Topic: semi-OT: Ad-Aware no longer detects Gator/GAIN spyware. (Read 4406 times)

Bonk · « **on:** August 02, 2004, 07:18:09 pm »

Be aware that Ad-Aware no longer detects and removes the current incarnation of Gator. Spybot Search & Destroy still does however, so if you use only Ad-aware I suggest installing and using SS&D.

I have e-mailed lavasoft regarding this issue and depending on their response I will either continue to reccomend its use or reccomend its removal as false security.

Some of why I do not like Gator/GAIN (Bundled tightly with Kazaa everyone...):
http://www.pcpitstop.com/gator/default.asp

P.S.: There is another critical update at windows up today for another IE6 security hole...

KBFLordKrueg · « **Reply #1 on:** August 02, 2004, 07:25:18 pm »

Good notification. I myself used only adaware until I noticed one day that damned Gator thing on my system. Figured Gator had found a way around it, so I switched to SpyBot.

FPF-AJTK · « **Reply #2 on:** August 02, 2004, 07:27:24 pm »

Thanks Bonk, I use only adaware. How bout a link for Spybot?

Bonk · « **Reply #3 on:** August 02, 2004, 07:43:19 pm »

SS&D can be obtained here: http://security.kolla.de/

You need to pay a little more attention to install and use it than for Ad-Aware, but its well worth it.

FPF-AJTK · « **Reply #4 on:** August 02, 2004, 07:46:21 pm »

That sounds vaguely ominous...

But, thanks of the link!

Bonk · « **Reply #5 on:** August 02, 2004, 07:50:37 pm »

Perhaps their new domain is less ominous (and the reason they have it?):

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

(Its where the original domian is redirected to now.)

FPF-AJTK · « **Reply #6 on:** August 02, 2004, 07:55:04 pm »

No, No Bonk, you misunderstand. The weblink doesnt sound ominous...

You need to pay a little more attention to install and use it than for Ad-Aware, but its well worth it. <---- This does, rofl!

Bonk · « **Reply #7 on:** August 02, 2004, 08:00:12 pm »

Oh, sorry lol... its not that complicated, it walks you through it, just a little more to it.

(The new domain is more friendly sounding too

)

Brush Wolf · « **Reply #8 on:** August 03, 2004, 01:44:26 am »

Actually it is a good idea to run both AdiAware and Spybot - Search and Destroy. What one misses the other will catch.

Bonk · « **Reply #9 on:** August 03, 2004, 08:56:37 am »

Yup, that's what I do... but if Lavasoft has been bought off by GAIN then I will not use their products anymore. A spyware scanner that misses the most popular spyware out there is just not acceptable, and would represent the beginning of a trend to me... I await Lavasoft's response...

KAT MRess · « **Reply #10 on:** August 03, 2004, 10:42:27 am »

Grrr... Adware the newest scourge of the Internet.

As online tech support for a very large telecommunications company, you don't want to know how many times a day I get calls about "poor system performance", only to find loads of Adware running in the background. Professionally I use Spybot, the updates have been reliable (although as of late I've been getting repeated "checksum errors" from the updates), and I find it to be more thorough than the others.

Once you've cleaned out the Adware you might want to run a registry cleaner to eliminate the orphaned entries. These have been known to re-activate the Adware in question.

If you browse a lot, you are suseptible to this software downloading. All you need to do it lookat a page and you have this stuff installed, permission or not. Better yet, use the "blocking" feature of programs like Spybot. And maybe a pop-up blocker, both can save you lots of aggravation.

I have seen systems crash from this cr@p. I've also seen certain ones download nasty viruses on purpose.

Read this thread carefully and do what you can to guard against it!

Sirgod · « **Reply #11 on:** August 03, 2004, 10:59:58 am »

Cool someone mentioned SPyBot. I us this and also Hijack this.

Warning Be very carefull wit h Hijack this though. If you don't know what your looking at, and Remove something, It can end in lots of grief.

Stephen

Bonk · « **Reply #12 on:** August 03, 2004, 11:05:08 am »

Quote from: Stephen on August 03, 2004, 10:59:58 am

Cool someone mentioned SPyBot. I us this and also Hijack this.

Warning Be very carefull wit h Hijack this though. If you don't know what your looking at, and Remove something, It can end in lots of grief.

Stephen

Yup, there's no such thing as a free lunch!

I'm reminded of an FTP client I used to use but stopped as it would not function without its spyware... CuteFTP I think it was...

It is important to note that if you use Kazaa and the like and strip Gator/GAIN from the system Kazaa will probably not work anymore. I don't use P2P software anyway, but if you want to use it you have to take the spyware with it, or use a cracked version or hack it yourself... the existence of dummy spyware dlls to fool these apps makes me sick. Not that there is anything wrong with cheating these spyware buggers, there just should be no need of it at all.

Not to mention the really shady on-the-edge kind of stuff like Cdilla that is bundled tightly with 3Dsmax and some financial (eek!) software under the guise of "software protection"...

Fedman NCC-3758 · « **Reply #13 on:** August 03, 2004, 11:13:56 am »

Thanks for the heads up!

FPF-AJTK · « **Reply #14 on:** August 03, 2004, 05:04:51 pm »

Got it, ran it, loved it. Found other stuff that adaware didnt, specially in the registry. Love the innoculation app, the FIRST web site I went to was "myyahoo" and it tried to install some spyware crap on my pc, rofl!

