Really ANGRY with Spybot S&D

Recently (for the past month+) I have noticed that my internet speed has came to practically a stand-still, now I know that (for once) it wasnt my ISP, so I did some investigating...

I found the problem with my slow speeds, SPYBOT S&D!!!!!!!!!
I am using the latest version, and I have noticed that EVERY time the blasted program runs, it adds pointless crap to my hosts file( a huge long list of sites to block) and this adds up to 244KB!!!!

Now EVERYONE knows that having a hosts file of MORE than 175KB+ slows down your speed, as it has to load all that rubbish in there, so every time I delete ALL the spybot rubbish it puts there.

I was so annoyed and angered by this that I have completely un-installedf Spybot S&D and WILL NEVER touch it again.

What rights do YOU (the makers of Spybot S&D) have to MESS AROUND with MY system files on MY machine???

How would YOU like it if I added lots of crap to YOUR files and as a result of my actions, make your browsing & downloading come to a crawl????

I expect a FULL explanation, or if nobody here can give me that explanation, the either post here or send me a PM with an email address to complain to, as this is well OUT OF ORDER!!!

I have come here just for the reason to vent my anger & fustration against the "clever" and I DO use that term loosely person(s) that came up with this stupid idea????

I have been an ITC active technicial & system builder for the last 11 years now, and I will block what I want, NOT what some random company chooses to block.

I som sorry for this rant, but it has cost me a lot over the last few months in lost wages for having to take time off work for ISP engineers to visit and also, as it was NOT a problem with my ISP, I was charged EVER SINGLE time an engineer came out and found it was not their problem!

Thank you Spybot NOT!!!!

Hmm, it is kind of your fault, kind of not, but I can clearly see why you'd be angry, those guys that come over can cost quite a bit, especialy if your calling them over every week. You were the one pressing the *Immunize* button, but I guess spybot never told you exactly what that does.

First off Calm down! ranting won't get you anywhere.

Secondly my host file is 241kb and I have no major problems of note with Spybot and no noticable slowdown.


To get to bottom of this situation we need to know the following:

What version of Spybot: Search and Destroy are you running? (The latest version is 1.5.2.20 with the latest definitions dated 2008-06-11)

Which version of Windows are you running and is it fully updated?

Do you have a Firewall installed if so which is it? e.g. Zone Alarm, Comodo etc.

Do you have any other Anti-spyware software installed? if so what is it?

Do you have a virus Scanner installed, if so which is it? e.g. Norton, AVG etc.

Have you run a Spybot scann lately and did it find anything of note?

You ASKED Spybot to create a 250KB. By Immunizing your computer you're basically blocking websites using IE, FF and OPERAs built-in blocking feature as well as adding values to your hosts file. You can't accuse Spybot of shady tactics since you've basically acknowledged that you want a 250KB host file when you immunize.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DarkSoldierX

Hmm, it is kind of your fault, kind of not, but I can clearly see why you'd be angry, those guys that come over can cost quite a bit, especialy if your calling them over every week. You were the one pressing the *Immunize* button, but I guess spybot never told you exactly what that does.

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No, I think you are confused, I didnt click anything, just loaded up spybot S&D, even when disconnected from the internet, as soon as the program window shows up, bam! extra entries in the hosts file, without doing a thing, this is why I removed every last bit of it from ALL 25 of my networked machines, this is just not on at all, I wouldnt even dream of messging around with any other person's system, yet alone modifying system files that should not be touched.

Even if the hosts file is write-protected, it STILL added entries to it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ::Quick::

You ASKED Spybot to create a 250KB. By Immunizing your computer you're basically blocking websites using IE, FF and OPERAs built-in blocking feature as well as adding values to your hosts file. You can't accuse Spybot of shady tactics since you've basically acknowledged that you want a 250KB host file when you immunize.

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NO, I DID NOT ask spybot to modify my hosts file & add junk to it at all!!!
I never once said to it" i want you to make my browsing slow by making a near 250KB hosts file at all!!!!

Quote:

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To get to bottom of this situation we need to know the following:

What version of Spybot: Search and Destroy are you running? (The latest version is 1.5.2.20 with the latest definitions dated 2008-06-11)

Which version of Windows are you running and is it fully updated?

Do you have a Firewall installed if so which is it? e.g. Zone Alarm, Comodo etc.

Do you have any other Anti-spyware software installed? if so what is it?

Do you have a virus Scanner installed, if so which is it? e.g. Norton, AVG etc.

Have you run a Spybot scann lately and did it find anything of note?

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I HAD (had, because as I said, I removed EVERY trace of it from my systems, but it WAS version 1.5.2.20, Windows XP PRO and yes, all the latest updates.
Norton Internet Security (and before you say it, the problem has NOTHING to do with Norton what so ever)

No other anti-spyware as S&D used to be the bee's knees and I felt I never needed any other spyware protection other than that.

