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View Full Version : Repeated scan - finds same problems fixed before



Isis4
2007-04-12, 13:30
Last night Spybot found a whole bunch of problems on my computer. I've had virtually no problems in over a year, since I started using Firefox (which I recently updated...).

I updated Spybot today, and did another scan. Again lots of problems. Said it fixed them, but I decided to scan again immediately, and the same problems came up. Reminds me of when I first got Spybot, and there was one problem that showed up every time, but it was just some known bug in Spybot. Is that what's going on, or is there some more serious problem I'm dealing with?

Another weird thing I noticed is that the scans don't take remotely the same amounts of time, and when finished they don't show the accurate amount of time it actually took (once it said 2:40 after an hour, another time :25 when it took an hour and a half...).

The problems it keeps finding (21 total):

Advertising.com
Avenue A, Inc
CasaleMedia
DoubleClick
FastClick
HitBox
MediaPlex
Zedo

MisterW
2007-04-12, 13:59
Hello,

Doubleclick (and others like Advertising.com, Avenue A, Inc, CasaleMedia, Fastclick, Hitbox, Mediaplex etc.) are so-called tracking cookies. It is quite common for popular websites to employ such tracking cookies from third parties. They use them in order to track the users' surfing habits on their websites. As I said, these cookies are from third parties but they are employed by the site. There is a tool in Spybot-S&D: BrowserHelper, i.e. a bad download blocker for Internet Explorer. With this tool enabled such tracking cookies will be blocked. In order to activate this tool, please run Spybot-S&D and go to the "Immunize" page. Checking the checkbox will enable the BrowserHelper, a drop down menu will appear giving you some options. You should select "Block all bad pages silently". With that option set the notifications will no longer come up, but you will still have the protection.

regards
Markus
Team Spybot

Isis4
2007-04-13, 08:14
Thanx, Markus. The blocker was already checked, and I clicked ok when it offered me further protection, but I don't actually use Internet Exploiter. I use Firefox, and ever since I started using it exclusively, Spybot hasn't found anything wrong.

Then I updated both Firefox and Spybot, and now I'm getting these results. I fixed them, but they showed up again immediately after I did. I have had one clean scan since, but I just did another and they were all back.

I'm also really concerned about the time it's taking for the scan. I've never had scans take over an hour. Usually it's about half an hour. Now it varies widely. Something is seriously wrong here. I've used Spybot for a couple of years now, and never had this problem...