Any users? Any opinions? Is it overkill if I already use SpyBot? Am I just being paranoid about all the cyber-meanies out there?

Thanks,
Baz

Well, Pest Patrol is supposed to be proactive. When I originally tested it it worked fine. However, there were some later issues that surfaced and Pest Patrol didn't seem as effective as previously assumed. I haven't looked at it again in some time, so I'm not sure about it anymore.

Man, that was so quick, I had time to blink only twice. Thanks, Interceptor, as always.

Any other opinions?

I use PestPatrol,I find it works better than spy-bot and ad-aware,detects a-lot more than both..Use spy-bot,then get there free scan,it will tell you where the pests are if you have any..I like it,but it might be a little overkill if you use both spy-bot and ad-aware,gets trojans and keyloggers ..When is enough protection
enough? hehehttp://www.pestscan.com/

Nice to see you here, JRam. Thanks for the advice. I know you've been familiar with my, uh, security insecurities since my SC days. Guess it can't hurt to check out the free download to see if it catches anything SpyBot doesn't, then buy the program if I'm desperate to get rid of whatever may be lurking. You know, all the ad spies are really, really annoying, but nothing more than that. It's these &%$#! keystroke loggers that really give me the willies.

Baz

Baz..You don't even have to buy the program,get the free scan.It tells you what and where the pest is,you can go into the reg.and take care of it..I'm not really comfortable in there..

I've had the paid version for about 5 weeks, it seems to be working as it is supposed to. It found 3 pests the first time I ran it but only a few since.

djskee..Use IE,it will go crazy..

I bet it will jram, but I'll stick with Mozilla...............

Well, you have to be a little careful when using their free scan. It picked up a couple of programs and a service, Kazaa included, as a pest. I don't really care for that. A scanner should be programmed to discern legit software from true spyware.

It depends what the program was,backweb lite is legit but also a pest,wild tangent is legit but also spyware.
So what do you mean? What Program? It's reacting to the name.

QUOTE

jram: Baz..You don't even have to buy the program,get the free scan.It tells you what and where the pest is,you can go into the reg.and take care of it..I'm not really comfortable in there..

JRam, I'm about as comfortable in the registry as a polar bear is in Phoenix. (I successfully made one registry change and blew another, being saved only by System Restore). If I've got to go into the registry to get rid of whatever the scan finds, I'd just as soon pay a few extra bucks for the program to do it for me.
Baz

Of course, they're "all" legit files. I don't have spyware like Backweb or Wild Tangent. In fact, I don't have any spyware at all.

It's reacting to the name Kazaa? That's fairly odd. Why should a program react to a name and not contents or footprints?

Baz..That's why I bought the program, I don't like going in there neither..I think it's a good program.
Interceptor..I don't steal or download music,that's all that program is good for(Kazaa)..I like PestPatrol,it does a good job for me..There is more to catching virus's and spyware than using Hijackthis,that seems to be everybody 's favorite thing to do on this site..I deal with the problem itself,not checking off a box..You can check off all the boxes you want,if you have a virus in that folder,it's still there...You have nothing good to say about any program only the ones you use..Give it a rest.

I'm only discussing things. I'm not saying it's good or bad. These are questions, that's all. This is my reasoning:

Usually, most programs I use recognize a footprint, or signature of whatever file it's looking for, like a virus program. Spybot and AdAware pretty much do the same thing, only without the use of heuristics, so does HijackThis. When Spybot, say, detects a piece of spyware in a system, it can distinguish between the spyware and the program it's associated with and notifies the user. It doesn't say "Kazaa is spyware!", it says "Cydoor clint.dll in Kazaa is spyware!"

See what I mean? If I'm a normal user...somewhat technically challenged and not really too experienced with spyware, viruses, etc and a program tells me that a program I have is something bad, what do you think I'm going to do? I'm going to get rid of that program.

Most users need all the help they can get, because this techie stuff is not what they do. They open their email, talk to friends on the messenger and surf to their favorite sites. I don't like the fact that a program is telling them to do something when it's not warranted.

