stephenbrooks.orgForumMuon1GeneralZoneAlarm by Checkpoint has your main site flagged as a Spyware site
Username: Password:
Search site:
Subscribe to thread via RSS
[TA]JonB
2008-02-01 13:05:14
Stephen, I got a full page "Spyware warning" when I went to http://stephenbrooks.org this morning.
It says your site "has been known to distribute spyware." Has that ever happened, even accidentally, or is someone confusing Distributed Computing clients with Spyware?  (wouldn't be the first time)

JonB
Stephen Brooks
2008-02-01 15:46:27
I somehow doubt it.  I don't have very much faith in ZoneAlarm, it seems to give far too many false positives...
Stephen Brooks
2008-02-01 15:51:19
The domain is on a shared webhost, so other sites may have the same IP address.  A mail filter at work once had it down as a spamming operation for the same reason!
Stephen Brooks
2008-02-01 15:51:44
No, I'm not hosted with the Russian Business Network before anyone asks.
[TA]JonB
2008-02-01 19:58:40
I sent them a "not a spyware site" note.

It didn't warn me 3 hours later
Xanathorn
2008-02-01 23:15:24
ZoneAlarm is one of the most paranoid pieces of software around.  I just use it to monitor outgoing traffic requests (my pc's behind a router , but just as extra security measure) but if someone has a better alternative I'll hear it out.  Had also sometimes spyware warnings for this site in the past but I just ignored that.
Stephen Brooks
2008-02-01 23:27:26
I've been running since 1999 with no virus software and only Windows Firewall on all my machines.  The important thing is just to make sure you're up-to-date with Microsoft's security patches.  The only time I ever got 'attacked' was when I ran VNC from an old installer I had on my disk, it installed an older version with a password-bypass vulnerability.

I do have CCleaner and AdAware though, which are good programs for removing all manner of dubious junk from the system.
Zoxx
2008-02-02 11:22:42
Xanathorn, just a couple of free and not as paranoid as Zonealarm firewalls, Sygate is now owned by Samantic and the other is Comodo the people who provide websites with trust certs etc.

Sygate Personal Firewall 5.6
http://filehippo.com/download_sygate_personal_firewall/

Comodo Personal Firewall
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

@ Stephen, snap mate i have not used virus software for years if you ask me it made for the paranoid and to make them money, it when you notice most of the worms/nastys come from Russia and the ex Russian states and so does the virus software you start to wonder if theres a link!  You decide.

All you have to do is stay away from crack sites and porn sites, neither of which am i the slightest bit interested in, i do scan the machines now and again for malware (every 6 months ish) never usually find anything, i did find Alexia last time i scanned one of the machines, but i forgot to remove it from the Win install with Nlite when i made my custom .iso image *sighs*
Stephen Brooks
2008-02-02 15:13:22
I've just updated my AdAware to the 2007 version and unfortunately it now comes with a "service" that always runs (aawservice.exe I think).  I removed it from the startup sequence using msconfig but other people may want to look elsewhere for adware cleaners now.

--[All you have to do is stay away from crack sites and porn sites]--

I'd certainly tell that to anyone using IE6 or below.  Other browsers can be pretty bombproof if you set them up correctly.
Xanathorn
2008-02-02 16:59:37
I use spybot and crapcleaner myself for many years now, also like Zoxx just an occasional virus check but I didn't catch a single virus for like 8 years now.  I'll try sygate, had it before but older versions didn't go very well with online games .
Zoxx
2008-02-03 16:08:30
Yes CrapCleaner is one of those usefull utils in the toolbox.
It is not really suprising you can make any other browser than IE very bombproof, as MS seem to hide & lockout or is just plain impossible to do in IE whatever version you use.  Firefox is my own choise with NoScript, AdBlock Plus & IE Tab for that odd rare site that dont like anything but the IE engine.

I use Acronis Trueimage software just before i feel like having a look for nastys, install all the detectors and see what maybe on machines (99% of the time nothing) so hello mr drive image take me back to just before the install of software please.  System restore IMHO is not reliable enough it even gets it wrong sometimes, so it is turned off here like lots of other annoying crud in XP.  It saves having those annoying services and updates running in the background on your machines.
: contact : - - -
E-mail: sbstrudel characterstephenbrooks.orgTwitter: stephenjbrooksMastodon: strudel charactersjbstrudel charactermstdn.io RSS feed

Site has had 25162429 accesses.