Virus scanner (see above)

No I uninstalled spybot S&D a few days ago after I found out what it was doing and will NEVER touch it ever again!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TehTech

No, I think you are confused, I didnt click anything, just loaded up spybot S&D, even when disconnected from the internet, as soon as the program window shows up, bam! extra entries in the hosts file, without doing a thing, this is why I removed every last bit of it from ALL 25 of my networked machines, this is just not on at all, I wouldnt even dream of messging around with any other person's system, yet alone modifying system files that should not be touched.

Even if the hosts file is write-protected, it STILL added entries to it!

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@TehTech

The problems your describing sound to me like you've inadvertanly downloaded a FAKE copy of Spybot!

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Originally Posted by Terminator

@TehTech

The problems your describing sound to me like you've inadvertanly downloaded a FAKE copy of Spybot!

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FAKE??? from the Safer Networking website?? UNLESS there is a parody of that site and redirects to this "fake" site, no!

I always download my software from the original, legit websites, I always have done :)

Also, in reply to ::Quick::

Even IF i knew it did that (which I didnt) then why didi it modify the file every single time it starts??

I never had any problems at all with the older version (Spybot S&D 1.4) so WHY this version?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TehTech

FAKE??? from the Safer Networking website?? UNLESS there is a parody of that site and redirects to this "fake" site, no!

I always download my software from the original, legit websites, I always have done :)

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:oops: My mistake

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TehTech

NO, I DID NOT ask spybot to modify my hosts file & add junk to it at all!!!
I never once said to it" i want you to make my browsing slow by making a near 250KB hosts file at all!!!!




I HAD (had, because as I said, I removed EVERY trace of it from my systems, but it WAS version 1.5.2.20, Windows XP PRO and yes, all the latest updates.
Norton Internet Security (and before you say it, the problem has NOTHING to do with Norton what so ever)

No other anti-spyware as S&D used to be the bee's knees and I felt I never needed any other spyware protection other than that.

Virus scanner (see above)

No I uninstalled spybot S&D a few days ago after I found out what it was doing and will NEVER touch it ever again!

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In that case I'm out of ideas and Cannot help you.

You'll have to wait for one of Spybot Team/Administrators to help you.


Sorry.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Terminator

:oops: My mistake

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lol its ok, you wasnt to know how I get my downloads :)

I am sorry if I am coming across agressive, its just I do not think this is on, and TBH, spybot should inform you of what it intends to do when you "immunise" and give you the option if you want it to modify this file!

It is not just me, I have had customers complaining of slow browsing speeds, and when I take a look, sure as eggs are eggs, spybot has modified their hosts file too, once removed all the rubbish, restart their pc and everything is back to normal again!

By-the-way you do know that is a Corporate version that is specially designed for networks but you have to PAY for that version as it is not free.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Terminator

By-the-way you do know that is a Corporate version that is specially designed for networks but you have to PAY for that version as it is not free.

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What is a corporate version?? Spybot S&D 1.4?? no as I downloaded it from the Safer Networks website...

The corporate version can be found HERE.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Terminator

The corporate version can be found HERE.

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Well thats pretty fuffed up being as I first downloaded Spybot some 3-4 yrs ago from the official website, and through various upgrades, it came up with a new update, version 1.5.2.20, didnt say anything about I have to pay for it...

Even if I still had that on my machines, I certainly would not pay to have my files changed, if I wanted that, Id open up my network to the internet and let random people do what they wanted with my machines...

There are 2 versions, one for commercial users that you have to pay for and the free one for everyone else.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Terminator

There are 2 versions, one for commercial users that you have to pay for and the free one for everyone else.

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I didnt even know there was a version that ya had to pay for, I've always stuck with the free version myself, as having that many PC's networked up, Im sure it would violate the T&C's of the pay version!

Hope everyone has calmed down a bit ;)

Corporate use is mentioned in II.e. in the license agreement. We tried to keep it much shorter than your usual twenty page terms of service, but I understand that reading license agreements usually is a nuisance ;)
If your commercial part is servicing PCs, we also have a service agreement that would allow free use as long as you inform users that you've used a free software that is sustained by donations and theirs would be welcome (in short words; there are alternatives if you do not want to reveal that etc., I think licenses@spybot.info would be able to give more details).

As for the hosts file, the one problem I know about is Windows 2000 and it's DNS Client Service. If that system service is enabled, it indeed very annoyingly slows down the system.
We've therefore added this feature request, which lead to a workaround: hosts file immunization would only apply on Windows 2000 if this system service is disabled, otherwise it would not even show (unless you used a registry patch).

But, as others said, Spybot-S&D is never modifying the hosts file on itself. It has an option in it's Tools section, and it's part of the Immunization, but both have to be applied manually.
The first run wizard recommends to immunize your system though; if you click that, it would immunize before you've been able to see what it immunizes probably. Could this have been the unnoticed hosts file writing you noticed?

