Microsoft Anti-Spyware

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 12, 2005, 12:26 pm

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/securit ... fault.mspx

Disclaimer - It's still in Beta1 stage. Used to be Giant antispyware but MS bought em out. If you don't like beta software, then don't install it.

The product seems really really good at first view. I've installed it and it picked up a few registry items that I had on my system. It then proceeded to grab my IE default settings and make a Browser Hijack Restore point so that if any pages are changed, they can be restored at the click of a mouse.

I then attempted to install Gator/Claria on my system and after the install was completed, the Real-Time Protection kicked in as it was trying to put stuff in the startup sections of the registry, a huge, red popup appeared in the bottom right corner of the screen saying that gator was trying to install. Gave a threat level and a complete description of the software. There was, in this popup, a Keep or Remove button that the user can choose also. When it removes a file form the computer, the software will check to see if it's registered in the COM components of the system as well as other system areas to make sure it's completely gone.

I realise Gator's a pretty weak test since it's probably one of the most common ad-ware softwares out there.

I'm going to be running ad-aware and spybot over this to see if MS left any residuals that they can pick up.

As it stands now, I would recommend it to any non-proficient PC users.

noel · Post by **noel** » January 12, 2005, 12:29 pm

10 threads down:
http://www.veeshanvault.org/forums/view ... hp?t=12902

Welcome to last week.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 12, 2005, 1:03 pm

Last week was the best week ever though. How can anyone not want to go back to last week!

Drolgin Steingrinder · January 12, 2005, 1:34 pm

I've heard stories about the program really REALLY hating firefox, any info on that?

Fash · Post by **Fash** » January 12, 2005, 1:57 pm

I use firefox exclusively and this spyware program hasn't mentioned anything about it.

it noticed my VNC sessions as a risk, and found 2 actual problems... so i like it.

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » January 12, 2005, 1:59 pm

I just DL'd something from them along this line in this morning's critical update (was tired, wasn't thinking as I clicked through, don't even know if it installed yet)... anyone else about to confirm if they're patching it with?

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 12, 2005, 2:16 pm

You can view your installation history at
http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/v ... x?ln=en-us

What was installed is the following:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=890830

On a side note, Ad-Aware found a lot of files that the MS solution didn't. 98% of those files were tracking cookies, the rest were gator logs and empty folders from the test intall I did this morning.

noel · Post by **noel** » January 12, 2005, 4:09 pm

No problems with Firefox here Drolg.

Rivera Bladestrike · Post by **Rivera Bladestrike** » January 17, 2005, 6:49 pm

Ran MS AntiSpyware agains Ad-aware, both fully updated:

Ad-aware finished took significantly less time and found 60 traces, 19 registry keys, and then picked up all of my cookies.

MS AntiSpyware found 12 threats, 143 files, and 289 registry keys. In 6 minutes.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 23, 2005, 2:14 pm

Heh

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2005/01/micr ... yware.html

Wednesday, January 19 12:00 AM ET

Microsoft's AntiSpyware Tool
Removes Internet Explorer
By Brian Briggs

Many Microsoft Windows users who downloaded the recently released AntiSpyware program from Microsoft, or had it installed through an automatic Windows update, woke up to a surprise. Unintentionally, the heuristics of the software detected Internet Explorer as spyware, and removed the program from their systems.

Microsoft has pulled the program from its website until the problem can be corrected. Elias Weatherbee, a Microsoft representative, said the program was "only in beta" and that "a fix was forthcoming."

"It shows how powerful our AntiSpyware program is," said Weatherbee. "Not only is it able to remove spyware from the system, but also the source of most spyware. Our competitors can't match that."

A representative from Lavasoft, which sells Ad-Aware another spyware removal program, complained that Microsoft was using its monopoly and knowledge of the operating system to "offer features that others can't match."

"Tough shit," said Weatherbee.

Many computer users did not view this new "feature" positively. "I tried to check the weather this morning and all my little blue 'e' icons were missing. I couldn't get to the Internet at all. I guess I'll have to get a new computer," said Windows XP user Graham Newton.

Users of alternative browsers were happy to see Internet Explorer gone. Thad Freeman of the Mozilla Users Group said, "I've been trying for years to get rid of Internet Explorer. I never imagined that Microsoft would do it for me. I'm ecstatic."

Microsoft technical support was advising customers to reinstall Windows to regain Internet access and to disable automatic updates.

Symantec Antivirus Research reported that virus sightings were down by 95% this morning.

(And yeah I am aware it's a joke. Just before someone points it out)