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Client Bulletin 1.2 (10-01-04)
Ad-aware and Spybot Search and Destroy
1. Introduction
2. Step-by-step - Update and Scan – Ad-aware Personal (free version)
3. Step-by-step- Update and Scan – Spybot S&D v 1.3
4. Warning About Other Protection Programs
5. Step-by-step - Update and Scan – Ad-aware SE (free version)
NOTE: (Added January 07) These free programs have not received high ratings in recent press reviews. It is adviseable to use an up to date commercial product from one of the following vendors as your primary protection and use Ad-aware or Spybot as secondary protection.
Many companies now offer combined anti-virus and anti-spyware products.
- Symantec,
- McAfee
- Zone Labs
- Webroot
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1. Introduction
Anti-virus programs can be setup to update and run automatically. However, the majority of anti-spyware/adware programs do NOT perform online-updates or scan your system automatically. With Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware 6.0 (free) YOU must do this yourself. I recommend that for the first two or three weeks, you perform these tasks once per week to determine how prone your system (or the use your system receives) is to becoming infected with parasites and to maintain a reasonable level of protection.
The need for this level of vigilance will depend upon the nature of Internet use to which the computer is subjected. Typically, teenage use will require a higher level of scanning vigilance. If you find that running these programs each week does not detect any “infection” then you can extend the period between running the programs. If you find that your system is continually infected with parasites other than tracking cookies, you may decide to:
Run the detection and removal programs more often
Find out why the infection continues to occur
The statements in this bulletin are necessarily simplified. There are several details on the use of these two programs that are not discussed in this bulletin. For details, refer to the product documentation.
If you find that Ad-aware and Spybot S&D together do not provide you with adequate protection, please contact ComputerHomeHelp. Other protection programs and techniques are available in addition to these two free programs. However their use requires you to make some difficult trade-offs between ease of use, and level of protection. These choices are particularly difficult when several people use the same computer. Also, use of these extra levels of protection requires you to have a more detailed knowledge of the programs or techniques.
Caution
There are always risks whenever you, or protection/removal programs like Ad-aware and Spybot-Search & Destroy, remove program-related items from your computer. One of those risks is that items will be removed that result in some of your regular applications programs failing to work normally.
2. Step-by-step - Update and Scan – Ad-aware (Free)
These directions are not intended to replace the product documentation. Product documentation is provided in a user manual. This is accessible from the Start Menu. The free version of this program provides detection and removal only. Blocking against ongoing infection is available in the purchased version. These simplified instructions are intended to supplement the live demo you received when I installed the program on your computer.
To Update
1. Open the program.
2. Click – “Check for updates now” (just above the Start button)
3. Click – “Connect”
4. If updates are available Click – “OK” (if not also Click -OK)
5. When the update operation is complete Click – “Finish”
To Run
1. Open the program
2. Click –“ Start”
3. Click – “Perform smart system scan”
4. Check that “Activate in-depth” scan is green - if not click it
5. Click – “Next”
6. Allow the scan operation to run to completion. This takes several minutes.
7. The program reports the scan is complete and displays the number of New Objects found. (This is sometimes several hundred on first use of the program)
8. Click – “Finish”. The program displays a detailed list of objects.
9. Click in the check box of the items that you want to be removed. (Refer to the User Manual for more detailed instructions.)
10. Click – “Next” and the program asks for confirmation to remove the objects.
11. Click – “OK” and the program quarantines and then removes the objects.
12. Close the program.
3. Step-by-step - Update and Scan – Spybot v1.3
These directions are not intended to replace the product documentation. Product documentation and a tutorial are accessible from the main menu under Help. Spybot-S&D provides detection, removal and blocking of Spyware/Adware. Blocking is accessible through the Immunize feature. (Other blocking techniques are accessible from the Tools menu
NOTE that this program has two user modes, Easy (which is the Default) and Advanced. The Easy mode can be used for most operations like weekly updating and running a scan. Switching between modes operates differently in version 1.2 and 1.3. Other capabilities are available by using the program in the advanced mode.
To Update
1. Open the program – the first window provides five short cuts in the left column and three buttons in the main window.
2. Click the bottom button–“Search for updates”– in the main window. If updates are available, download the updates. (Click Download updates)
To Run
1. If you have just performed an update: Click the short cut “Search & Destroy” in the left column.
2. Otherwise: Click – “Check for Problems” in the top of the main window. The program scans the computer and reports what it finds. The Help file recommends that you only remove the RED items in the list. These will be checked by default.
3. When the scan has completed Click – “Fix selected problems.” This removes the checked items.
To Immunize
Depending on the content of the update, it may be necessary to re-immunize after downloading the update. To be sure your protection is up-to-date proceed as follows:
1. Click – “Immunize.” The program will check your current protection and advise if you need to re-immunize. If the update includes additional immunization protection, the message will tell you to immunize. To do this, acknowledge the message popup and then click on the Immunize button at the top of the screen.
2. Ensure that there are two GREEN check marks in the main window. If you see YELLOW asterisks:
a. Click – “Immunize” at the top of the window.
b. Click the check box “Enable Permanent Blocking” in the lower part of the window.
3 Close the program.
If you should regret removing the items, clicking “Recovery” can reverse some changes. If you ensure that ONLY the RED items are removed you should not get into trouble using this tool.
4. Warning About Other Protection Programs
There are many other programs that claim to remove spyware and adware, some with names that look very similar to Spybot-Search & Destroy and Ad-aware. Many are known to “not operate in your best interest” that is, they bring in spyware of their own! Ad-aware and Spybot-Search & Destroy consistently receive very good reviews in trade literature. See: http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm#sites
If you find that Ad-aware and Spybot S&D together do not provide you with adequate protection, other blocking programs and techniques are available. For assistance with these options, please contact ComputerHomeHelp.com.
5. Step-by-step - Update and Scan – Ad-aware SE (Free)
NOTE: The new SE version is very similar to the old version. You may find the differencesz to be "imperceptable".
These directions are not intended to replace the product documentation. Product documentation is provided in a user manual. This is accessible from the Start Menu. The free version of this program provides detection and removal only. Blocking against ongoing infection is available in the purchased version. These simplified instructions are intended to supplement the live demo you received when I installed the program on your computer.
To Update
1. Open the program.
2. Click – “Check for updates now” (just above the Start button)
3. Click – “Connect”
4. If updates are available Click – “OK” (if not also Click -OK)
5. When the update operation is complete Click – “Finish”
To Run
1. Open the program
2. Click –“ Start”
3. Click – “Perform full system scan”
4. You can safely un-check - Search for negligible risk entries.
5. Click – “Next”
6. Allow the scan operation to run to completion. This takes several minutes. On completion, the title Scan in Progress is replaced by Scan Complete. Several hundred objects can be found on first scan. (Or if you have not scaned your system for a long time)
7. Click Next to see Scanning Results
7. The program shows a number of tabs. There may be three or four tabs depending on the nature of the items. These include Scan Summary, Critical Objects, Neglilgible Objects and Scan Log.
8. Select Scan Summary, ensure that all critical items have a check mark against them. Then click Next.
9. Click Next to continue and the program will quarantine and remove the offending items. If there are no critical items, they will not have check marks placed against them. Click Next., then OK and the non critical items will remain.
10. Click Next to complete the operation.
12. Close the program.
Note. If you consistently have to remove a large number of objects, consider installing the paid-for version. This provides blocking capability. 7th February 2006. .
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