346 that has to deal with it displaying an error dialog each time it is started that Firefox isn't installed which it isn't on my system because I use Opera. Of course if someone has Firefox installed it probably isn't an issue. I started using Arovax Shield solely because MSAS was slow to prompt of changes to key areas such as IE's restricted sites which I never understood why it would warn about a new restricted site being entered as only trusted sites could potentially cause harm, and it's slow warning of HOSTS file changes. All of these changes that MSAS would take ages to warn about would cause it to spike my system to 50% resource usage. I don't need to go on about Windows Defender since I think it currently sucks in its current stage being that it refuses to update on my system and doesn't give much useful info, I'm just not going to use it at all no matter what's fixed in it. Also it has lost allot of features that MSAS had, leave it to MS to f'up an app that they could have just tuned. I didn't want to use SpywareGuard because it's definition file is hopelessly outdated, and it doesn't protect other key areas of the system which is the reason why I went with Arovax Shield which doesn't cause me any problems, well at least 1.2.314 doesn't. Edit: Leave it to me to blab on an on, you wanted to know what I thought of it. In short I think it's alright. Some of this stuff is kind of rediculous. Indeed. That Arovax person better had be careful posting on the Hydrogenaudio.org forums hence he'll find himself banned quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators rridgely Posted March 1, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 1, 2006 Thank you very much. I know we both kind of have the same ideas when it comes to security. We both want it to just work and not make us do anything. I have defender set to do scans but I'm not sure if its actually doing them. With MSAS I would have it do a scan at around 2AM, and when I would wake up their would be a results box displayed.(always clean of course) Anyway defender isn't doing this and I havent had time to see if its actually doing anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 1, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 1, 2006 WD is was a very depressing continuation of the feature rich MSAS. Also I like my security apps that provide real-time protection to have a systray icon that displays at all times, versus what WD has which only shows during updates. The only things I don't like about Arovax software is: * They put too many shortcuts on the system in: Quick Launch, Start Menu, Desktop, Start Menu Group - when I think just a desktop shortcut and the Start Menu group would suffice. * Uninstalling to do a clean upgrade/update automatically tries to load their website, which is something I really hate when uninstallers do that. I know we both kind of have the same ideas when it comes to security. We both want it to just work and not make us do anything. More-or-less. However I've never found a security related app that I didn't have to configure to my likings, however I still prefer to manually do scanning for malware because I'll know a scan took place and there's only certain times I'll let them scan which is after midnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators rridgely Posted March 1, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 1, 2006 Agree with everything once again. Thats what I meant about not having to do anything. I dont mind configuing once but after that I want it to just work and work well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Predator Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Is it worth me getting Arovax Shield? I have only got a 512 kbps connection, and I use IE 6 as my browser, and this is my current security set: http://www.lunarsoft.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=311 I don't want it slowing down my system or my surfing speed, and ZA Pro does tell give me lots of security notices e.c.t, and is a good anti-spyware: http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/cata...dbtopnav_zass#2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators rridgely Posted March 1, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 1, 2006 no your fine UP. ZA pro is good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Predator Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 You sure? I know you don't have it (you have the free edition?), but I just wanna be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokoike Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 You sure? I know you don't have it (you have the free edition?), but I just wanna be sure. I can't speak for rridgely, but I personally also use ZA Pro, and don't have spyware problems. ZA Pro offers you antispyware scanning options, and it seems to do a good job. Save a tree, eat a beaver. Save a tree, wipe with an owl. Every time a bell rings, a thread gets hijacked! ding, ding! Give Andavari lots of money and maybe even consider getting K a DVD-RW drive. If it's not Scottish, IT'S CRAP!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators rridgely Posted March 1, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 1, 2006 Yes I do use the free version but I have used the pro version.(Tested again on the latest release) and it seemed to be just fine. My rule is that I dont want more than 2 security programs running real time. I make sure spyware blaster and spybot's immunize is updated and use an alternative browser.(I have also started putting IEspyad on pcs that I know will use IE) Make your computer take care of itself. That is my new philosophy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 1, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 1, 2006 UP you may be alright. However I will always from now and into the future have some sort of real-time protection anti-spyware/anti-trojan that blocks crap in IE most notably the trusted sites zone because when I was a user of MSAS it blocked an entry as soon as I logged onto the Internet with my dial-up, I hadn't even got around to opening any browsers or update programs and bam it blocked a trusted site hijack and at that time I was using; eTrust EZAV, ZoneAlarm Free, MSAS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarun Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 ZoneAlarm Pro has been terribly buggy since v2.0. A firewall isn't going to keep spyware out, but it can stop it from doing what it wants. Common sense will keep spyware out. If you download and get spyware it can often alert you to the location and such. The latest Outpost Pro firewall is killer, it checks (literally scans) the file accessing the Internet to tell you if spyware is detected. ZoneAlarm Pro is slow and bloated, if you're on a low speed (such as dial-up) connection; pages will load slowly. I changed from ZoneAlarm Pro to Outpost Pro when I