Thanks bonk

Bonk · « **Reply #15 on:** August 03, 2004, 05:09:02 pm »

Glad I could be a help. Not everyone is necessarily aware of SS&D. I'm currently in communications with lavasoft to see if they can rectify Ad-Aware missing the latest incarnations of Gator, they are still against Gator it seems, but will they be able to detect it? I have been faithful to Ad-Aware for some time now and enjoy its ease of use, hopefully I've been a help to them by pointing this out.

drb · « **Reply #16 on:** August 04, 2004, 10:54:37 pm »

Just thought this one hasn't been read enough. Bump for more exposure.

Take care

drb

CM.E.Kehakoul_XC · « **Reply #17 on:** August 04, 2004, 11:07:07 pm »

Thank you for the pointer Bonk,
I fear that Adaware is not only not finding Gator anymore.
I found 13 instanaces of spybots, ,5 of them were actualy "only" tracking cookies.
But the rest were diverse spybots and data miners.
To put it mildy i was quite shocked ,as i am useing Adaware for years now and run it dayly.
I wonder whats wrong with Lavasoft,but i fear they went over to the enemy..the ones with the tiny pseudo blackhats.

CM.E.Kehakoul_XC

Dracho · « **Reply #18 on:** August 05, 2004, 12:12:17 am »

I use SpyAssassin.. the latest version also has a built-in popup blocker (which you can disable if you like).

http://www.spyassassin.com

Pestalence_XC · « **Reply #19 on:** August 06, 2004, 02:06:06 am »

I wrote a web page which deals with the proper configuration of Internet Explorer, the use of hijackThis, the use of both Ad-aware 6 and Spybot Search and Destroy, plus also a reg cleaner and info about one of the best pop up blockers on the market..

If you care to check it out, go to my page on this at

http://www.nightsoft.net/effhq/IE.html

I created this page about 3 or 4 months ago and have been advertising it in the Ten Forward forum on Taldren and this board (also Cool and Refreshing at Taldren).

hopefully people will get some use out of it.. it includes info on how to set up IE to prevent malicious software from getting on your system from web pages..

i also noticed that someone quoted PCPitstop above...

PCPitstop has an online system scan, however their Active X controll (plug in) for IE executes malicious code and adds spyware to your system.. if you disable Active X controlls as stated on my page I just listed, and say no to Active X at PC Pitstop (in XPSP2) a menubar will appear from IE stating that an Active X controll has been blocked from executing malicious code on your system... as such PCPitstop is not a safe place to go to.. it actually installs a "Hide me" code that will prevent Adaware and Spybot from detecting the Active X controll and from detecting the spyware it installs (www.coolsearch.com)..

PCPitstop may have good tech info, but thier online scan system is loaded with a Trojan, as such, anyone scanning their system from their site is most likely infected and will have a hard time of finding a Trojan remover that can detect their Active X controll...

anyhow, just letting you know..

Also, many other Spyware remover programs AND track erasers contain Trojan Spyware in them.. be vareful about them.. Ad-Aware 6 and Spybot are the only 2 programs that I know of that does not install some form of spyware..

Programs like SpyHunter (supposedly a Trojan/spyware remover) actually adds spyware to your system and blocks other detection methods from finding it.. so you may want to reconsider what you are actually using for Spyware removal.

as for Gator (GAIN), I have had no problems with Ad-Aware detecting it.. you have to keep the definitions updated just like Anti-Virus...

Also Anti-Virus.. norton does not detect Trojans very well plus it is very intrusive into your system.. Useing a real Anti-Virus like Panda will detect 90% of Spyware / Trojans / Hijackers in addition to Viruses... panda has at least 45 to 90 definitions added daily for detection of Adware, spyware, trojans, hijackers, etc.... along with Virus detection definitions.. panda Anti-Virus is rated as the world's #1 Anti-Virus.. Norton and macAfee are listed near the bottom of the list.. yes they work to their limited ability, but since 90% of thier software is bundeled, they reduce costs by putting out fewer definitions than the better Anti-Virus companies like AVG or Panda.

If you can not afford panda, then i suggest getting AVG Free Anti-Virus, they get their definitions from Panda, although they like to update every other day where panda updates every day (sometimes 2 or 3 times a day)..

just some FYI for you...

Also, just so you will be prepared.. panda and other Anti-Virus software will ask for Norton to be removed and they will not install until Norton is removed...

To completely remove norton, you will have to remove all norton and Symantec entries in the Add/Remove programs, then delete the Symantec folder out of program Files, then you will have to go into RegEdit and remove all norton and Symantec entries manually as a reg cleaner can not remove them (it registers in the system MTF file)...

after that you can run a reg cleaner to finish up the orphan entries in the system registry.. then you will be able to install AVG or Panda..

you will also have to remove the Symantec folder out of c:\Documents and Settings\(Username)\Application Data as well and any other user on the system such as the Guest account, the Administrator folder, All users, etc.. the Symantec folder may not be in all of these but I know when i used norton, I cound it in 3 sections of my system.. completely redundant and useless and intrusive...

anyhow, let me get back to what i was doing and to help protect your system, please visit my web page listed above.. i will be updating it soon for XPSP2, as soon as the build goes public release 9stated as this month currently on the XPSP2 web site.. RC 2 has been pulled for Final Release).

News:

Topic: semi-OT: Ad-Aware no longer detects Gator/GAIN spyware. (Read 4406 times) var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};

CM.E.Kehakoul_XC

Topic: semi-OT: Ad-Aware no longer detects Gator/GAIN spyware. (Read 4406 times)