Spybot S&D warned of program change?

[stirfry213]

Today when I loaded up SB to do my weekly routine of updating and scanning, it warned me that the program had been changed. It said that it does not change itself and I should check for malware and viruses immediately.

My first step was to update SB and run a scan with it. SB didn't find anything. I also run ZoneAlarm Pro. I updated its spyware and ran it. It found some low level spyware that it automatically deleted, probably some tracking cookies.

After those 2 not finding anything substantial I ran a full scan with AVG Virus scan and also with the free online service by TrendMicro called HouseCall. Niether of them found anything, at all.

Could this be an error or do I have a serious problem? Any help would be great.

[spybotsandra]

Hello,

This is a little bug in our current version.
We have already been able to locate and fix it.
The fix will be downloadable with our next program upgrade. We hope that this will be available soon.
If you do not want to wait please try this link:
http://www.safer-networking.org/file...sd141pefix.zip
This is a beta version of Spybot-S&D where this bug should be fixed.
This zip file contains the exe file. Just copy it to your Spybot-S&D folder over the old spybot file.

Best regards
Sandra
Team Spybot

[md usa spybot fan]

stirfry213:

re:

This application has been changed since it was created.

Since Spybot-S&D does not change itself, we recommend you check your system for malware and viruses instantly!

That message has been caused in the past by failing memory (RAM) and I suggest that you consider running a memory diagnostic program. If your system didn't come with diagnostic routines including a memory test there is one here:

• http://www.memtest.org/

__________________

From:

• This application has been changed since it was created
  http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=258

I'll be damned. I've been receiving this very error message myself occasionally. And sure enough, I ran that memory tester and one of my DIMMs was bad. I went ahead and not only replaced the bad DIMM but also took the liberty of doubling my RAM from 500MB to 1GB. So far, so good.

One thing I find disturbing is how the computer seemed to work OK 99.9% of the time. I would have thought that having bad RAM would cause constant crashing but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Anyway, thanks for the information. It looks like this may have actually fixed the problem.

[stirfry213]

Thank you for the quick reply. I can handle the error knowing that it is a bug in the program. I thought it was awefully odd.

Also just wanna thank the SB Team for providing a great program. I always tell all my friends to use it.

[md usa spybot fan]

stirfry213:

I can handle the error knowing that it is a bug in the program.

I do not necessarily agree with spybotsandra that the cause of the problem is a "This is a little bug in our current version" and that is why I posted.

I will reiterate that in the past, memory problems have caused the "This application has been changed since it was created." message to be issued by Spybob-S&D.

By being dismissive of my suggestion to run a memory diagnostic program you may be jeopardizing the integrity of your system and the files stored on it. I strongly suggest that you humor me and run a memory diagnostic test on your system.

[stirfry213]

I did not mean to sound dismissive of your suggestions. I did run memtest86 just incase and let it run through 12 passes of the program. It did find one bad bit in 2GBs of ram. I'm in contact with Corsair now reguarding this issue.