Lately I have been getting a pop-up informing that ‘they’ have detected that my computer has ‘spyware’ installed. An offer for a free spyware hunter software download is included.
I might mention that recently my Explorer home page (the page that opens when IE is started by itself) has been changed, and another toolbar on IE has recently appeared. Both of these are alleged signs of spyware presence.
The offer is from Enigma Software Group, and the download appears to be a free version of their commercial program, SpyHunter. I hesitate to add programs without independent recommentation. (My son adds enough software to this computer without asking me.) Have any of you used this program, or do you know of another free spyware detector that you would recommend?
I don’t know about SpyHunter but I would tend not to trust offers made via popups. I use Ad-aware from time to time for a spyware scan, to my full satisfaction.
Spybot Search & Destroy is a good program too. Ad-aware might be better though. Mozilla and Opera are browsers that have built in features to stop pop-ups. If you don’t want to use a new browser you can always try a program called FreeSurfer (I’m not sure if this is what it was called, I haven’t used IE for a while). You can make it to stop every pop-up, or allow some. All of these programs I think are available at Tucows.com. It’s a good place to find all kinds of stuff.
Sounds like you definitely do have a spyware problem, and i would also be very cautious about using a program that presented itself as a pop-up! I did a quick search on enigma and spyhunter and came up with this…
i’ve used both “Spybot Search and Destroy” and “Ad-aware”. Both programs did what I wanted, however I recommend Ad-aware for ease of use.
I’ve tried a whole bunch of pop-up blocker programs and haven’t had any that I like, so I’m just living with the pop-ups.
Go to download.com.com and look for Guard IE, simple program, only runs when Explorer is open, blockes almost all pop ups, it’s a trial, lasts a while though, cheat the system and set your computer clock back And how often do you check the date on your computer clock?! O_o Anyway, it’s a great program, and run Ad-Aware, get’s rid of stupid cookies and such, not good for anything else.
Guard IE also lets you choose which cookie to save so you can delete all the cookies and save the ones from what site’s you want to save from. I’ve had it for about a year now. ^^ Haven’t payed for it… yet… <<
I use adware and recommend it to anyone looking to clean spyware. Just be sure to run the updates once in a while. Speaking of updates… be sure to run the Microsoft security ones as well. I’m personally not a MS fan, but security is always an issue when on the net.
As for pop-ups, the Google search bar is the best one I have seen.
And how often do you check the date on your computer clock?! O_o Anyway, it’s a great program, and run Ad-Aware, get’s rid of stupid cookies and such, not good for anything else.