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Dan Albrich
Manager, Microcomputer Services
dalbrich@uoregon.edu
While our site-licensed antivirus software (McAfee VirusScan) includes an antispyware module, we recommend using multiple products to combat the numerous current and emerging spyware threats. Our help desk here at Microcomputer Services commonly uses and recommends several free antispyware packages:
Ad-Aware. Lavasoft's Ad-Aware tends to be one of the best overall antispyware packages and one of the oldest packages on the market. Since it is free for non-commercial use, it makes Ad-Aware an attractive option. Unfortunately, a serious vulnerability was recently discovered in Ad-Aware software. This vulnerability had to do with the format Ad-Aware uses to store its definition files, a format which was too easy to guess (and exploit). The vendor has now released a patch that verifies the authenticity of Ad-Aware definitions. Note that Lavasoft claims they will include this patch with future versions of the product. See our download links from http://micro.uoregon.edu/security/windows/ for both the software and the necessary patch.
Spybot. Spybot Search & Destroy is another favorite antispyware tool. This one is also free to use, and the author was kind enough to allow us to distribute this software on our UO Security CD. The author seems to support this software himself, without a programming team to update this software. The package is very good, especially considering that it's made freely available. The author accepts donations on the download page.
Microsoft Defender. Microsoft Defender (formerly Microsoft AntiSpyware) is actually a good commercial package acquired from "Giant AntiSpyware." You may download Defender at no charge from http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/). One nice feature of Defender is that it's regularly updated via Windows Update.
The lesson learned from the antivirus world is not to install more than one antivirus package at a time--but unlike antivirus tools, antispyware tools are unlikely to conflict with each other.
With this in mind, we freely recommend you install and use more than one antispyware package for best security. For practicality's sake, if you choose only one we'd recommend the Ad-Aware package, as it seems to be better overall at detecting and eliminating spyware threats. We have arrived at this opinion from our direct experience at the help desk.
Unfortunately, none of these tools catch every piece of spyware, so if you have the patience to install, run, and maintain all three packages, then we recommend doing so. Using multiple packages will provide more protection.
For more information about securing your Windows PC and for download links to the three packages described in this article please see http://micro.uoregon.edu/security/windows/
Feel free to contact the Microcomputer Services group if you have further questions about PC security measures. Our help desk is located in 151 McKenzie Hall, and we are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. You can also send us email at microhelp@lists.uoregon.edu, or call (541)346-4412.