Revised Malware Removal Question

Discussion in 'Malware Help - MG (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by SWario, Jun 27, 2008.

  1. SWario

    SWario Sergeant

    I have been gone for a long time, and plenty of things have drastically changed in the computing world during that time. I just wanted to ask a couple questions to better understand the Malware Removal process.

    1. I noticed that Lavasoft's Ad-Aware was removed (QUITE some time ago) from the README process for Malware Removal. What prompted this change?
    2. Safe Mode is no longer used for any of the generic Malware Removal process (except for using CCleaner on the Administrator account). Why is that?

    Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2008
    SWario, Jun 27, 2008
    #1
  2. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    There are better tools to use than Ad-Aware.

    Safe mode is used quite often for various reasons ( when a user can not use normal mode or something is blocking a fix in normal mode, etc.)
     
    TimW, Jun 27, 2008
    #2
  3. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    To add to what Tim said about safe mode.

    Many times users would have problems just getting into safe mode to begin with and also there were also many cases where they would get stuck in safe boot mode (possibly due to malware). It was become to frequent and annoying to have to deal with. Also most new forms of malware cannot be removed by any scanners no matter what boot mode you are in. Thus we have new tools like ComboFix, Avenger, SDfix,...etc that make booting into safe mode unnecessary anyway.
     
    chaslang, Jun 27, 2008
    #3
  4. SWario

    SWario Sergeant

    Could someone expand on "There are better tools to use than Ad-Aware"? Did it become too bloated to be useful? Or did other software (such as SpyBot) just cover its functions better?

    As for Safe Mode, I can understand that. Even I have trouble getting into Safe Mode once in a while (if I recall correctly, on Dells you would hold F5 during the boot process though it is normally claimed that the key to press is F8, and I always forget this).

    Thanks for the information!
     
    SWario, Jun 27, 2008
    #4
  5. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Yes definitely. See: How to Protect yourself from malware!

    Yes but not how you think with tools like McAfee/Norton. They added a service that wastes system resources and always runs even when not scanning. For a tool that provides no protection (the free version) and that does not find most of todays real malware problems and does not remove them, it is a total waste. Ad-Aware spends too much time scaring everyone into believe that cookies and MRUs are criticial issues and nothing could be further from the truth.

    Yes as stated above. If you just want a free scan only tool, SUPERAntispyware is MUCH MUCH MUCH better. Don't waste your time with Ad-Aware.
     
    chaslang, Jun 27, 2008
    #5
  6. SWario

    SWario Sergeant

    Ah, thank you for that information. I had always thought it was odd that Ad-Aware made such a big deal out of cookies and MRUs; they never really seemed like such a huge problem (or one that CCleaner wouldn't fix).

    Thanks again!
     
    SWario, Jun 27, 2008
    #6
  7. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    You're welcome. Surf safely!
     
    chaslang, Jun 27, 2008
    #7

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