spy-blasting

[Ocean Moves]

does anyone have any comments on using
"spybot - search and destroy" against "spyware blaster 3.2"
--both freeware spyware programs, but which of the two is the best
to install ?

[Ocean Moves]

I've read some concerning stories on ZDNET of XP users installing
Spybot and not being able to uninstall it, loosing DLL´s etc...
is this a genuine problem?

Christ, Ive started replying to my own posts now,
maybe I should get out more.....

[Ferry H.P.]

I installed those but they did nothing.
Spare yourself the trouble and download:
Ad-Aware from Lavasoft
and Spy Sweeper from Webroot.

After testing 10 likewise programs, these two were the only good ones.
They didn't remove my browser hijacker, but sure cleaned up a lot.

[CellThree]

I use:

Spyware Blaster
Adaware
Spybot - Search and Destroy

You shouldn't be using one or t'other.

Spybot and Adaware do a similar sort of thing, but Spybot does pick up some things that Adaware misses.

Spyware Blaster writes entries to the registry to stop spyware programs, diallers, browser hijacks etc from installing in the first place.

You should have all three installed. There is no one quickfix program as far as I know.

[rian]

I use:

Adaware
Spybot
Chredder
Ccleaner
Highjack this

When my clients have problems. You can't survive with just one of them.

[Ocean Moves]

are there any FREEWARE (not trial) programs around that
are good at improving PC performance / and cleaning registry dirt ?

thanks guys

[smiscandlon]

Spybot and Adaware do a similar sort of thing, but Spybot does pick up some things that Adaware misses.

Strange, I usually find the opposite. I ran a Spybot search the other day which found & fixed 24 problems, then ran an Adaware scan straight after & found a further 96 items...

[rian]

are there any FREEWARE (not trial) programs around that
are good at improving PC performance / and cleaning registry dirt ?

thanks guys

Check my post. All are freeware

[lazarus corporation]

Since people seem to be asking regularly about various bits of freeware, here's a list I had handly (all freeware, not shareware). I haven't included spyware blockers/cleaners because I think all the good ones have been mentioned above.

3D Graphics:

Anim8or - http://www.anim8or.com/
Blender - http://www.blender3d.org/
Now3D - http://digilander.libero.it/giulios/Eng/homepage.htm
gmax - http://www.discreet.com/products/gmax/

Anti-Virus:

AVG - http://www.grisoft.com/
AntiVir - http://www.free-av.com/
Avast - http://www.avast.com/i_idt_1018.html


Audio Tools:

CDex - http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/
Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net
MP3 Book Helper - http://mp3bookhelper.sourceforge.net/
TagScanner - http://xdev.narod.ru/tagscan_e.htm
The GodFather - http://users.otenet.gr/~jtcliper/tgf/
K-MP3 - http://www.katarncorp.com/
dBpowerAMP Music Converter - http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm
GermaniXEncoder - http://www.germanixsoft.de/
Encounter 2003 - http://www.waschbusch.com/
SoundEngine Free - http://www.cycleof5th.com/en/index.htm
mp3DirectCut - http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~pesch/
MP3Gain - http://www.geocities.com/mp3gain/
mp3Trim - http://www.logiccell.com/~mp3trim/
EAC - www.exactaudiocopy.de

CD/DVD Burning:

CDBurnerXP - http://w1.878.telia.com/~u87812405/
Burnatonce - http://www.burnatonce.com/
Deepburner - http://www.deepburner.com/
CDRDAO - http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/
CDR Tools Frontend - http://demosten.com/cdrfe/
Burn4Free - http://www.burn4free.com/
DVD Decrypter: http://www.dvddecrypter.com/
Easy Burning, DropCD & Audio CD - http://www.paehl.de/cdr

Compression / Decompression:

7-zip - http://www.7-zip.org/
Zipgenius - http://www.zipgenius.it/
UltimateZIP - http://www.ultimatezip.com/
FilZip - http://www.filzip.com/
Zip&Go - http://www.handybits.com/zipngo.htm
bzip2 - http://sources.redhat.com/bzip2/index.html
IZArc - http://www.florida.plus.com/izarc/
TUGZip - http://www.tugzip.com/
QuickZip - http://www.quickzip.org/
Defrag Software:
DIRMS & Buzzsaw - http://www.dirms.com/
OpenVMS - http://www.execsoft.com/freeware/freeware.asp

Download managers:

