Some Experiences in Spyware Removal and Prevention

[computermatters]

Hi,

I wonder if I may briefly share some
of my experiences with you and then ask your opinion?

I am a PC repair technician and over 60% of my work
consists of restoring PC's that have been crippled
by adware (commonly but incorrectly known as spyware
in this part of the world - Ireland that is.)

It is my experience that the ONLY was I can get rid of
the adware/spyware 100% is to do a clean reinstall of
windows. I have tried nearly every tool under the sun
but they all leave something and in the PC repair
business - anything less than 100% means re-callouts
and cost maintainance/support calls with no fees!

I have found that using cloned disk images - one
can restore a PC to factory condition (with all programs
and data) within 2 hours.

As for prevention - I have found that many of the current
crop of tools are resource hogs (which make the PC act
like it has spyware - and the customer is not convinced
they should pay you!) - so the best (not perfect) prevention
I have found so far is .... not an anti-spyware tool but ..
.. an internet filter!

The two main filters I use are Netopias Parental Controls
and SurfOnthesafeside [who use the N2H2 database]. Both
prevent access to many of the more popular adware/spyware
ridden websites and in some tests I have done have blocked
adware installation where Norton and Aluria failed.
Incidentally the free tools IE-SPYAD and Spywareblaster
also blocked installation!

Anyway, I am plodding away here on my own and was
wondering if you had any thoughts on these experiences?

kind regards

Pat Murphy
Computer MAtters
Dublin, IRELAND

[TimeRider]

Hi,
an interesting post from you, i am glad that people do share their experience in the field.
But i would like to disagree with you. Reinstall of windows is NOT the ONLY way to get rid of spyware. In my opinion, that your problem, as a technician, is that you repair PC once and then leave it to the user. That is the point! And spyware is such a topic and issue that has to be dealt with everyday! If a dumb user cannot control this process, he/she of course get infected (i mean their PC gets ) and they call you back.

There is a good joke on that topic:

Windows alert message: "User error. Replace user and press any key."

Good luck and wish you patience in your job  :wink:

[GTO]

Unless a computer is made somewhere about the Middle Ages, anti-spyware programs won't slow it down too much. Common spyware removers are not like most antiviruses that are real resource hogs. Furtheremore, do you really think traffic/content filters or even firewalls can protect a computer from spyware and adware and prevent its installation? Nonsense, unless we are speaking about explicit Internet content and adult web sites. Of course, filters add a lot to overall security, but what about numerous advertising-supported programs and applications with spyware components? Those can be downloaded even from legitimate web sites, local FTP servers, file sharing networks, come burned on CDs, etc. What then? Most filters are based on blacklists and therefore won't protect you as much as powerful anti-spyware software would.

As for spyware removal - almost any parasite can be completely removed. Of course, automatic removal tools often are unable to eliminate everything, but correct and thorough manual removal does the trick. Most spyware and adware parasites are NOT viruses. They don't mutate or infect other files. If you know what they consist of, you can delete all the components and therefore nothing will remain in the system. Unfortunately, totally new pests appear. Those create random files, registry keys, alter the system and installed software and sometimes (in very rare cases) cannot be completely removed. Then formatting a hard disk and reinstalling the OS is the only choice.