As far as HijackThis is concerned, it's a very useful tool, but just one that I use. I am always willing to try anything. However, I am not adverse to stating a pre-formed opinion depending on available information.

If Pest Patrol works for you, that's great. I used it a while ago and it seemed to be alright. There were some issues that surfaced and I abandoned the program (I don't even remember what they were...lousy memory I have). But this idea of warning a user about something innocuous without saying why is not what I think is a good idea.

All programs have good points,and bad..Here is a good point
PestPatrol 4 Home User Edition distinguishes itself with the best pest descriptions in the business, so you can make truly informed decisions about how to handle the spyware you find on your machine. It's also among the best in terms of actually finding spyware. On the other hand, the program's interface is complex, its scanner is slow, cleanup can monopolize memory, and it's got little to boast about in the area of real-time blocking.

With options galore and an interface that includes features like nested tabbed dialogs, PestPatrol is far more suitable for confident users than novices. But once you start scanning, you'll probably be impressed with the results. Not only does PestPatrol uncover a large amount of spyware, but it also provides excellent information to help you decide how to proceed. For each spyware trace, PestPatrol reports the program's name, type (pure spyware, adware, and so on), location, and risk level, as well as suggested action. Not enough? Click for more information and you'll find a highly detailed assessment of the threat. (Anyone can view the same information in PestPatrol's Pest Research Center, at www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo.)

This deluge of information would be even more useful if PestPatrol provided better ways to sort, filter, and organize it—or a one-click way to let you select all the traces associated with a particular spyware element, as in products like PepiMK Software's Spybot Search & Destroy 1.2 and Rizal Software's Spy Remover 7.1.1. We particularly missed this capability when we attempted to quarantine a large number of pests on one heavily infested system, which eventually led to a "low virtual memory" warning, then an "out of system resources" error, ultimately forcing a restart.

PestPatrol's MemCheck utility is designed to block spyware installations in real time, but we found that most spyware wasn't deterred—although MemCheck did hinder the install of both Grokster and Kazaa, both of which install a particularly egregious amount of spyware if left unchecked. In fact, PestPatrol performed worst on real-time blocking among all the apps we tested that claimed to have that feature.

PestPatrol takes an interesting approach to ferreting out key loggers. Instead of scanning for signatures, the program's utility KeyPatrol sniffs out processes that are monitoring keystrokes. But as with most tools we tested, the key logger SpyAgent actually prevented KeyPatrol from running long enough to report its presence.
< back http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1522663,00.asp

That's fine. It is for more advanced users. I will leave it in users' hands as to whether or not this software is right for them. Who knows...if I get enough feedback I may try it again myself.

QUOTE

There is more to catching virus's and spyware than using Hijackthis,that seems to be everybody 's favorite thing to do on this site..I deal with the problem itself,not checking off a box

HiJackThis is a very effective diagnostic tool, and the log file that it creates compiles the information about running processes, etc., in a very easy to read format, making it that much more conducive for the person who is analyzing the log to identify malware that may be present, thus assisting the "analyzer" in pointing the user in the right direction to eliminate the malware, and also to make suggestions about other programs (not necessarily malware) that load and run at startup, consuming resources. No, HiJackThis is not the be all to end all, but it's an excellent starting point.

I agree HJT is very good at getting to the problem,but the problem is people try to do it themselves and make things worst..Most people who use it are in a half panic themself,I've seen them post it back here and wait for hours for someone to come around and answer,time zones are different,a-lot of reasons why..the average person wants the problem fixed at once,loool when it doesn't happen he will try it himself..Keep up the good work.

DSLReports "Security" forum thread.

PP is the absolute king-of-the-hill when it comes to false positives due to their detection methods outlined in that thread.

It attempts to do entirely too many things, detection-wise, and as a consequence, it's spread too thin.

I'd never rely on it for anything, not even as a back-up.

(I do like their write-ups on the different "pests" though - but that's about all it's good for).