davidnielson
2013-04-22, 17:45
It has been forever since I last ran Spybot, looks like a lot has changed. Just updated to the latest version. Running Windows 7 64-bit w/ Spybot S&D, I'm seeing a ton of flicker in the UI as I scroll through the list of "issues" (all benign). I accidentally installed a toolbar, so I uninstalled the toolbar and ran Spybot to locate anything that might have been missed.
The UI flicker wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't constantly showing the "threat level" as a red bar for a moment and then changing it to a green/mostly green bar a moment later as I scroll through the list. Speed of scrolling doesn't seem to matter much. It is a bit disconcerting to see that particular type of UI flicker when the I know that the PC just had an issue.
How I got spyware on my machine might be of some interest: Tucows appears to have their own installer where Tucows' installer bundles spyware! It is basically a wrapper installer around another installer that attempts to install two toolbars. Tucows used to be reputable. Their installer also ironically still claims that the software the user is installing is virus and malware free. Users have to get through the Tucows spyware-laden installer to get to run the spyware-free installer. I don't know if it was just that one piece of software from Tucows I was installing or everything on that site.
The UI flicker wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't constantly showing the "threat level" as a red bar for a moment and then changing it to a green/mostly green bar a moment later as I scroll through the list. Speed of scrolling doesn't seem to matter much. It is a bit disconcerting to see that particular type of UI flicker when the I know that the PC just had an issue.
How I got spyware on my machine might be of some interest: Tucows appears to have their own installer where Tucows' installer bundles spyware! It is basically a wrapper installer around another installer that attempts to install two toolbars. Tucows used to be reputable. Their installer also ironically still claims that the software the user is installing is virus and malware free. Users have to get through the Tucows spyware-laden installer to get to run the spyware-free installer. I don't know if it was just that one piece of software from Tucows I was installing or everything on that site.