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View Full Version : Optimum settings?



giddne
2007-06-25, 05:53
On previous XP machine, Spybot would typically find 10-15 black entries per scan. I've run Spybot on my new Vista PC 10 times and it has never found 1 item. Could my settings be incorrect? It does show scanning for 67,000+ items. I'm visiting the same sites I've visited before, so the results should be similar, no?. Is the security that much better in Vista?

I've searched the site with no luck. Is there an optimum settings FAQ for users? Thanks.
david

md usa spybot fan
2007-06-25, 06:55
On previous XP machine, Spybot would typically find 10-15 black entries per scan.
"Black entries"???

From Spybot's help facility:


If the scan has found something, the list will show it. There are two basic kinds of results:

Red entries indicate spyware problems that should be fixed to avoid security and/or privacy problems. This is the only kind of problem that is preselected to be fixed.


Green entries indicate usage tracks. It can do no harm to remove these.If you are talking about usage tracks (Green entries), go into Spybot > Mode > Advanced mode > Settings > File Sets. Check the last two items in the list:
□ Usage Tracking
… □ Tracks.uti

giddne
2007-06-25, 13:59
No, I'm not. They're green. Is it worthwhile to track these? I'm just looking for the most effective settings. Thanks.
david

md usa spybot fan
2007-06-25, 15:21
Again from Spybot's help facility:


Usage tracks

Usage tracks are your fingerprints in your system. Whenever you visit a page with your browser, or just open any file, that information is stored deep inside Windows. In most cases that is very useful – if you want to open that file again, you can select it from a list instead of typing the whole filename or browsing the whole directory structure again.

But in some cases you may want to hide your activity, because spyware and internet attackers may use that information. Spybot - Search & Destroy can remove some of the most important and common tracks on your system.
I personally feel that most "Usage tracks" are very useful and rarely clear them. However, I regularly clear IE Cache (temporary internet files) and cookies keeping only specific cookies such as cookies from this forum. To clear IE Cache (temporary internet files) and cookies I use IE Privacy Keeper (http://browsertools.net/IE-Privacy-Keeper/) not Spybot.