Bug? No threat information.

A

Alan_B

New member
I have done several clean installs of Spybot 1.5.2 and always elect to download the help files that are not selected by default. BUT I have never yet found any information available on any threat that is found when I scan. I wonder if this feature has been accidentally lost in 1.5.2?
 
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Alan_B:

The descriptions for detections are in the following file:
  • C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Includes\Targets.nfo
If you have that file, you should be able to display the descriptions for those detections that actually have descriptions. Currently there appears to be descriptions for 2206 detections (2194 unique detections).

What are the threats that you are getting that don't have discriptions?
 
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md usa spybot fan said:
Alan_B:

The descriptions for detections are in the following file:
  • C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Includes\Targets.nfo
If you have that file, you should be able to display the descriptions for those detections that actually have descriptions. Currently there appears to be descriptions for 2206 detections (2194 unique detections).

What are the threats that you are getting that don't have discriptions?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I don't have the computer I was cleaning yesterday but I seem to remember Smitfraud (you could write a book on that one) Vundo etc., really common stuff but no descriptions.

The "trouble" with Spybot S & D is that it works very well so once you have installed it and run it once, the threats don't crop up very often thereafter. Watch this thread and I will post instances as they arrive.
 
Okay here is a list of threats about which Spybot 1.5.2 has no information:

Adrevolver
Adviva
BlueStreak
BurstMedia
CasaleMedia
Cassava
CPXinteractive
Doubleclick
FunWeb
FunWebProducts
Hitbox
LinkSynergy
MediaPlex
MyWay.MyWebSearch
MyWebSearch
RightMedia
Statcounter
Tradedoubler

I have yet to find a threat about which Spybot 1.5.2 can provide any information. Has Spbot become the Seargeant Schultz (Hogan's Heroes) of the antispyware camp?
 
Alan_B:

Fourteen of the eighteen items appear to be third-party or tracking cookies and the others appear to be PUPs or Potentially Unwanted Programs.

In regard to the tracking cookies. Do you seriously expect that someone take the time to write individual descriptions for each tracking cookie, when immunizing, using SDHelper or following the suggestions in the following article should eliminate them?
Want a description? Read the following from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Privacy and third-party cookies

Cookies have some important implications on the privacy and anonymity of Web users. While cookies are only sent to the server setting them or one in the same Internet domain, a Web page may contain images or other components stored on servers in other domains. Cookies that are set during retrieval of these components are called third-party cookies.

In this fictional example, an advertising company has placed banners in two Web sites (which do not show any banner in reality). Hosting the banner images on its servers and using third-party cookies, the advertising company is able to track the browsing of users across these two sites.Advertising companies use third-party cookies to track a user across multiple sites. In particular, an advertising company can track a user across all pages where it has placed advertising images or web bugs. Knowledge of the pages visited by a user allows the advertisement company to target advertisement to the user's presumed preferences.

The possibility of building a profile of users has been considered by some a potential privacy threat, even when the tracking is done on a single domain but especially when tracking is done across multiple domains using third-party cookies. …
Click to expand...
 
I dont seriously expect detailed descriptions but "Tracking Cookie" or "Potentially Unwanted Program" might be useful.

BUT the point I am trying to make is that whilst the old Spybot (1.4) managed to give descriptions of some items, I am still waiting to find a threat that Spybot 1.52 can tell me anything about.
 
Hello,

Spybot S&D 1.5.* and 1.4 are using the same target descriptions. Unfortunately some older targets do not have descriptions, we are working to add these but new target products have priority since it is more likely that they will be encountered.

also from Alan_Bs list I can confirm missing target descriptions for:
Adviva (cookie)
CasaleMedia (cookie)
FunWeb (spyware)
LinkSynergy (cookie)
MyWebSearch (trojan)
RightMedia (does not exist in database)
 
Thank you Yodama from team Spybot but are you SURE Spybot 1.5.2 is correctly making the connection between the threat data file and the rest of the program???

Some more threats that Spybot 1.5.2 knows nothing about:

Matrix (the movie, perhaps?)
PestTrap (the long-running play? Oh, no, that was Mouse Trap)
Smitfraud-C (Smitfraud, you could write a book on!)
 
I have now done a side-by-side comparison with spybot 1.4 and proven that I am correct and there is a bug. I will start again with a bug report thread.
 
Alan_B said:
... but are you SURE Spybot 1.5.2 is correctly making the connection between the threat data file and the rest of the program??? ...
Click to expand...
Alan_B:

I'm sure. Before answering your question initially, I tested the facility by forcing a detection during a "Check for problems" and displaying the description to ensure the facility is working under Spybot 1.5.2.

Possibly you could conduct the same test. What Windows OS are you running?
 
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