was on dial-up and after the quick, easy change; websites loaded extremely fast. There was no code injections like ZAP did, it blocked ads with a transparent image and allowed you to add to the list. It's one of those changes where there is no going back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyManchesta Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 I checked Arovax Antispyware yesterday and it seems very weak, It kept finding the same entries each time it scanned and then showed it required a reboot to finish the clean up, After rebooting it finds the same entries and then repeats the reboot process. To be fair one of them was SurfSideKick and that has a protecting file loading from the Appinit DLL's value to make it untouchable, Any file loading from that location is loaded into pretty much every running process because of User32.dll so the only way to fix them is Bart PE methods or Recovery Console (Or Swandogs New Avenger Program). Arovax doesnt detect the protecting file so it has no chance of removing SSK. It kept finding a Reg value from SoftwareOnline's 'Rogue' Registry Cleaner but Im not sure why it couldnt remove it as I am able to remove it manually. It also detects Best Offers Network (Direct Revenue) but doesnt detect the files (tbon.exe & TBONWrd.exe), It just removes some of its registry values but if you refresh the registry after it removes them they are already back in place. After cleaning with Arovax I used Ewido which found another 120 infected items including Backdoor Trojans, Trojan Droppers and Password stealers so Arovax needs some work on its definitions to make it more use in cleaning up pc's I appreciate its beta and I think we all agree that any free spyware remover that is genuine is a good thing, its just not that effective in the quick test I did. Some of the junk installed on my machine produces some strange results. I think its SoftwareOnline's Reg cleaner thats causing them but need to check into that, here's some screenshots. Jotti's Scan loads ActiveX control for ErrorSafe Microsoft's Homepage Microsoft Site loads ActiveX control for Winfixer The Pop Ups are everywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Predator Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 ZA Pro is far better then Outpost (though it was free), I notice no difference in speed or anything.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokoike Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 ZA Pro is far better then Outpost (though it was free), I notice no difference in speed or anything.... I can't say which is better, as I have never used Outpost. All I know is that I am content with ZA Pro, and I have heard that Outpost was never tested on WinXP, which doesn't sound good to me. One of these days I will give Outpost a shot, to see how well it really does work. Until then, I <3 ZA. Save a tree, eat a beaver. Save a tree, wipe with an owl. Every time a bell rings, a thread gets hijacked! ding, ding! Give Andavari lots of money and maybe even consider getting K a DVD-RW drive. If it's not Scottish, IT'S CRAP!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 4, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 4, 2006 I checked Arovax Antispyware yesterday and it seems very weak I have to agree with you about that! I only used it for a few days and removed it. Arovax Shield however seems promising, although some stupid things like when manually downloading some Windows Updates it pops up a security alert about the changing of the default download directory which is silly and on the verge of annoying. Some default behaviours of IE aren't necessarily a potential risk or malware related such as where files are to be downloaded. However since I don't use IE but maybe 1-3 times a month I can put up with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarun Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Outpost Free runs fine on XP and it doesn't bloat down the system like ZAP does either. The interface of ZAP is clunky and slow. They skinned it way back in 2.0 and they never fixed some of the issues with the skins, causing it to slow down the application dramatically. Just trying to load the programs window takes a while. Arovax Shield is, well. I don't like any of it. It seems like a half assed attempt at a real time spyware protection agent and it constantly nags about even the smallest changes. Don't bother running it when you install known safe installations; it will nag about new entries to startup alone four times or more, even once you tell it that it's okay and safe. The spyware is, well. Good thing it's a beta, cause I find it to be a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishmen Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 I use Arovax Shield and there was a update i think yesterday, not sure if its the bug you are talking about Andavari but check it out. Version 1.2.348 [February 25 2006] * Fixed: "Bug with FireFox Profile location" * New: "Some GUI improvements" Arovax Shield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 4, 2006 Moderators Share Posted March 4, 2006 Yeah they posted info about it in the thread I started on the Arovax Forums about there being an update that fixed it. So all is well. And thanks for posting on here so people know it's now fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokoike Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Outpost Free runs fine on XP and it doesn't bloat down the system like ZAP does either. The interface of ZAP is clunky and slow. They skinned it way back in 2.0 and they never fixed some of the issues with the skins, causing it to slow down the application dramatically. Just trying to load the programs window takes a while. Thanks for the additional info on Outpost, Tarun. I have also noticed the periodic slow loading times for the ZA Pro Control Center. I still can't say that I plan on switching over to anything else (at least for now), but I definitely will have to give Outpost a shot on one of my non-primary computers, to see how it performs. Save a tree, eat a beaver. Save a tree, wipe with an owl. Every time a bell rings, a thread gets hijacked! ding, ding! Give Andavari lots of money and maybe even consider getting K a DVD-RW drive. If it's not Scottish, IT'S CRAP!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarun Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Thanks for the additional info on Outpost, Tarun. I have also noticed the periodic slow loading times for the ZA Pro Control Center. I still can't say that I plan on switching over to anything else (at least for now), but I definitely will have to give Outpost a shot on one of my non-primary computers, to see how it performs. MP has been talking highly of it on Lunarsoft.net and I believe he's going to stick with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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