I ran spybot and found 149 "problems". Some of them definitely are problems that I need to delete, like "advertising.com" but I have no idea what others are. If I fix all the problems, could I potentially mess up my computer by deleting something I need? How do I know?
2007-10-16 13:14:36 · 3 answers · asked by Sarah 5 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
anything that spybot found wrong you should delete it and get it off your computer as basically it's spyware and viruses.
2007-10-16 13:51:59 · answer #1 · answered by mister ss 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If a computer had 149 critical problems, it probably wouldn't even boot-up. My guess is that most of them of just cookies?
Cookies are just small .txt (text) files that by themselves cannot hurt your computer. Cookies are "set" by almost every web-site that you visit, on every visit. You can delete all your cookies today and by tomorrow you will have dozens again just be visiting web-sites.
Cookies do not slow down a computer, at least the first million or so that you might have on your computer!
They are not a virus or spyware, BUT some people consider "tracking" cookies to be an invasion of privacy.
Tracking cookies are usually "3rd party cookies" from advertising servers. They can track your movements around the web in order to deliver to you customized, targeted advertising.
It all depends on ones personal level of paranoia whether you consider tracking cookies some kind of threat. Some anti-spyware programs do not even report tracking cookies as even a minor threat.
Children are the people that are always the most nervous about cookies. Because cookies are an easy way for Mommy and Daddy to find out exactly what their darling 'lil b@$^@#d$ have been looking at on the web.
Personally, If I happen to remember it, I will delete my cookies every 6 months or so :-)
Cookies are much ado about nothin'. Delete 'em or keep 'em, it makes little difference.
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Any time you are using a program to detect and remove malware, there is always a slight chance that a needed system file will be detected as malware and deleted (false-positive detection). However Spybot is a reputable program that does NOT have a reputation for a lot of fasle-positives.
Good luck.
2007-10-16 21:52:02 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
run the delete. This program creates a BACKUP of the deleted file in case there was something you needed. If that is the case, just re-install the file the program created and you will be back and running.
2007-10-16 20:51:36 · answer #3 · answered by Mike 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
highly unlikely. The worst that could happen would be you'd remove a cookie for some site you visited that you want to keep track of you. If that happens, the site will just prompt you for your login on your next visit.
2007-10-16 20:30:48 · answer #4 · answered by Spartacus! 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