[newbiefollies]

Hi steamwiz!
Thanks for your reply. I checked SpyCatcher & found that it hadn't detected any spyware & suspicious files so far. So I went & uninstalled it via Add & Remove Programs, despite the threat of spyware release.
SUPERAntiSpyware Professional gave a message today that it had expired. So I uninstalled it too.
The only antispyware I now have is AVG Anti-Spyware free version but it does not offer real time protection. I updated AVG Anti-Spyware & did a quick scan & it detected 14 tracking cookies, which I deleted.
Do you think I should download Microsoft's Windows Defender, which Tony Klein says offers real time protection?
Would you also recommend any changes to Mozilla Firefox, the browser that I always use?
Finally, how can I keep my registry clean?
Thanks for all your help.
newbiefollies.

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Hi

You could have kept SUPERAntiSpyware & just updated & run a scan with it occasionally, as you did with AVG Anti-Spyware .. but no matter ...

Picking up tracking cookies is part of everyday surfing nowadays, but you can greatly reduce the number you get by installing IE-Spyad & the MVPS hosts file, also by immunising with spybot S & D ...

There are several programs which offer real-time protection ... yes you could run windows defender, I myself run spybot's teatimer...

Just using firefox instead of IE is safer, because several exploitable components of IE are blocked with firefox ... forget your registry, in the days of win98 a bloated registry would slow down your computer, but XP's registry works differently, no matter how many orphan keys/values you amass, it will have no effect on your computer, it's best to stay away from registry cleaners ...

Any questions about the above ... just ask ...

cheers

steam

[steamwiz]

Hi

You could have kept SUPERAntiSpyware & just updated & run a scan with it occasionally, as you did with AVG Anti-Spyware .. but no matter ...

Picking up tracking cookies is part of everyday surfing nowadays, but you can greatly reduce the number you get by installing IE-Spyad & the MVPS hosts file, also by immunising with spybot S & D ...

There are several programs which offer real-time protection ... yes you could run windows defender, I myself run spybot's teatimer...

Just using firefox instead of IE is safer, because several exploitable components of IE are blocked with firefox ... forget your registry, in the days of win98 a bloated registry would slow down your computer, but XP's registry works differently, no matter how many orphan keys/values you amass, it will have no effect on your computer, it's best to stay away from registry cleaners ...

Any questions about the above ... just ask ...

cheers

steam

[newbiefollies]

Hi steamwiz!
Thanks for your reply. Sorry about SUPERAntiSpyware. I had downloaded the professional trial version & it died on me yesterday.
Can I request you for some more information on Spybot's Teatimer? How does it compare with Windows Defender?
With best regards,
newbiefollies.

[steamwiz]

Hi

Whereas you don't want too many programs running realtime protection, in case of conflicts, Windows Defender & Spybot S & D (teatimer) will co-exist ... so you can run both if you want to ...

Windows Defender > http://www.microsoft...re/default.mspx

Spybot Search & Destroy > http://www.safer-networking.org/

steam

[newbiefollies]

Dear steamwiz,
Thanks for your reply. I plan to install Windows Defender now & maybe Spybot Teatimer later. I am not having any problems with my machine now, thanks to your invaluable help.
One last question. My laptop came with original Windows XP Home, but SP1. I subsequently downloaded SP2 from Microsoft's website. I had to replace the original hard disk sometime ago & had to reinstall SP1 from the cd & again download SP2 from the net. I believe this facility has now been discontinued by Microsoft. Do you think it might be a good idea to buy an external hard disk & make a mirror image of the internal drive on it?
Thanks & all the best.
newbiefollies.

[steamwiz]

Hi

I think you already know the answer to that

Having a "ghost image" of a clean operating system will not only save you a lot of possible trouble/hassle but also a lot of time ...

cheers

steam