Spyware Protection

There are many ways to prevent spyware from installing in the first place. The most obvious is to to read the fine print on some "free" programs that are available online. While some say that they will collect information or install some software in the End User License Agreement (EULA), there are others that will install it without your knowledge. These are considered spyware programs. There are also other ways you may have spyware installed. This includes something as simple as visiting a site that has malicious scripts downloaded on your computer (behind the scene). To prevent this, there are different methods that are currently being used. Remember, these methods only help prevent spyware from being installed and not remove them.

1. Get SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard at JavaCoolSoftware. Running these two programs should prevent most of the common and current spyware programs from being installed in the first place. These two programs should do most of the work already. Just make sure to get the updates if they are available. For SpywareBlaster all you have to do is Enable All Protection and then you may close the program. For SpywareGuard, you should keep that programming running in the System Tray at all times for real-time protection.

2. Download IE-Spyad. IE-SPYAD is a Registry file (IE-ADS.REG) that adds a long list of sites and domains associated with known advertisers, marketers, and crapware pushers to the Restricted sites zone of Internet Explorer. Once this list of sites and domains is "merged" into your Registry, most marketers, advertisers, and crapware pushers on the Net will not be able to use cookies, ActiveX controls, Java applets, or scripting to compromise your privacy or your PC while you surf the Net. Nor will they be able to use your browser to push unwanted pop-ups, cookies, or auto-installing programs on you. This only works for Internet Explorer. To install this, unzip the file and double click on install.bat. Then choose to install the IE-SPYAD List. If you want to block the porn domains, you may choose that option also after installing the IE-SPYAD List. Uninstalling is just as easy. Just choose the corresponding option to Uninstall/Remove it.

3. Download the HOSTS file to block ads, banners, cookies and most web hijackers. This file should have no extensions at all. It's just called HOSTS. Depending on what Windows version you are using, the location to copy it to will be different. You may replace your current HOSTS file with this modified one.

4. The best protection now is to steer clear of using Internet Explorer as your internet web browser. You shouldn't use any variations of it also (ex: MyIE2). Use some other browsers like Mozilla or Firefox instead. They have less security issues/exploits than Internet Explorer. Unless a specific site you visit requires Internet Explorer to work properly (ex: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com), use Firefox as your default web browser. It has tabbed browsing and also a built-in popup blocker. If you want other neat features, Firefox has these add-ins called extensions which you may install by going into Firefox->Tools->Extensions and then look for ones you like. UPDATE: Firefox itself is having major security problems lately. Although I think it's still good to use it, it might be in a similar situation to Internet Explorer now. Just check Internet Explorer for updates regularly. I recommend using another alternative browser called Opera. Can't say that it will be safe for sure to use, but I think it's a great browser for now. I switched recently due to Firefox stability problems...

Miscellaneous cleaning tools/programs:

CleanUp! - Cleans out the temp folders as mentioned early in the post here. This program is good for your general-purpose use since it may clean out other big files in your temp folder.
Regseeker - Download RegSeeker and install it. Click on 'Clean The Registry' in the left panel. Check all boxes (make sure the backup box in the lower left corner is selected!). After it runs, click 'Select All' on the bottom. Then right-click on any selected item in the window and select 'Delete Selected Items'. Click 'Quit RegSeeker'. Now, open any of your installed programs, and make sure that everything opens ok. If so, reboot, then go back and run RegSeeker again. Do the same thing again if anything is found. You may have to run RegSeeker 5 - 6 times, but you want it showing none to very few items. Make sure to reboot between each use of the program. This program can help you clean out obsolete entries in your registry that build up over time.

None of these methods are fool-proof, but by using them together it will help prevent most spyware programs (not to mention stopping constant popups) from being installed. Get the updates if they are available because it will help protect you against newer spyware programs that are discovered.

I get this questions a lot. You asked me to download a lot of programs. Which programs can I delete? To answer that briefly, you really shouldn't delete/uninstall any of them listed here. All these are good programs to keep in the growing spyware dilemma we have today. There should be no problems having these programs since most of them don't require you to have them running all the time anyway. For Ad-aware, Spybot S&D and CWShredder, I would say check for updates weekly and if you want, run them weekly (or maybe bi-weekly). For TeaTimer (if you have it on), Ad-Watch (if you have the paid Ad-aware version) and SpywareGuard, you may choose one of them to run at startup. Probably overkill to have more than one of those running even though they don't use a lot of resources. For the antivirus program, check for updates weekly and try to run a virus scan every month (maybe less) to make sure you don't have any viruses/trojans. The firewall programs usually don't have lots of updates, so you should be set most of the time. IE-SPYAD and the HOSTS file are not updated very frequently, but check the main sites to see if they have updated versions from time to time. SpywareBlaster only requires you to check for updates and then install the new updates. You may close it afterwards. Not so hard right?

That's it for now. Everytime you have some problems, especially after you install some new programs, you should follow the steps outlined above (before the Spyware Prevention section). By doing them in that order, we will get this done faster. Just make sure to update the software if they have updates available. You should also upgrade (to a newer version) if any of the above programs have one available.

Thanks to greyknight17 for the information contained on this page.

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