[Philmont]: Spyware

To All: Thanks for the suggestions on-line and off. I have tried
Lavasoft's Ad-Aware; it was the very first thing I did last week when I
figured out what I had. It worked fine on my work computer, but not my
home computer; that is, it did remove some stuff on my home computer,
but the spyware (something called "mybot", which apparently reports to
ircspy.com) is still resident and still active. SpyHunter is
(apparently) not compatible with Windows NT; it will download but not
run. SpywareNuker runs, but only identifies some residual cookies, no
executable programs. And so it goes. Welcome to the cyber-war.

I have Symantec Systemworks (the Pro 2002 version), which is Norton
Anti-Virus, and I update and use it religiously because I send a fair
number of mass mailings to my Troop, and also run the District
e-Newsletter out to about 500 Scouters (and see, you thought I only
tortured y'all). But as I mentioned, Anti-Virus isn't Anti-Spyware. I
am learning this the hard way. The only good news on this is that (as
best as I can determine) I cannot unknowingly infect anyone else via
email, like you can with viruses. At least I think.

I have chatted with my Computer Forensics folks at DEA, and they
indicate that in the end I may have to nuke my hard drive and start
over. A stiff price to pay for allowing a Scout to use my computer for
his Eagle Project writeup, but dems da breaks. They (the Computer
Forensics folks) also recommend purchase and installation of Ad-Aware,
and also a good firewall program (their rec on that was something called
"Black Ice"), in addition to Anti-Viral software like Symantec.

Again, this really is all off-topic, but I hope it helps save the list
readership the kind of grief I am facing right now. As I mentioned in
my last post, spyware is really taking off right now, just like viruses
did between 2 and 3 years ago. If and when I figure this out - or give
up - I will report back.

- Dr. Bob

Mark Ray wrote:
> Bob,
>
> Have you tried Ad-Aware from Lavasoft
> (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/). There's a free version you
> can download that scans for and removes spyware, much like antivirus
> software does with viruses, worms, etc. PC World called Ad-Aware "an
> indispensable tool in the fight for online privacy."
>
> Mark Ray

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Received on Wed Aug 20 17:24:43 2003