TeaTimer & SD helper

Hello,

I'm new here, so sorry if this has already been covered elsewhere.

I used Spybot S & D a few years ago on a Windows 98SE computer, but I didn't use Teatimer at the time.

I am in the process of changing my security software and I would like to install Spybot S & D with a free version of AVG, and my router as my hardware firewall, with the Windows firewall as my software firewall. I now have a Windows XP Media Center Edition computer.

I am concerned about using Teatimer in case it ends up blocking a registry change that is wanted or needed, such as in the event of a Windows or other program update. Would Teatimer do that, block necessary and legitimate registry changes? And is there a way to change the decision if someone other than myself is using the system and a change gets blocked and remembered when the change really is OK or actually should happen. And is there a way to turn Teatimer on or off if I so choose?

Same goes with the SD helper, which I'm not familiar with at all. Can one enable or disable that as one chooses?

I understand SD helper is for IE. I use Firefox most of the time.

Appreciate any replies, and, again please bear with me if this has already been covered. :)

I'll do a lot more reading on this site before I go ahead and install anything. :)

Amethyst,

1. Both Teatimer and the Resident SD helper can be set to be ON or OFF via tick boxes found in Advanced mode> Tools> Resident.

2. The Resident SD Helper can set to "Block all bad pages silently" so that user interaction is not requested (which is perhaps the best approach if you don't want to have to make individual decisions on the fly). The other choices are "display dialogue" when blocking, and "ask for blocking confirmation", however as you have mentioned, it works as an add on to the IE browser and does not provide any protection for the Firefox browser.

3. Teatimer is a realtime or active protection tool that is not browser dependant. It will detect attempts to modify certain registry entries and also other processes, and when/if this occurs it does require the user to make an "allow" or "deny" decision. If this decision is wrong then sometimes depending on the circumstances it can result in fairly significant problems, which in some cases may not be able to be easily remedied. If you have doubts about another users ability to make this type of decision it may be better to leave Teatime turned off and still benefit from the protection provided by Spybot's immunisations and on demand scans.

These two FAQ's may help.

Browser support: http://www.spybot.info/en/faq/48.html


What is the resident Teatimer:http://www.spybot.info/en/faq/33.html

Thanks for your reply. I have Spybot downloaded, haven't installed it yet. I just changed security software on May 26th and uninstalled ZoneAlarm Internet Security 6.5. Uninstalling Zonelabs products has been known to be fraught with problems. Fortunately, things seemed to go smoothly for me. I've had AVG free 7.5 antivirus installed for 2 days and things are going well. I've been letting the computer settle in with these major changes, and now that it's been close to 48 hours, I think it's safe to add an antispyware component. <Deep breath> It's time...Just more questions before I go ahead with it:

Can that immunization thing be turned on or off or changed in any way if it does something to cause problems? I haven't used Spybot for a few years, and way back when, it didn't have the immunization, I just scanned on demand and left teatimer off. I see an "undo" button in the screenshot on this website. What does that do?

Are the resident features enabled by default when the program is installed?

Do I need to disable AVG before I install Spybot?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Amethyst

I've had AVG free 7.5 antivirus installed for 2 days and things are going well. I've been letting the computer settle in with these major changes, and now that it's been close to 48 hours, I think it's safe to add an antispyware component.

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Amethyst,
I believe AVG will be discontinuing virus signature updates for v7.5 within the next month or so, and you should perhaps consider your options. AVG v8 had some issues with Spybot when it was released, I don't know whether these were ever remedied, I moved to Avast! and am happy with it, but there are other AV's available as well.

Quote:

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Can that immunization thing be turned on or off or changed in any way if it does something to cause problems?

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Yes, you can "undo" the immunisation from the Immunise screen, and remove all of the immunisation, or you could chose to just undo some of the sections, and leave others, but the immunisation is an important part of the ongoing protection and I recommend keeping your PC immunised.

Quote:

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Are the resident features enabled by default when the program is installed?

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The choice of whether SD helper and Teatimer are individually enabled is offered during the installation, and can also be simply changed at any time from the Advanced>Tools>Resident screen.

Quote:

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Do I need to disable AVG before I install Spybot?

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I didn't find it necessary and it wasn't necessary with Avast! either. One thing I would recommend is NOT downloading the updates during the install. From memory you need to untick a box during the Spybot installation to achieve this. When the installation has completed, then do an on line update.

Hope this helps.

Amethyst,

If you haven't already read it, the tutorial here may further help you.

http://www.spybot.info/en/tutorial/index.html

Thanks Greyfox.

There's some discussion going on right now about the AVG 7.5 update issue. The software sends up a daily nag screen about the updates being ended May 31/08, but one of the Grisoft staff posted a sticky on the user forum at the beginning of May saying that updates for 7.5 will be available until the end of the year and if that changed, users would be given lots of notice. AVG users are finding this quite confusing and have repeatedly sought clarification...is the daily nag screen from the software the 'notice' that the company has promised? The forum moderators are insisting that the date is the end of '08, however. I'll see what happens as of next Monday. :rolleyes: I do hope the 7.5 updates continue longer, as I am very happy with 7.5, and I've heard that some people are experiencing some problems with 8.0, some of which are supposed to be resolved with a big June update. I would rather give them a few months to work the bugs out of the program and I figure by the end of the year, it should be good to go.

AVG 8's issue with Spybot might be because version AVG 8 includes antispyware stuff, so that might be conflicting. Maybe if Spybot users turned off the resident features in Spybot, things would be OK. Or AVG can be set to ignore Spybot.

I've installed Spybot. I don't have the immunization turned on yet. I'll give it a bit more time. I ran the first scan and it picked up a bunch of tracking cookies that ZoneAlarm had missed, and it also flagged WildTangent. However, my computer came with WildTangent games pre-installed, so I told Spybot to ignore WildTangent.

So far so good. Spybot has really been improved since I last used it, and I'm happy to see such a good website user forum.

Thanks for your help.
:)