Giant Spyware

mutley74

I checked my old pc with ad-aware and spybot S&D and all was okay. Then decided to check using Giant, it then did a scan and said 15 objects were found mainly spyware stuff like ad cookies & bouncer.
Shocked that adaware and spybot did not pick that up.

maybe is that the limit of free software??

Joe_Bloggs

Why don't you post a list of the things that were found ? They should be in a log file if the offending items are not still on your system. Were your definition files the latest ones available ?
What version of software were you using ?
J_B. (Sorry for all those questions.)

Noobie_2

My Giant Anti-Spyware picks up Passport, which some progs MIGHT be programmed to ignore - its not one I worry about.

From what I've read, the experts recommend AT LEAST two apps (e.g. Ad-Aware and Spybot).  I've also found that Ad-aware has occasionally picked up on something missed by Giant.  Just seems to confirm what we've apparently been finding with the AV and anti-Trojans - no product will pick up everything, even in its own field.  However, some are better than others.  

I'm also running ewido (trial version) and, although that's primarily for trojans, it sometimes also picks up things missed by Ad-Aware, Spybot and Giant. If we all had fast pc's, huge drives, money to spare... as it is, I have to rely on what knowledge I can pick up and be careful what I do.

Like the last post said, be interesting to know what it found.

Noobie_2

If you haven’t seen this (article dated Nov 23 04, tests from Oct 04), you might be interested, as it has interesting comments re Giant, Ad-Aware, Spybot, etc. Below are clips pulled from the full article, here:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1731474,00.asp

Howes, a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, found that the best-performing anti-spyware scanner failed to detect about 25 percent of the "critical" files and registry entries installed by the malicious programs.

"One thing I found out for sure is that no single scanner removes everything," Howes said in an interview with eWEEK.com.

The results rated the Giant AntiSpyware detection tool as the best of the 20 scanners tested, but even then, Howes said the software detected only 100 out of 134 "critical" files and registry entries.

During the first round of tests, Howes found that McAfee's AntiSpyware rated very poorly, picking up only 56 of 134 critical detections. InterMute's SpySubtract (72/134), Aluria's Spyware Eliminator (42/134), Lavasoft's Ad-Aware (82/134) and the popular Spybot Search & Destroy (40/134) also scored very low on detecting "critical" files.


Note: Aluria’s Spyware Eliminator is now a bit controversial – see here: http://castlecops.com/article-5523--0-0.html

mutley74

results of a giant scan after scanning with ad adware and spybot


Threats
ABetterInternet Adware (quarantined)
BargainBuddy Adware (quarantined)
Transponder.MsView Adware (quarantined)
DailyWinner Browser Plug-in (quarantined)
Lycos SideSearch Browser Hijacker (quarantined)
Virtual Bouncer Adware (quarantined)
DealTime Cookie (removed)
adriver Cookie (removed)
ATDMT.com Cookie (removed)
Bizrate Cookie (removed)
BurstNet.com Cookie (removed)
DoubleClick Cookie (removed)
LinkExchange.com Cookie (removed)
Mediaplex.com Cookie (removed)
Passport.com Cookie (removed)

blinky

Cookies technically aren't spyware, but they can be used for tracking purposes. There is a growing trend for anti-spyware to flag things which aren't spyware so they can increase the number of things which claim to protect against.

taken from this week's Spyware Weekly Newsletter

What is Computer Associates Thinking?


Computer Associates, which recently purchased the antispyware company PestPatrol, has released a list of the top spyware applications. In that list is the program Kazaa. While installing Kazaa is an excellent way to infect yourself with all manner of spyware, the program itself certainly is not spyware. What can CA possibly be thinking?

Use of the term "spyware" has gotten out of hand. Some firms are reporting that 97% of all computers are infected with spyware. The trouble is that they are counting cookies as spyware. As I have explained repeatedly, cookies are NOT spyware.

This overuse of the word spyware reduces its impact. When you start referring to cookies as spyware and labeling programs such as Kazaa as spyware, it makes it very hard for people to take the issue seriously.

