New Version of Spybot Search&Destroy is Out!

[TurcoLoco]

...and it is looking good!

This new version seems to be much more effective and up-to-date with the newer infection types. Time to update your version if it is not 1.5.1 as of this posting date!
My tips and tricks on this post still apply as well!

[jholland1964]

Did download and install the new version...one problem however, after the first scan with the new version of Spybot my security settings for Firefox (default browser) AND IE7 changed...my accept cookie setting was reset as was my java settings...coincidence? I know I didn't change them but they were changed...cookies were disabled as was java. On several sites, including this one received notice that my browser was not configured to accept cookies and/or use java...plus my auto login status HERE was gone and I had to log in again. Not a problem as I signed in and thus far this has "held" but this had never happened before. There was no mention of anything about this site or the three others in items removed by Spybot. Tracking cookies were all that were removed or found...Excite, AdRevolver, BurstMedia, CasaleMedia, Statcounter, Zedo. Those are the ones which are always found...figure they do come from the Excite page. That has been my home page for 6 years, know they have lots of ads, etc., but have never had a problem. This is first time I have ever had security settings in Firefox or IE actually changed by something and they WERE changed. Also, when I try to open SpyBot it now seems to try to open via my Floppy Drive, at least the drive is reacting, and there are no disks in it. SpyBot is installed in C:\Program Files...so why is it looking in "A" Floppy drive?

[TurcoLoco]

Hmmm, none of those happened to me!? Could it be the case with people in IN? lol just kidding!

But seriously, my browser and cookie settings in IE (sp1) didn't change as far as I can see but you are right MS VM Java permissions was set to 'Medium Safety' but was changed to 'High Safety' (if I am not mistaken cause I always lower it to Medium for certain sites' functionality).
None of the cookies are automatically selected by default when you scan with Spybot, they come up as green/blue opposed to red (bad) entries.
It is changing for more secure settings at least but you are right, if it did indeed change all those settings it should have informed you either beforehand or afterwards.

Anyhow, I did run the update and also opt to download and install the beta updates as well which caused the program to update itself and then instead of restarting itseld, it just closed itself so I had to manually restart the application once, following sessions were fine.

I also had to do the few tweakings/configurations I mentioned on my Spybot post (link given in my first post) so the scans would be more complete, etc.

I will take a closer look on my test system to see what exactly it does but my gaming system got hit by a nasty spware (can you believe I didn't have any protection on it yet since it was a fresh install).

After the fresh install, I installed a few of my usual apps then started installing a few games I am currently re-playing. Afterwards, I wanted to search the web to find and download any available updates. When I installed the file downloader of a reputable game site to have it download a game update, it also started running the game patch after the download but I did notice a few quick flashes on my screen which was peculiar indeed.

Needless to say i got owned! I really didn't see it coming (you can never be too certain or careful, huh?). I really didn't have anything to lose other than an hour or so I spent customizing and installing the games but my old Spyware Hunter spirit kicked into overdrive and I took a deep breat and started fixing it....if you care to know more let me know and I will share all the info I could gather.

One good thing that came out of this though, I realized how ineffective some of the so called 'specialized' tools that are available out there (SmitFraudFix and VirtumundoBeGone to name some) but more importantly I noticed a few system folders getting infected in a new way that I never seen before!
I was using my own tools AnalyzerXP and CleanupXP+ most of the time (I feel like a proud parent) but I noticed a few shortcomings of both programs and got new ideas to improve them in a big way (I am hoping)!

[jholland1964]

You are right, none of the cookies came up as bad, showed in green. Had it fix them to see what would happen. In old SpyBot I had it ignore the Excite cookie, just so I wouldn't have to sign in again each time, but even before that when I let the old one delete that cookie all I had to do was sign in again, never had security settings changed, but this new version obviously changed those settings. Took me forever to go through and change the security settings back to being able to sign in there on IE. I had that happen a few times with older versions of IE but never with Firefox so I was totally surprised.

[Gizmokid2005]

I think I shall wait for the time being...I don't use Spybot often anyways..and when I do run it..just the normal annoying Cookies that I always get...

[TurcoLoco]

Well, yeah, the only time I have them even installed is when sh.t hit the fan, kinda like what just happened to me! If you know what I mean?

But I usually make use of the IE plug-ins of Spybot and registry keys of SpywareBlaster but this time I had neither of them installed....talk about getting caught with pants down!

Again, this incident help me improve a few things about AnalyzerXP and CleanupXP+ to make them a lont more effective....hopefully I will be done with my preliminary testing soon and have them ready.