A little bit of software advice.

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I don't consider myself particulary 'techy', so this isn't going to be terribly complicated.

I recently loaded some software on my work PC, coz we get these discs with the computer/net magazines, and they looked OK. One of them was a handy thing, the other sucked - this is just me pointing out the good vs the bad.

The good: This is a product from Lavasoft called Ad-aware 6.0. It is a tool to scan

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drives for known Datamining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, Keyloggers, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components

So I try it out and it straight away identifies about 35 items that have been snuck onto the hard-drive. I take a look at these (it produces a log) and what do you know, just about all of them have arrrived with.....

The bad: Sticky Notes, the other piece of software I just added. It lets you tack little electronic Post-It notes on your screen, I thought it was kinda neat, but in reality I didn't use it and the data-mining thing was a liability. So I decide it has to go. Easier said than done.

Firstly, I use Add/Delete Programs in Settings. Won't go. Find the folder in Programs and delete that. Short-cut is still on the Start Menu so that has to go also, got to find that too. Run Ad-aware again, **** - there's still software hidden away! Find it, delete it. All gone now? Nope. At Start-up next day, error message comes up - where's StickyNotes exe file? Bastard!! Out with that!

So, in summary: Ad-aware, good. StickyNotes, bad.
Lesson: you don't really get something for nothing. Watch your virtual back.

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Mr. Stillwater- I have had AdAware in my computer for some time. Love it. Never used Sticky Notes!

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Just a note of caution with AdWare - It does work very well but you need to be aware of what you are OKing the removal off.

There are some applications (like BackWeb) that are installed on your PC and Adware will remove all references to them in the Registry but you'll find that other applications will no longer work and you may have other "odd" problems.

I just ran into this with my digital camera. Kodak's software update application uses BackWeb which I had allowed AdWare to remove. The Kodak software will no longer run and I can't remove the remains of the BackWeb application or reinstall it either. The OS (Win2000) also no longer recognizes the drivers for the camera so I can't downlaod any pics from the camera at the moment...

Soo, the moral of the story, be careful what you allow AdWare to do.. Wink

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fishin'- Don't have that problem, but thanks for the "heads up". There is a point in ADAware where you can choose to ignore certain things that they found, and NOT remove them. The trick is KNOWING what not to remove!

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Ad-Aware
Howdy:

Been using Ad-Aware for a couple years now and have never had a problem with cleaning everything it finds.

SpyBot is another BUT, you have to be REAL careful with that one.

Murray

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If you have MS Outlook, it has a sticky-note feature. I don't use Outlook for mail, but it came with my 'puter and I do use the Notes feature. Just open Outlook, go to the Notes folder, and choose New. You can change the color of the note, the font used, and drag a corner to change the size.

You can close Outlook after you type the note. It will stay on your screen until you restart your computer; then you have to open Outlook and reopen the notes you want on your desktop.

This is probably more complicated than the way the StickyNotes app worked, but it doesn't drag a lot of baggage along with itself!

(Unless, as I know some of you do, you think anything MS is baggage!)

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I have to agree with fishin'.

Adaware is a fantastic tool but it has yet to run once on my computer without poorly identifying somethign or removing something in an incorrect way.

It does dumb things like remove windows registry entries simply because they use the same name as a "spyware" application.

I recommend it but pay attention to what you allow it to do.

I do not use their removal tool and simply use the program to identify cookies from notorious domains.

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Don't know if you folks know this but the latest version of Adware lets you quarantine the nefarious items it identifies. It allows you to keep the snoop contained without completely removing it. If you find you need to retain that item, you can unquarantine it.

This is version 6.0 I speak of.

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I do resent the stuff that Add/Delete Programs in Settings doesn't recognize and probably miss some good freebies just because I don't want a bunch of trash stuck on the hard drive.

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roger,

Much of what add/remove doesn't recognize can be recognized though a registry edit.

If you have a particular program that is not being recognized I can try to help you uninstall it.

Good download farm sites include information about the uninstaller.

Download.com (where you can find any free download worth its salt) tells you if an uninstaller is included in the program being downloaded.

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I specifically signed up for this forum to direct a question to "fishin'"

Tell me, PLEASE... what exactly you did to get your kodak software up and running again after Adaware had removed BackWeb??

I would remove and reinstall Kodak software, but I can't find any trace of the uninstall program (even in add/remove programs), and I have been unable do upload any pics from my camera for well over a month... AACK!!

Help me... pleeeze!?!

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A little bit of software advice.

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