While the term "spyware" caught the attention of people when Steve Gibson first coined it years ago, I am beginning to wish he had called it something else. For one thing, it doesn't apply to many of the problems lumped under the category of "spyware". CWS may be nasty but it is by no means spyware. I've started calling the software that causes these problems "parasites".

Computer Associates needs to rethink what they are doing. They are causing a headache to all of us involved in this new antispyware industry.

I know Pest Patrol 5 labels Web Position Gold as a pest (It's a tool for search engine optimisers) but it's not spyware, the disk space it uses can be carefully controlled and will only be installed by people who how to use it and what it does.



http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2004/11/29/spyware_label_abused_losing_nasty_effect/

Sofa_Sogood

Umm, I'm a bit clueless with pc's but where do you get Giant from and is it worth buying?

Noobie_2

The guy who wrote the report, Eric L. Howes, seems very well respected.  There's a link to Giant below, where you can download a free trial version.  If you don't buy it at the end of the time limit you'll get an occasional pop-up reminding you that your trial has expired and asking if you want to buy it.

One thing I bear in mind before I download (honestly!) is that not all programs un-install cleanly, and that you can be left with bits of 'debris'.  Generally, I don't download free trials unless I'm interested in buying but just want a 'final check' before doing so.

You can download a free trial version here:  http://www.giantcompany.com

Personally don't think Pest Patrol is as hot as its makers claim it to be, nor would I touch Kazaa with a barge pole, but some people rate them - each to their own.

Think I’d agree that a lot of the stuff flagged (and not just by Giant) is actually pretty harmless and sometimes even ‘useful’.  E.g. Passport might fall in to that category.

Rightly or wrongly, cookies don’t bother me too much, just that I don’t want of lot of un-invited ones adding to my disk space.

Sometimes got to wonder if the whole issue of viruses, etc, etc, isn’t being hyped up to panic people – trouble is, if you do get something nasty, it can be very nasty, so I tend to err on the side of protection.

Sofa_Sogood

Thanks for that link Noobie. It seems everyday I find things that supposedly 'track' my surfing habits, and I've a couple of pieces of spyware that Symantec recommended I uninstall myself! I daren't so I'll get someone else to have a look at it.

The Giant thing caught my eye because I'd installed a couple of programmes that caught things that Norton's didn't, so I'll have a look at it.

But I know what you mean about these things always leaving some sort of residue when you come to uninstall them.

Thanks again.

Sofa_Sogood

Hi

I ran the free scan and it showed up the following:

Ignore: Popular Screensavers (Adware Bundler) Moderate Threat Level

Quarantine: Websearch Toolbar (Browser Plug-in) High Level Threat

Ignore: FunWebProducts (Adware Bundler) Elevated Threat Level

Remove: ATDMT.com (Cookie) Low Threat Level

Remove: Bluestreak.com (Cookie) Low Threat Level

Remove: DoubleClick (Cookie) Low Threat Level

Remove: Mediaplex.com (Cookie) Low Threat Level

Remove: Overture.com (Cookie) Low Threat Level

Remove: QuestionMarket.com (Cookie) Low Threat Level

Remove: Advertising.com (Cookie) Low Threat Level

It asked me what steps to take next but I didn't have a clue so I've left it for now.

I was aware I had 2 at risk files because Nortons tell me every day. It's doing it's daily scan at the moment so it'll be interesting to find out if the same two show up again. I think they will.

The biggest problem seems to have arisen from when I downloaded something from Smiley Central and it installed the My Way toolbar. Even though I uninstalled that, it looks like it's left a few gremlins behind.

Thanks again for the link.

P.S. As soon as it was up and running a warning pop up appeared regarding Yahoo Messenger and some of its faults. Seems there's a few risks in that too.

monomer

Well the headlines say it all...

Microsoft buys anti-spyware firm Giant (The Register)

Apparently, this move has been prompted because:

Analysts say Microsoft was forced to make a move as it is battered by complaints that its Internet Explorer browser was a portal for spyware’s entrance onto desktops and as it fights public perception that the solution to the problem was Mozilla’s Firefox.

Source: NWFusion

I'm sure Microsoft will be able to introduce more features into the product!