What is your opinion on Spybot?

Question

My computer is really slow and is telling me that i have been infected with a trojan. A lot of people have told me to download Spybot and that should clear the problem up. I'm worried that its just a scam and that it may worsen the problem. Can anyone give me some feedback on Spybot so that I can decide if i want to download it or not. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I have answered this question some many times, but they way douglas did it is perfect, i know it takes too much time but trust me that is the best way to really clean your pc. I think he deserve the 10 points.

Answer 2

Spybot is a genuine free antispyware program. It was one of the first antispyware programs available. It does a decent job of catching spyware, roughly 50%. This is a decent score because you have to keep in mind that no antispyware program is 100%. However, you should use Spybot in conjunction with another antispyware program. It is advisable to use multiple antispyware programs to increase detection and remove rate. Also, if you are concern about Trojan Horses then you should use a good antivirus program. These days, antivirus programs are responsible for detecting and removing Trojan Horses. They are quite effective with most modern antivirus programs removing more than 90% of Trojans. There are several top-notched free antivirus programs, such as: AOL Active Virus Shield, BitDefender free edition, AVG, Avast and Antivir. If you are using the Internet, you should have at least an antivirus, antispyware and firewall installed on your PC. If you want to know where to download these programs, just drop me an e-mail.

Answer 3

ive had spybot for about 3 years, (guesstamate) and have never had any problem, it has actually picked up things that norton hasnt, i searched norton for 3 hours, nothing, left spybot go for 4 or 5 minutes, and it found about 30 things,

friends computer: McAfee-0 spybot-105

i think the numbers speak for themselves, but that might only be part of the problem, turn off things you dont use a lot, like IMs, that "start one windows boot up", ive changed some settings around, and my computer runs a lot better, junkware, i call it, so do some other ppl, it boots up and then laggs the memory and processor speed.

Answer 4

Spybot is a great software program, but it doesn't really target trojans all that well.

If you have software telling you that you are infected with a trojan (and not just popups saying that, but antivirus software or such you have installed), it should tell you which one, just do a search engine for the name of the trojan, and find a way to remove it.

Answer 5

if you have a trojan this link will scan your computer for all viruses for free including all trojans with mcafee -

http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp

I used it before to find out if i had a trojan.
if you don't have an up to date antivirus and firewall you should get one, you can download a 30 day trial version of the mcafee antivirus, firewall, and anti-spyware that will remove the trojan, after the 30 day trial is over though you'll have to purchase one from somewhere to keep protected, mcafee I found works well -

http://www.download.com/McAfee-VirusScan-Plus/3000-2239_4-10582866.html

Answer 6

Great "FREE" spyware problem solver. It's really a good program and updates every Weds. so your never left without the newest protection. Should clean up your Trojan problem but get a anti-virus program, there is a free one at http://www.download.com called AVS so stay protected.

Answer 7

they mean Spybot Search & Destroy
check out this link http://www.download.com/3000-8022_4-10401314.html
there is a video on the page showing the program

also use Housecall
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Answer 8

Great free program. I used it on the labs I managed.

Answer 9

I have used it already and it is really great been using it for almost a year now.

Answer 10

OK this is long but covers all bases if you follow it it will rid you of your problem and your mach will run faster.

Used with permission from NumberSix6
Printing this would be helpful
You need not follow this in exact order, or even do all the steps, but it was written this way to ensure all issues where handled.
If you find one portion particularly helpful for removing a problem please email me

Step 1) DON'T PANIC! Take a deep breath and go grab a cup of your favorite beverage. This may take awhile.
Step 2) Clean up your pc. Remove programs you don't use via the Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. In Vista, you remove programs by clicking Programs and Features in the Control Panel. If you are unsure of a particular program, you can check it against a list of offenders here:
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=79754

Clean your hard drive of unnecessary files using CCleaner here: http://www.ccleaner.com/download/...
Save to your desktop, install it, then run the cleaner. Simple, yet it will free up tons of space on your hard drive. While you have the program open, run the Registry Checker as well. This will fix invalid registry entries safely. Note that you should run CCleaner for ALL accounts on your pc.
Step 3) Create a new System Restore point. Click Start>All Programs> Accessories>System Tools>System Restore. Create a restore point. Now delete all but this most recent restore point. Click Start>All Programs>Accessories> System Tools>Disk Cleanup. Click More Options tab, and then under System Restore, click Clean up. Click Yes to remove all but the most recent restore point. Click OK, click Yes, and then click OK.
Step 4) Now let's start to get rid of those nasties. Download the following programs to your Desktop. You should then install each one, but don't run them yet. Patience...patience.
Lavasoft's Ad-Aware from here: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_a...
AVG Anti-Spyware from here:
http://www.ewido.net/en/download/...
Spybot Search and Destroy from here:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/downl...
SUPERAntiSpyware from here:
http://www.superantispyware.com/...
I know this seems like overkill, but until someone can come up with one program that can detect everything in the wild, we need to use programs from several reputable sources.
Step 5) Use them safely. Once these programs are installed on your pc, their effectiveness may be negated by running scans normally. You need to reboot your pc into Safe Mode. Shut down your pc, wait a few seconds, then turn it back on. As your computer restarts but before Windows launches, press F8.
Use the arrow keys to highlight the Safe Mode with Networking option, which loads all of the above files and drivers and the essential services and drivers to start networking, and press Enter. If Windows launches before you can choose a safe mode, restart your computer and try again. Now it's time to start each program you installed and run scans. First, open Ad-Aware, update to the latest signatures, and run a full system scan. Delete any malware found, close the program and move on to AVG Anti-Spyware. Again, update, run complete scan, and delete the baddies. Do the same for Spybot and SuperAntiSpyware. When you are finished, restart the computer normally.
Step 6) Clean up and protect. I would recommend leaving AVG and Ad-Aware on your system, and delete the other two. These anti-spyware programs do not conflict and offer good future protection. If you happen to like the interface of the others, then by all means keep the ones you want, just so long as you have at least one solid stand-alone on your system. Uninstall the others via Add/Remove in the Control Panel.
Step 7) Not done yet. We've taken care of the spyware, but there still may be viruses and trojans lurking on your pc. If there is an anti-virus program running on your pc, shut it down. Yes, you read right, end the program. We need to run a few online scans that may conflict with the anti-virus installed. Go to Trend Micro: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/... to download and run their free online scanner. Take whatever action the scanner tells you for any virus found. Finally, do the same with the Panda Online ActiveScan : http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/ac...
Restart your computer.
Step 8) Peace at last. Make sure your anti-virus program of choice is running again and is up-to-date. If you do not have one, I suggest AVG Free Antivirus here: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/ or Avast 4 Home:
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-...
Be sure you have at least one of the anti-spyware programs running, and also make sure you have a good firewall. PC Tools Firewall Plus is free and works on XP and Vista: http://www.pctools.com/firewall/... , as does WinPatrol 2007:
http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html...
This procedure will remove MOST malware. However, it may not catch some really nasty buggers. If you've followed all the steps and still believe you have something not right on your pc, you need some extra help. Go here: http://www.tomcoyote.org/hijackthis... to download a program called HijackThis. It examines certain key areas of the Registry and Hard Drive and lists their contents. Install, run and save a logfile which you may post on one of the forums listed on that same page as above. Some kind soul will then come along and examine your logfile and give you recommendations in order to wipe any remaining buggers away.
Please email me with comments, suggestions, and errors. If you like it, feel free to pass it on to other infected folks.

You may also find this Tweaking Guide useful
http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html
If you’re a Gamer he also has excellent guides to many games

Source(s):
Many years of cleaning infected pc's