Star Downloader - http://www.stardownloader.com/downloads.php
Fresh Download - http://www.freshdevices.com/freshdown.html
Net Transport - http://lycos26486.l78.lycos.com.cn/default.htm
Encryption and data security:
Axcrypt - http://axcrypt.sourceforge.net/
Blowfish Advanced CS- http://web.bsn.ch/lasse/bfacs.htm
File Shredder - http://www.sys-shield.com/fileshredder.htm

File Managers:

Gyula's Navigator - http://www.wanari.com/
2xExplorer - http://netez.com/2xExplorer/
JExplorer - http://home.megapass.co.kr/~woosjung/
A43 - http://www.shawneelink.net/~bgmiller/
MeeSoft Commander - http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/
File repair and recovery:
PC Inspector File Recovery - http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

Firewalls:

Kerio (Kerio Personal Firewall is FREE for home and personal use) - http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html
Sygate (FREE for personal use) - http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm
Zonealarm Basic firewall - http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/c ... wnload.jsp

FTP Clients:

SmartFTP - http://www.smartftp.com/
Filezilla! - http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla

Image viewers:

Irfanview - http://www.irfanview.com/
XNView - http://www.xnview.com/
SlowView - http://www.slowview.at/
Ahaview - http://www.aha-soft.com/ahaview/ahaviewfree.exe


Mail programs:

Thunderbird - http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/
Network Tools:
PuTTY - http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty
WinSCP - http://www.winscp.com
TightVNC - http://www.tightvnc.org

Office Suite:

Open Office - http://www.openoffice.org/
602PC Suite free edition - http://www.software602.com/products/pcs/download.html
AbiWord - http://www.abiword.com/
Partition Managers:
Ranish Partition Manager - http://www.ranish.com/part/

PDF Makers:

Free PDF - http://www.webxd.com/zipguy/frpdfdl.htm
PDF 995 - http://www.pdf995.com/
Photo manipulation and image design:
The Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/
ColorPic - http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/
Sodiodi - http://www.sodipodi.com/
Pixia - http://www.ab.wakwak.com/~knight/


Pop-up Blockers:

NoAds - http://www.southbaypc.com/NoAds/
Proxomitron - http://www.proxomitron.info/
System Information and monitoring:
AIDA32 - http://www.aida32.hu/
Motherboard monitor - http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311
Gkrellm - http://bill.nalens.com/

Video players:

Media Player Classic - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... p_id=82303
BsPlayer - http://www.bsplayer.org/
VideoLan - http://www.videolan.org
MaximusDVD - http://www.maximusdvd.com/
FFDSHOW - http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow

Video tools:

xviD - http://www.roeder.goe.net/~koepi/xvid.shtml
VirtualDub - http://www.virtualdub.org
DVD Shrink - http://www.dvdshrink.org
Zwei-Stein Video Editor - http://www.thugsatbay.com/software/index.html

[Hojyuu-obi]

Is there any tool ou there that converts Real Player video to .avi or .mpeg?

@LazCorp

Great list btw.!

[Rivers]

Whilst we're talking computers I asked last week for a program that enabled me to take still frame snapshots from dvds. I'm glad to inform everyone that Media Player Classic does the job well and is free. It is a re-written version of Media Player. Recommended.
I use Ad-aware and Spybot. The reason that they both find things that the other can't is that they use different methods of searching. Spybot has a list of things to find whilst Ad-aware does something else which I've now forgotten! I also use Zone Alarm fire wall. I find these progs work well but I use Windows 98. Perhaps hackers prefer to attack XP now.

[Francis]

Spybot - Search and Destroy

Got rid of my little browser hijacker fncker. Still looking good C3.

[Dan]

Is there any tool ou there that converts Real Player video to .avi or .mpeg?

Recently I managed to solve that little problem. I tried lots of progs that were supposed to do the job, but none of them worked.
In the end I tried RM Converter v2.21.
Please note that this program didn't work wheh I tried to convert some realaudio, BUT, if you install this program it brings with it some sort of codec which means that tmpgenc will now convert realaudio to mpg.
I only discovered that when I uninstalled RM converter which I assumed was redundant as I'd discovered tmpgenc could do the job, then discovered tmpgenc needed it.

[CellThree]

Spybot - Search and Destroy

Got rid of my little browser hijacker fncker. Still looking good C3.

[Ocean Moves]

the world of codecs is a dark and mysterious one to me.

every attempt I made to install codecs to get windows media player to play my DVDs failed, until I installed WinDVD, now media player plays everything
perfectly