[Honey2aB]

Hi
I was downloading spywareguard to my computer, and once I had put it in a folder to virus check first before I put it on my computer, it tells me..."security warning...unknown publisher...this file does not have a valid digital signature that verifies its publisher. You should only run software from publishers you trust." Along with a giant red X.

Should I be concerned?

Also, why do windows xp users just need the minimal setup and not the full setup?

Thanx for your help.

[masterjim]

Spywareguard is safe and recommended by these guys: http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

[hewee]

The way SpywareGuard works it does not need updating.

I used to use it for years but know I used WinPatrol so stopped using it.

Compare WinPatrol FREE and WinPatrol PLUS

[etaf]

i found it slowed my PC down a lot for some strange reason - so i took it off ..... shame as i thought it would be a good product for friends and family

[Honey2aB]

I think I'm going to check out the win patrol site and maybe give them a try. I'm going to go with the freebie version, tho.

I have spywareblaster on the computer right now, will download the winpatrol, I have nortons antivirus with windows xp....any other suggestions? Or will these 3 be ok. Thanx again

Honey

[masterjim]

Spyware Terminator, SuperAntiSpyware and Windows Defender are also good and free. A free version of Spyware Doctor is available from Google. Norton AV will slow your computer down. Best antivirus for XP is NOD32 (not free). AVG and Avast are free alternatives that are decent.

[Honey2aB]

These other 3 programs that you just suggested...would they be instead of the 2 that I have (blaster and winpatrol) OR as well as the 2 that I have...for a grand total of 5 programs running?? Please explain. Thanx.

I'm going to see if I can find and look into that NOD32 antivirus that you mentioned. I used to have AVG but it let thru some virus that completely fried my hard drive, which required a new one to be bought. Aaarrgghh. I can thank a kid who was told a million times not to download and use the free version of limewire....for this very reason. Did I mention...aaaaarrrggghhhh.

Well, I'm off to the land of NOD32.

Honey

[hewee]

WinPatrol is good and I even learn from it. Like how I was doing scans and they were finding things that were false because it was deleting sites I was blocking in my hosts file and WinPatrol will let you know anytime the hosts file changes and ask if you want to make the change so you can say no. Then I learn to never delete files from the temp folder after install, upgrade, updates and uninstall till after a reboot because you can have run once startup things going on to finish the install, upgrade, updates and uninstall. Plus it does so much more.

I got blaster, winpatrol, Zone Alarm Pro, AVG free, Hosts file and that is it that is always running at startup. I have not gotten anything in 6 years. But I stay away from bad sites, Never download email but good email because I use Mailwasher. Then email gets scanned. Then on attachments scan them again. Don't have any chat type or sharing program or those like limewire.

[masterjim]

Limewire,Kazaa,Bearshare and other file sharing sites are where you pickup most of the viruses and trojans. I just stay away from them. I used to know a guy at work who downloads a lot from Bearshare and Limewire and got a lot of viruses and trojans on the work computer. And he is the IT guy! He is constantly experimenting with different AV and antispyware products and scans the computer everyday. I suggested Spyware Terminator with integrated Clam AV and it found stuff missed by XoSoft,Ad-aware,Spybot and others. Windows Defender don't catch much but it tells you when registry changes are made. Kind of like a supervisor for your computer. NOD32 and Spyware Terminator both have HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System) which alerts you when changes are made to your computer or programs trying to install with warning flags much like a software firewall. You can disable it (turn on "install mode") to install legitimate programs. The Crawler Toolbar with Web Security Guard comes with Spyware Terminator. You can choose to install it or not. It will block known malicious websites, a cut above IE7. You should run only one antivirus program at a time on your computer otherwise they might conflict. But you can run multiple antispyware programs. I run NOD32,Windows Defender,XP firewall on,Spyware Terminator with Clam AV and Crawler Toolbar on both my computers and have Spyware Doctor on my desktop and SuperAntiSpyware on my laptop. I also use a wireless router with WPA2 encryption which is also a hardware firewall. My ISP also has a firewall on their server end.

[Honey2aB]

Thanx a lot for the help.

I have some checking out to do. I have a friend who knows a whole lot more about computers than I do, so I think I will have her over and we can sit down and check out all of the sites that have been suggested. She can help me with the computer speak.

Oh. I know this is isn't the right thread to ask this. I already posted it somewhere else, but I need another opinion/answer. I accidentally deleted something in my junk mail box that I shouldn't have. Is it possible to recover it?

Thanx again.

Honey

[Honey2aB]

Hey MJ I was just reading your reply again, and you mentioned not to have more than one AV on the computer at one time. NOD32 is an AV, and, from what I was reading, spyware terminator also has an AV program in there as well. What's up??

Thanx
Honey

[Gizzy]

Maybe this link will help with your question
http://www.spywareterminator.com/sup...=SpyTerm_Help5

I don't use spyware terminator anymore but when I used to use it I installed it without the ClamAV, there used to be an option to not install it when you install spyware terminator.

[masterjim]

I use Clam AV and NOD32 together and their is no conflict. I also tried Spyware Terminator without the Clam AV and noticed no difference in resource drainage. If you have a recent computer with a dual core and lots of RAM (I have 2GB RAM),then Clam AV won't slow down your computer. I actually picked up a trojan when I didn't have Clam AV installed and it was missed by my AV and several online AV scanners like Panda,Trend Micro and Kaspersky. I reinstalled Clam AV and it found and removed the trojan. Spyware Terminator originally found the trojan in a full scan. Even Spyware Doctor missed it. Don't just rely on any one program.

[Honey2aB]

Oh my goodness, I have on oldy moldy 2001 Dell computer with just 384 MB of Ram. Hmmmm. I think there could be a problem here

[masterjim]

XP should have 512 MB RAM to run well. 256 MB is good for Windows ME. I upgraded my first computer(HP Pavilion laptop with 128 MB RAM) to 256,then 384 and eventually 512 MB RAM. And that was on Windows ME. More RAM will make a difference. The cheapest and easiest way to speed up your computer. Also, NOD32 is lightweight compared to Norton. It uses around 5% of system resources during scans. Antispyware programs will use a lot more resources during scans (about 1/3 to 1/2 on mine). I would upgrade the RAM to at least 512 MB if not more on your Dell. My old laptop was maxed out at 512 MB even with XP (upgade version) on it. It is also a 2001 model. If you want to run multiple programs at once you need more memory. Memory is like desk space. More memory is like having a larger desk to do your work.