anybody else use SpyBot Tea Timer.. what is it, other than annoying..?

[sam sarrha]

[madokie]

1. I keep coming back to see if anyone gives a reply

I installed tea timer along with spybot s&d once and it worried me to death, best I remember, with popups etc asking me if I really wanted to do this or wanted to do that, worst than micro$hafts vista firewall or comodo's firewall is. A real resource hog too it was.

I've found that when I get a nastie on my computer the best thing for me to do is reformat and reload xp. I've wasted many hours and days downloading and trying first one then the other spy/virus whatevers to come to this conclusion too. I'm using Pandas cloud antivirus now and liking it real well. You don't even know its there doing it's job and it seems to be doing a good job too.
Out of the few times I've downloaded and installed spybot for instance, along with the download came malware, spys, whatever one wants to call them. Only once did that not happen and because of that one time I found out about the others. Everyone should take classes or whatever it takes to learn to reformat and reload if you ask me and it's really not that hard to do either.

my advice to all is CCleaner, Regseeker and an old favorite of mine Registry Healer, all free. Along with the windows firewall and Panda's Cloud antivirus and I seem now to be ready for anything.

From turn on to boot less that 20 seconds total. For the desktop to show about 12 seconds with the rest of the time finishing the loading of xp.

[Why Syzygy]

2. I use Malwarebytes.

No more Spybot. I found it buggy.

[madokie]

3. I've used malwarebytes too

and it found some nasties on here but I ultimately had to reformat and reinstall because it wasn't finding all of them so after a couple times of this I've decided why bother. Let me say something though that puts it more in perspective. I don't use my computer for anything where it makes it a pain to go the reformat route. Its easy enough to reinstall xp and autocad and as I always keep a new backup of my drawings it's not a problem. Before the most recent time I had to reformat I installed and ran spybot S&D, spyware blaster, antimalwarebytes, adaware and a couple others I can't remember now but in the end none of them caught what the problem was, never did find out as I finally gave up and reformated and reinstalled my programs. I'm not saying that someone else should do any of this I'm only saying it as sharing what I've found. I do like ccleaner and regseeker and registry healer and am now keeping a pretty clean machine by using them. This is from my 8 or 9 years of being connected to the internet, before then I never worried about any of this as it wasn't a problem pre-internet.

I'll pick up nasties, I suspect, because I'm a tinkerer and like to look and read about things others like me are making or doing and sometimes I'll follow a link when I know I shouldn't.

Yep, curiousity kills the cat as they say.

http://www.cloudantivirus.com/

:hi:

[Why Syzygy]

4. Does Cloud

block malware or just viruses?

You may have read that I'm not currently innoculated. I've just finished a clean install too, so there isn't any big threat if it has to be done again. Except that I can't get my flash drive to work and my blank CDs are packed in some unknown location, and I would hate to lose the new game I started. I found that I miss having the option to scan a dowloaded file with AV.

[madokie]

5. It found two tracking cookies right off

one with paypal and the other ebay and since then it hasn't found anything or let anything that I can tell through. I think it watches for malware too. You'll have to read about it at their site for an explanation but it works on a whole different level than any of the other anti-spyware, anti-virus programs. Its light and it doesn't slow the computer down any. I've used norton, mcaffee, avg and avast and like Cloud better than the others. For some reason I feel more secure with it.

[Why Syzygy]

6. Thanks.

I'm going to install it. What browser do you use?

Back in a former age, you could visit the doubleclick site and install a cookie to tell them NOT to install any tracking cookies. Opt out.
I don't know if they still have that. Almost every site runs it. I clean my cookies almost every time I close the browser. So that would mean I have to visit their site every time I start a new session.

Or. Come to think of it, I could probably just keep the opt out cookie in a text file and copy it back after they are cleaned. hmm

[madokie]

7. I use IE 8

and again I've tried 'em all, safari 4 being the last one, and on my machine and this dsl line ie is the fastest. I don't require a bunch of gizmo's and gadgets so it does what I need just fine. I was told to be ready and to check our firefox 3.5 when it comes out as it may be something I'd be interested in and I will try it when it does and then go from there. I suspect I'll still be using ie when it's all said and done though.

[Why Syzygy]

8. me too

Avira slowed browsing down too much. That's what I had been most recently using.
Thanks for all the information!

[canetoad]

10. As a long time Avast evangelist

In the last hour I've gone off it in a fucking huge way.

Had read a lot about Panda Cloud, after reading your post thought I'd give it a try. Here's what happened:
1. Disabled Avast in msconfig
2. Reboot
3. Fucking Avast still running
4. Gone to Services, tried to disable
5. LOCKED OUT!! Won't allow me to disable a service on my own fucking computer.

Now at this stage I can't describe how angry I am. A message from a piece of software telling me that Access is Denied. Not going to let that one go through to the keeper.

6. Fired up Revo in advanced uninstall mode
7. Got rid of Avast, plus uncounted registry entries and 222 dlls
8. Reboot
9. You wouldn't believe it. Avast still running, still showing in msconfig, services still automatic with no way to stop.
10. Checked Program files. Alwil software has a folder full of .....Avast components. No uninstaller
11. Resort to Googling 'Remove Avast'
12. Found removal tool & downloaded

Take a diversion here. Bought a new keyboard coupla weeks ago, as I do regularly - standard cheapo wired Microsoft, which I like for the volume controls on the top. These have changed from PS/2 plugs to USB only. Not happy.

13. Tried to reboot to safe mode to run Avast removal tool. Guess what? F8 doesn't work with USB keyboard.
14. Dragged old PS/2 keyboard covered in ash, tobacco and chilli sauce out and rebooted in safe mode.
15. Got rid of the fucker at last.
16. Installed Panda and it seems fine.

Calming down now, about to roll a joint and ponder the arrogance of Alwil Software. To everyone that I suggested switch to Avast, my humble apologies. Don't touch it with a barge pole.

[Why Syzygy]

11. That's the kind of thing

I won't tolerate either. Not doing me any favors by taking over my machine. I'm running Panda now too. I started to scan, and things kind of locked up. So I cancelled and did an extra deep file delete, ran the shredder and defragged. I'll try the scan again. Other than that, so far it's invisible. Just the way I like it :D

[Duer 157099]

9. I use Comodo Internet Suite (free)

and one of it's components is "Defense+ Security" which does essentially the same thing the TeaTimer does, which is to monitor your registry to see if a program is trying to make a change, and then alerts you to see if you approve it -- like, if you're installing something, or doing an update, or whatever, but it's your choice to allow or deny.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

12. The problem with Tea Timer

is that the average user doesn't have a freakin' clue about whether or not to allow the registry change, so they end up allowing them all to take place.

I use Malwarebytes and Avast. Regarding the difficulties in removing Avast: that's exactly how I want it. An AV software application that's easy to remove is also more easily disabled by virii, malware, etc.