In general, I can only point to the bugtracker again and again :grandpa:
Even though I sometimes have a tendency to critize non-perfect reports (ah, that gave me an idea for my next blog post - a description on what I think on how good bug reports should look lilke ;) ) - nobody is perfect I'm afraid - we really appreciate feedback, especially on the things listed there (like how to solve this hosts problem the best way).

Time for drragostea to bust in :laugh:.\

TehTech, I had no idea that having a host file of more than 175kb will, so drastically, slow down your computer. Last I recalled, I made a encrypted backup of my HOSTS file with SpywareBlaster 4.1 and that turned up to be only 222kb. That's one-fifth of a MB.

You mentioned something about Norton AV. Is that a cooperate edition for like a workstation for many computers? Or is that a single-handed version.

Like PepiMK and Terminator mentioned, there is a cooperate version of SaferNetworking's Spybot-Search&Destroy. Of course, that would be much less tedious than installing Spybot on 20 different Windows OS's correct?

I don't mean to criticize you TehTech, but to me, you're making a fool of yourself. Sort it out. Ask questions. You look like you're going paranoid.

In the previous posts, Terminator said that the Immunize feature DOES add entries to your HOSTS file. I recall the HOSTS file being empty when I first reformatted my Windows XP Home. The aim and goal of the Immunize feature in Spybot is benign.

Also...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TehTech

What rights do YOU (the makers of Spybot S&D) have to MESS AROUND with MY system files on MY machine???

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Well then why would you even touch Spybot in the first place? If you are trying it out and testing it, then no further questions I can accept that.
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What is your ISP? Verizon?

Also, on what connection? A T1 connection around the workstation? A DSL connection? Specify the speed.

Also how do we know? What evidence or files you found makes you accuse Spybot responsible?

Norton can be a resource hog. That I know, but I never heard of it hindering a computer's Internet speed.
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Stay Cool. Calm Down. Makes it better for all of us. TehTech.

When I first installed Norton Internet Security 2005 a few years back it locked me out of my Dial-up connection so I couldn't register it until I'd downloaded all the updates, tinkered with the firewall and only then it would let me register it. After using it for a year and having numerous problems with it:mad: I ditched it and went with Zone Alarm and AVG.

To cut a long story short after loads of problems with differant Firewalls and Anti-Virus programs I upgraded to the latest version of Zone Alarm and Avast! Antivirus and I've used them ever since:).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Terminator

When I first installed Norton Internet Security 2005 a few years back it locked me out of my Dial-up connection so I couldn't register it until I'd downloaded all the updates, tinkered with the firewall and only then it would let me register it. After using it for a year and having numerous problems with it:mad: I ditched it and went with Zone Alarm and AVG.

To cut a long story short after loads of problems with differant Firewalls and Anti-Virus programs I upgraded to the latest version of Zone Alarm and Avast! Antivirus and I've used them ever since:).

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For what it's worth, I popped over here to see if I could find anything posted about the HOSTS file, and it's size possibly effecting browsing speeds, and found this thread.

I too had noticed over the years my browsing speed had got noticebly slower, and finally decided to set aside some time to try and get to the bottom of it. Checking my HOSTS file, I saw it was around 282kb in size, which seemed large, so I backed it up and replaced it with a "clean" one as below;


# Copyright (c) 1993-1995 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows NT.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost


When I launched my browser, and connected to the Internet, my homepage came up within a second, rather than the 15-20 seconds that it had been taking before.

Having a look at the old HOSTS file, I could see that there were around 8300 entries that had been made by me using Spybot.

What I decided to do was simply go with the "clean" HOSTS file, and turn off the HOSTS file immunisation function within Spybot.

Unfortunately, I seem to be effected with the "large HOSTS file slows down browsing" problem the same as the OP, but I know and understand it's not Spybot's "fault"... the cause is my computer's configuration of software / hardware / OS etc etc etc, and / or Microsoft's implementation of the HOSTS file and how it works, which causes the... incompatability, for want of a better expression.

I guess what I'm saying is that yes, I get the problem too, so it's not just the OP, but I know it's up to me to decide if I want to sacrifice the protection over the speed of browsing for my system, for just that one part of the Spybot suite, so to speak.

I will always have the greatest respect for people like the Spybot team for making such a useful program available for free, and will continue to use it for as long as it is available.

Regards

Sorry to hijack a thread like this, but you've raised a question for me in my mind anyway...Can you just go into a hosts file and delete a bunch of stuff? I've never done anything like that. My hosts file is now 245kb, which I understand is would be considered 'huge'.

