Best software for cleaning spyware and sorting out a pc?

MarcLister · 9 Jan 2009 at 22:09

_Jimlad_ said:
that is true, ad aware once was a real great little lite app installed,updated and ran in a sec.

Yes it was brilliant. Then they came out with Ad-aware 2007 or whatever it was and it insisted on running background services. Not what I wanted from Ad-aware.

CircleFaust · 9 Jan 2009 at 22:43

do i need ad-aware and spybot? i rarely use them

i have avast and ccleaner too, is this enough or.....

just looking for things to delete to keep the system freed up

zetec452 · 9 Jan 2009 at 22:52

I quite like Cleanup (http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?Itemid=69&id=15&option=com_content&task=view)

Nothing too fancy but will delete any temp files. Amazing how many temp files one has.

J

willhub · 9 Jan 2009 at 22:57

I've found these the best and all 4 things seem to do a good job:

SpyBot S&D
CCleaner
Avast AV Home Edition
O&O Defrag

Pyroblaze · 9 Jan 2009 at 23:01

Either my browsing habits have changed or Spybot is crap nowadays. It never finds anything on my machine at all anymore.

swinnie · 9 Jan 2009 at 23:03

Pyroblaze said:
Either my browsing habits have changed or Spybot is crap nowadays. It never finds anything on my machine at all anymore.

What browser do you use?

My mum used to use IE7, I used to keep finding stuff with Spybot. Now I've moved her to Firefox + AdBlock Plus + Easylist, I never find anything, except the odd thing or too. Very rare though.

Pyroblaze · 9 Jan 2009 at 23:04

Firefox + adblock also. Only been using Adblock for about 5 or 6 months so it could be down to that, been using firefox for years.

swinnie · 9 Jan 2009 at 23:17

Pyroblaze said:
Firefox + adblock also. Only been using Adblock for about 5 or 6 months so it could be down to that, been using firefox for years.

Makes a huge difference.

My entire household uses Firefox + AdBlock plus - otherwise they're not allowed on the internet!

Ratbag · 9 Jan 2009 at 23:43

Cruiser said:
do i need ad-aware and spybot? i rarely use them

i have avast and ccleaner too, is this enough or.....

just looking for things to delete to keep the system freed up

Use Avast [or even better, Avira] and if you feel the need then the odd scan with malwarebytes or superantispyware will suffice.

If you use Firefox with adblock/noscript then you are less likely to to get suckered.

Me? I use Opera alongside Admuncher and Common Sense. Never seen anything malicious in 10 years of PC ownership.

_Jimlad_ · 10 Jan 2009 at 00:38

been on firefox for years but not tired add block. will have to give it ago... never had trouble on my pc thoough. i used nod32 best bit of software one can buy IMO

CircleFaust · 10 Jan 2009 at 12:57

Ratbag said:
Use Avast [or even better, Avira] and if you feel the need then the odd scan with malwarebytes or superantispyware will suffice.

If you use Firefox with adblock/noscript then you are less likely to to get suckered.

Me? I use Opera alongside Admuncher and Common Sense. Never seen anything malicious in 10 years of PC ownership.

i've found avast pretty good. seems to use very little resources.
just had a look at avira, that seems to have a spybot and adaware program built in?

i use IE7

just ran spybot for the first time in a few months. a couple of things have popped up

i might leave adaware uninstalled for now to see how i get on

_Jimlad_ · 10 Jan 2009 at 14:47

thing are always much better on a cpu that uses firefox, always seens to be less pop ups and less spyware