How To Automatically Protect Your PC From Spyware Using Spybot-Search & Destroy

Spyware, Spyware, Spyware.

Seems like a lot of folks have trouble with keeping their PCs free from Spyware. Well, here is one way to help keep your PC pretty darn clean. I run Spybot – Search & Destroy every night at 2:00am.

Spybot – Search and Destroy will keep your PC free from Spyware for FREE. This article is about setting it up to run automatically.

In my previous article automatically shutting down your PC, I showed how to shut your PC down automatically at 3:00am. The reason I do that is because I run Spybot-Search & Destroy at 2:00am. It takes about 15 minutes for Spybot to immunize my PC.

Spybot – Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven’t intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been “hijacked” (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don’t see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D is free, so there’s no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.

 

Installation

I accept all the defaults when installing Spybot. After you finish installing Spybot, you’ll be asked to run the Spybot program and a program called TeaTimer. TeaTimer is the resident program that monitors your PC while you work so Spyware doesn’t sneak in.

For some folks who don’t understand the messages that TeaTimer pops up while you work, it can be annoying and frustrating because you might not know how to respond. It is completely acceptable to not to run TeaTimer and just let Spybot run automatically at 2:00am to eradicate the Spyware that could have been missed during the day. However, it is best to run both. I’ll continue as though we’ve selected to run both Spybot and TeaTimer.

Double-click the program icon that gets placed on your desktop and looks like this:

Here’s what we’ll do:

1. After starting the program you’ll be presented with a wizard screen that allows you to backup your registry, which you should do.
2. When the backup of your registry is finished click on the next button and you’ll be presented with a screen to search for updates.
3. Click on search for updates and select “Safer-Networking #2 (Europe)” or “SecurityWorks.net #2 (USA)” and click continue. In the past other locations seemed to time-out a lot. The “Safer-Networking #2 (Europe) has always worked for me.
4. In the “Update”, I select all the check boxes then click on the download button.
5. After the download is finished click on the exit button.
6. Click on the next button in the wizard screen.
7. Click on the “Immunize” button on the 6 of 7 wizard screen. A green progress bar will display in the main window of Spybot informing you if the immunize task is finished. Click next on the wizard screen and then the button “Start using the program.”
8. The following screen is what you’ll see when you’ve hit this point.

From the top main menu select “Mode” and then “Advanced mode” and then respond yes that you do want to run in advanced mode. Click the “Settings” tab on the left-side menu and then click the “Settings” selections. From the list of settings you can set I check the following in addition to what’s already checked. You’re free to check/uncheck items that you find unnecessary for you.

 

 

 

 

Under the “Tools” tab on the left-hand menu click on “Resident” I make sure that both “Resident…” check boxes are checked. I also go to the “IE Tweaks” menu selection and make sure “Lock Hosts file…” is checked as well as “Lock IE start page…” is checked.

 

Schedule Spybot

1. Under the “Settings” tab select “Scheduler” and click “Add…”.
2. Check both “Fix problems after scheduled scan.” and “Close programs after finishing schedule.”
3. Click on the “Edit” button and the “Schedule” tab and then “New”.
4. Make sure “Daily” is selected as well as “Every 1 Day” is set and set the time to “2:00 AM”. Click the “Apply” button.
5. Select the “Settings” tab and change “Stop the task…” from 72 to 1. You can check “Wake the computer to run this task” if you’re computer typically goes to sleep after a period of inactivity.
6. Click “Apply” and close the settings screen.
7. Close Spybot and get ready for your PC to run Spybot at 2:00am. You can adjust the time schedule to fit your work environment.

 

You can find out if it ran successfully by going to “Control Panel” and viewing the “Scheduled Tasks”. This will tell you when Spybot will run next, last time it ran and if it was successful. You can also experiment with running it in a couple minutes to see if it will work for testing purposes.

 

This is part of my nightly routine:

• 2:00am – Spybot runs automagically
• 3:00am – My PC shut down

Spybot Search & Destroy – Download Now!!

Spybot is not my only Anti-Spyware software. I’ll dig into other tasks I run on my PC and family PCs to keep them as safe and secure as I can.

[techtags: Free Software, Anti-Spyware]