I had been experiencing some browsing slowdowns, but I found out last week that it was my ISP. Some of it was from Telesat throttling my speed due to them figuring I was using too much bandwidth, and some of it was for no reason at all. (Maybe too many customers on a satellite beam, which would also cause the speed throttling. BTW, we have some serious and controversial 'traffic shaping' issues with ISP's here in Canada.) When they changed my satellite carrier from one to another, the browsing and overall internet speed perked right up. Before that, I was experiencing page loading times similar to what I had on a dialup connection and I had actually noticed it becoming a serious problem particularly the second week in June. I see I turned on the immunizer May 29 and then updated it June 1.

I've never paid attention to such a thing as 'hosts files' or what they do and I never gave it a second of thought until my AVG told me the hosts file had been changed, and then I connected the date and time of that change as having occurred when I first applied Spybot's immunizer. I just opened my hosts file for the first time today, and, yes indeed, it's big and it's full of stuff that Spybot put in there. I don't really mind, as long as things work.

But I just wanted to know, in case any problems do come up, if it's OK to open up a hosts file, using, for example, wordpad, and then editing it. (Yes, I would make a backup first, I am uber-careful!)

I just thought of this...If a person wanted to get Spybot's stuff out of their hosts file without actually opening the file up and manually editing it, could they just do the following:

Start Spybot.
Go to "Immunize"
Click on "undo".
Remove the check from the box beside the host file.
Click on 'immunize' again.

James / Amethyst, it'll depend on your OS whether a large hosts file will affect connection speed. For me (Vista) it does nothing, and just deleting the contents will leave your computer more open to attacks. This may help:
"
As for the hosts file, the one problem I know about is Windows 2000 and it's DNS Client Service. If that system service is enabled, it indeed very annoyingly slows down the system.
"
If you search the SB forums some more, you'll find some information that will let you have the Spybot hosts protection & fast speeds :) - Chris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Amethyst

I just thought of this...If a person wanted to get Spybot's stuff out of their hosts file without actually opening the file up and manually editing it, could they just do the following:

Start Spybot.
Go to "Immunize"
Click on "undo".
Remove the check from the box beside the host file.
Click on 'immunize' again.

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Yes,Spybot's hosts file entries could be removed that way.Or,if you didn't want to unimmunize everything first,with Spybot 1.5.2 you could start Spybot,go to "Immunize",if everything in the window to the right is checkmarked,then rightclick in the window and select Deselect All,then checkmark Global(Hosts) and click Undo.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChrisWar666

If you search the SB forums some more, you'll find some information that will let you have the Spybot hosts protection & fast speeds

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Yup,there's also an entry in the FAQ section here:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/12.html
Or,this page has directions for setting DNS client to disabled or manual,if a person needed too:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm#Note

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChrisWar666

If you search the SB forums some more, you'll find some information that will let you have the Spybot hosts protection & fast speeds :) - Chris

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Just wanted to crash the party Chris. ;0, just joking.

Giving some examples would be great... if the "hypothesis" of the HOSTS file slowdown was true. I can't seem to find any info (or I'm not looking enough) on having Spybot HOSTS protection and fast speeds.

Amethyst -"Can you just go into a hosts file and delete a bunch of stuff? I've never done anything like that. My hosts file is now 245kb, which I understand is would be considered 'huge'. "

Yes, you can just open the "HOSTS" file (note there's no three letter file suffix, like ".txt" on the end) in a plain text editor like notepad. Each entry really just tells Windows what "number" to use when you type in a particular website "name" or address.

Very good info. on the HOSTS file here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file#Blocking especially the "blocking" and "redirecting" parts.

Why not save a backup of your HOSTS file, and replace the original with the example I posted above? If it helps, then you know that was the issue, if not, just replace it with your backup again.

Thanks to ChrisWar666 and all others for the replies. Appreciated.

HTH

Quote:

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Originally Posted by James UK

Yes, you can just open the "HOSTS" file (note there's no three letter file suffix, like ".txt" on the end) in a plain text editor like notepad. Each entry really just tells Windows what "number" to use when you type in a particular website "name" or address.

Very good info. on the HOSTS file here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file#Blocking especially the "blocking" and "redirecting" parts.

Why not save a backup of your HOSTS file, and replace the original with the example I posted above? If it helps, then you know that was the issue, if not, just replace it with your backup again.

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I don't really mean to suggest a solution but a backup will do. I use SpywareBlaster (4.1) with a encrypted backup of my HOSTS file. Just in case.

Simple, to add a "unwanted" site... Immunize in Spybot. The feature does it all.

I've never attempted to undo my Immunization and redo it to test the speeds, because I'm using FF3 and undoing the immunization... takes forever. Trust me. Spybot Team Member PepiMk, said that Spybot recognizes Firefox because one folder or another uses the same code from FF2.

However, immunization takes some time too. But it's all right.

Some users had problems in the past regarding Spybot blocking the BAIDU website, though.