Computer question - Democratic Underground

doc03

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Mon May-03-04 07:47 PM
Original message

Computer question

I ran my Norton anti-virus scan yesterday and the results were, no viruses found out of so many thousand files scanned. When I was on DU
later a pop-up add came up with the number of files I had and it was infected with 123 spy-ware files, should I be concerned about this or is it just an add to sell something I don't need?

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Don_G

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Mon May-03-04 07:49 PM
Response to Original message

1. It Depends On The Programs

Edited on Mon May-03-04 07:49 PM by Don_G

Some can be downright nasty. I use Ad-Aware and spybot to get rid of the nasty beasties. Both are free downloads and Ad-Aware in particular is updated a few times a week.

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doc03

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Mon May-03-04 07:58 PM
Response to Reply #1

3. Shouldn't my anti-virus scan picked the spy files up?

This came on line and somehow it had the number of files I had just scanned.

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jadedcherub

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Mon May-03-04 07:58 PM
Response to Original message

2. Well. It's difficult to say.

If it was just a popup ad, it may have just said, "123 spy-ware files detected! People can see what your doing! BE SCARED! BUY*OUR*PRODUCT.

Either way, most people have some amount of what can be deemed as "spyware" residing on their computer. Some of it is necessary for sites you visit often, some programs uses what could be called spyware as well.

I would, although, suggest that you do get something like ad-aware, (look for it on download.com or something along those lines) and just run it for some of the more "serious" ones that can be causing problems, or could be potentially serious security threats.

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doc03

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Mon May-03-04 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #2

4. Thanks. I will check into ad-aware must log-out now

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Kali

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Mon May-03-04 08:35 PM
Response to Reply #2

5. I like ad-aware - be sure to turn up the sound for when it finishes!

and I got the recommendation from DU, though at the time it was just from reading some post - so I never noticed the name - whoever it was: THANK YOU! It got rid of a bunch of junk with only one teeny problem (took out some memory thing with passwords stored in it, so next year when I file my taxes on line I will have to start all over - no biggie, really and my fault for not remembering/writing it down last year) can you give some more info on spybot?

just kidding about the sound, you might want to skip that.

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sendero

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Mon May-03-04 08:38 PM
Response to Original message

6. Everybody...

... that got that popup got the same message. It is just an ad, trying to scare you into buying a product.

It wouldn't hurt to get and run AdAware, and /or go to the Trend Housecall site and run their online virus checker, not because of that lying popup tho :)

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DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Wed May 08th 2024, 09:41 PM
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