My roommate has been having a lot of problems with adware getting on his computer, but doesn't have the cash for Norton. Can I get some links to reliable, free software firewalls?

Also, are there any free repair tools for Windows, should it get kinks in its system?

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"LC Tusken: the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot"
NMGOH || Jack Chick preaches it || The Link of the Dead

[This message has been edited by Wolfy (edited January 26, 2004).]

Sygate.



[This message has been edited by kak (edited January 26, 2004).]

Uhm

I think the reason he gets so much adware is not so much the open ports on his computer... more carelessness, ignorance, reluctance to use safer browser|browser settings


I have no pfw, yet I have no spyware, strange

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Of war, we don't speak anymore

[This message has been edited by Molgrew (edited January 26, 2004).]

IIRC, most adware comes in on port 80 through your browser, so a firewall would block viruses, but not adware.

To stop Adware, you just need to surf safer, and use Spybot or Adaware.

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MadQuack on Military school: Pro's: I get to shoot a gun. Con's: Everything else.
"I'm going to beat you until the laws of physics are violated!!" ! Maeve's Warcry

RIP -MaDaVentor-. You will be missed.

He runs Ad-aware frequently. One time, he left his computer on for three days, not touching it. At the beginning of the first day, it was clean. When he came back, there were 218 Ad-aware elements on his computer.

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"LC Tusken: the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot"
NMGOH || Jack Chick preaches it || The Link of the Dead

That's pretty bad

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I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

I assume he doesn't have Kazaa or programs of the like installed?

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.hack//SIGN - The World - Just Believe

(Yes, This is Cool Matty)

www.agnitium.com <-- Better than ZA, with ad blocking.

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Founder of the Massassi Brute Squad (MBS)
Ab Hoc Possum Videre Domum Tuum
(I can see your house from up here)
"But he's not going to carry you three" said Death.
"Why not?"
"It's a matter of the look of the thing"
"It's going to look pretty good, then, isn't it" said War testily, "the One Horseman and Three Pedestrians of the Apocralypse"

"I am the signature virus! Copy me into your signature so that I can take over the world! Moohahahee!"

He has WinMX, possibly more. However, he can't use them on the campus network.

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"LC Tusken: the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot"
NMGOH || Jack Chick preaches it || The Link of the Dead

A firewall will do nothing to block spyware. What he needs to do is:

1) Stop surfing pr0n, warez, or other sites that are infested with spyware. But, of course, this he wont do, so...


2) Stop using IE. Use *ANY* other browser, just so long as it isnt in any way based on IE. Opera, Netscrape, Mozilla, Firebird, Konquerer, any will do.


3) Stop installing stupid *known spyware filled* programs, such as Kazaa. This is where most spyware comes from.


4) Ditch Windows. Get a Mac, or run Linux, Beos, BSD, etc. Any OS that is *not* Windows. This would make you immune to all Windows spyware, adware, viruses, worms, trojans, et al. This is a bit extreme, but it does solve the problem.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

4.

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

Did you on purpose call Netscape "Netscrape"?

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
----@%

Emon, I did say it was an extreme option....




Yes.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

While GBK definitely is one to swat a fly with a nuclear blast, switching to Opera instead of IE and WinMX instead of Kazaa really did do away with my spyware problems.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Spyware blaster prevents it from being installed. No need to switch programs.

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[This message has been edited. Deal with it.]

Try BlackIce as well, i don't have the link, but it's a mighty fine firewall

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Punktkerbe | www.hl2central.net

You guys don't give GBK enough credit. He's known as OMG BIG BAD LINUX HAXOR DOOD, when most the time when he says "Go Linux" it's in joking, or it's an honest answer...like in this instance. I'd stick with safer surfing, but going Linux is of course never a BAD idea. I'm seriously considering just going Linux for the reason that I don't have to be paranoid about virii or spyware. My two-three cents.

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There is no signature

Zone Alarm is a good free firewall.

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"Honey, you got real ugly."

Really, if you need a pfw to get rid of or block spyware|adware, then it's a case of PEBKAC

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Of war, we don't speak anymore