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superantispyware find more spyware since using using firefox

  • 9 cavab
  • 2 have this problem
  • 93 views
  • Last reply by oldgrayfox

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superantispyware is picking up 4-5x as much as it did since installing firefox instead of using IE . Is this because IE was not picking up on it and firefox does? Everytime I do even a minor search on the web I'm finding a LOT of spyware with SAS now.

superantispyware is picking up 4-5x as much as it did since installing firefox instead of using IE . Is this because IE was not picking up on it and firefox does? Everytime I do even a minor search on the web I'm finding a LOT of spyware with SAS now.

All Replies (9)

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If you are seeing more "ware" there are some recommended malware scanners below, however there are some tools to prevent this as well.


For example, try the do not track feature as well as the Ad Block Plus add on that you can scan websites with and block those third party spyware.


Sometimes a problem with Firefox may be a result of malware installed on your computer, that you may not be aware of.

You can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:

Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one.

Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

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Scanners often discover a range of "threats" or "potentially unwanted" things. These can range from tracking cookies (which you can easily clear between sessions), or cached files, to add-ons or external programs. When you get your report from SAS, can you easily distinguish the categories? I think having that additional information will help us suggest modifications to your Firefox to help keep your reports clean.

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just the results from yesterday . I normally would only pick up 10 at the most with IE, now it's more like 45 or more most everytime I scan and usually just visit the same websites everyday, as usual.

am going to retry in a minute for a lot of those were highlighted and seemingly clickable, don't want anyone clicking on spyware !

Modified by oldgrayfox

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ok, can't seem to leave them here without them being highlighted but for a few examples they are  :

interclick dot com serving sys dot com a1 interclick dot com collectivemedia dot net questionmark dot com earthlink dot net adpointroll dot com pointroll dot com imrworldwide dot com casalemediadotcom media6degrees dotcom ru4 dotcom media6degrees dot com doubleclick dot net

several entries for most of those exist

Modified by oldgrayfox

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Many of those sound like advertising servers (but earthlink.net is a service provider that has a lot of kinds of content). So SAS may be listing them as the source of tracking cookies.

As an experiment could you try blocking cookies from some of those servers to see whether that prevents them from showing up in the next report? Here's how I suggest starting on that:

In a new tab, type or paste about:permissions in the address bar and press Enter. Allow a few moments for the page to load, and a list of servers should appear in the left column.

You either can put a few characters of the server name in the filter box above the list, or scroll down and find it. Once you select a particular server, on the right side, you can change the "Set Cookies" setting from "Allow" to "Block". Then use the "Remove All Cookies" button for that server to clear the already saved cookies.

I would block these for the test:

collectivemedia dot net
questionmark dot com
adpointroll dot com
pointroll dot com
imrworldwide dot com
casalemedia dot com
media6degrees dot com
doubleclick dot net 

Does that shorten your report?

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jscher2000,

thanks for your continued help ! I did as you instructed, no list of servers showed up on the left , just " all sites". However, I did input the casalemedia one in the search sites filter box area

 while I was typing this response. Once I  hit the reply button  to submit my reply I got logged out and could not log back in...said access denied and must have cookies enabled . 

Could not get back on here until I allowed the casalemedia cookies so I know now THAT one is directly tied into Mozilla . I also did run the microsoft safety scanner last night, quick scan, and all checked out well there.

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I forgot to mention this: if you do not select a specific server in the left column on the about:permissions page, any actions you take on the right side are global and affect all sites. The target of your changes is indicated by the bold heading above the settings on the right side.

(I am not aware of any advertising networks linked to mozilla.org pages.)

My guess as to why it wasn't there is that the advertising server cookie had been cleared between the time SAS ran and the time you checked the about:permissions page. Maybe bookmark that tab and check it just before closing Firefox to block out any untrusted servers.

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If those servers never appear in about:permissions, you may need to use the Exceptions button here:

"3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options > Privacy panel

Note that the Exceptions button only shows if you select

"Firefox will: Use custom settings for history"

in the middle of the dialog.

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jscher2000,

Thank you again so much for your continued help...very busy the last few days but am going to work on this...I like firefox, think I will keep it !