Kazaa vs. Kazaa Lite & Ad-Aware Alternative

[Pinnacle]

I'm still working on my cousin's computer which was running really slow when she gave it to me. She seems to have a lot of spyware loaded on it. She also has Kazaa, so I am assuming this is how all this junk got installed on it. Does anyone have a good guess as to what extra junk Kazaa installs? Is the only difference between Kazaa and Kazaa Lite that the Lite version has all the spyware removed?

I have installed Ad-aware on her computer. It found 359 files/registry entries it needed to delete. On blind faith, I deleted all of them. I was sure I would have a mess of errors after I reboot the computer, but I only had one (and it was very easily fixed). For this reason, I am really happy with Ad-aware. My only complaint is that it deleted all this stuff without giving me any further information on what it was doing. I expected there to be a database like virus software, where I could go and get more information on the spyware it was removing. Is anyone aware of an alternate to Ad-aware that links to a database that gives me more detail on what it is deleting?

Thanks in advance.

[CeeBee]

Kazaa lite is more that an ad-stripped Kazaa. It also features an IP blocker that blocks bad IP's (read RIAA and it's low-life dogs). It can also disable listing of your shared files, so you can share but nobody can tell how many and what files (well, except the ones yielded by a search). Also some other bells and whistles can be found in the "lite" version.

[confus-ed]

Errrrrrrrr hang on a mo ... I dunno what the precise differences are between Kazza & kazza lite, but either way if you are gonna go 'stealing' with 'em expect a sh*t load of spyware, its the nature of the sites that stuff is sourced through (nothing, even 'theft', comes free!).

As an alternative to adaware try Spybot - by PepiMK Software .

Both products allow you to 'save' deleted keys & add them back if stuff stops working, effectively an 'un-do' ... I dunno how much value there is in knowing what every single key might do, they either should be there or shouldn't - my arguement is that if products want to go around 'messing' with my computer, then they ought to tell me what reg entries etc are added & why - not the other way around.

[CeeBee]

... expect a sh*t load of spyware...

The 'lite' version is 3-rd party modified version of Kazaa (call it hacked if you want), but running spyware removers after installing it showed... nothing.

[confus-ed]

The 'lite' version is 3-rd party modified version of Kazaa (call it hacked if you want), but running spyware removers after installing it showed... nothing.

I didn't mean the 'sharing' app .. I mean the stuff you might get with it & where it comes from

[craigmodius]

My only complaint is that it deleted all this stuff without giving me any further information on what it was doing. I expected there to be a database like virus software, where I could go and get more information on the spyware it was removing. Is anyone aware of an alternate to Ad-aware that links to a database that gives me more detail on what it is deleting?

What version of Adaware are you using? Is it 6?

I have 6 and it keeps a quarentine list just like an AV program and you can restore from it or view the contents etc.

From the startup/status screen select 'open quarentine list' or at the top there is an icon that looks like a cardboard box when you select it you should see the objects in quarentine.

from there you can click on 'contains...' below to see what it quarentined or select 'restore' to put stuff back from before your scan. it will list registry entries as well as files etc.

I think previous versions saved the undo options as .reg files which can be viewed or restored differently. either way let us know the version.

both versions give you a listing of everything it's going to get rid of before you select to delete. from this list you can usually get a great deal of info as to what the spyware is and where it's coming from. however, you have to be carefull not to click thru it after the scan before you delete it.

[Pinnacle]

What version of Adaware are you using? Is it 6?

I have 6 and it keeps a quarentine list just like an AV program and you can restore from it or view the contents etc.

From the startup/status screen select 'open quarentine list' or at the top there is an icon that looks like a cardboard box when you select it you should see the objects in quarentine.

from there you can click on 'contains...' below to see what it quarentined or select 'restore' to put stuff back from before your scan. it will list registry entries as well as files etc.

I think previous versions saved the undo options as .reg files which can be viewed or restored differently. either way let us know the version.

both versions give you a listing of everything it's going to get rid of before you select to delete. from this list you can usually get a great deal of info as to what the spyware is and where it's coming from. however, you have to be carefull not to click thru it after the scan before you delete it.

Yes, it is version 6. As Confused alluded to, it is really not important what the specific spyware is as long as Ad-aware gets rid of it. I was just curious what it was getting rid of. I saw the list of files/keys it was deleting, but I wanted more than that. I wanted a description of the program and what it does. When I clean a virus off a computer, even if the anti-virus software cleans it up automatically, I still go to either Norton or McAfee's on-line databases to read a full description of what it was, how it got there, etc. etc.

Once I give this computer back, I will suggest to my cousin that her kids use Kazaa Lite if that is the type of thing they want to do, plus continue running Ad-aware frequently so if they get more than what they were expecting, they will at least know it.

[arch0nmyc0n]

Well, Kazaa Lite is quite a bit better than Kazaa. No spy/adware plus a buncha things that make it safer and easier to find things with faster downloads. As for removing things like spy/adware... here is my list of programs I let loose on any system needing cleaning up (in order of use):

Ad-aware 6.0 first to get the bulk of the spy/ad

Spybot (if adaware found more than 200 files or more than 10 programs) S&D

Tune-up Utilities 2003 - little program, combined disk and registry cleaner/compressor/tweaker with automation/scheduler... and it's a pretty good registry cleaner from what I can tell...

If the computer is running REALLY low on HD space I run Webroot's Windows Washer 5 with most of the settings on...

VoptXP - a defragmenting program FAR superior to anything microsoft offers, much faster, efficient program... also has some registry tweaks and things to help things speed up the system... (also has a virtual memory organizer, really good if the virtual memory is spread all across the disk)

I use these programs whenever needed... generally I only use ad-aware for most systems I deal with... I know I kinda deviated from the question at hand but I figured this might be more useful... I use this stuff every day and they work great for me... hope you try it out... let me know what you think good/bad whatever...

[craigmodius]

Adaware doesn't give you much usefull info after you've quarentined the spyware, but before you quarentine the items, you can right click on the item and select 'item details' and you get a little bit of info. Some of which may refer you to this site which gives a rundown of spyware in general as well as many of the individual items.

Spyware is more of a grey area than viruses. So they can't necessarily nail down exactly how it got to your system. But installing peer to peer programs and crappy freeware like comet cursor and bonzi buddy is a good way to get it.

Another approach against spyware is to prevent it from ever being installed. Along with the software that links to and the info on the above link, educating your friends/relatives not to just blindly click OK to any button that comes up on your pc is a good start.

or keep this knowledge to yourself and charge them thru the nose to clean their system

[Pinnacle]

Well, Kazaa Lite is quite a bit better than Kazaa. No spy/adware plus a buncha things that make it safer and easier to find things with faster downloads. As for removing things like spy/adware... here is my list of programs I let loose on any system needing cleaning up (in order of use):

Ad-aware 6.0 first to get the bulk of the spy/ad

Spybot (if adaware found more than 200 files or more than 10 programs) S&D

Tune-up Utilities 2003 - little program, combined disk and registry cleaner/compressor/tweaker with automation/scheduler... and it's a pretty good registry cleaner from what I can tell...

If the computer is running REALLY low on HD space I run Webroot's Windows Washer 5 with most of the settings on...

VoptXP - a defragmenting program FAR superior to anything microsoft offers, much faster, efficient program... also has some registry tweaks and things to help things speed up the system... (also has a virtual memory organizer, really good if the virtual memory is spread all across the disk)

I use these programs whenever needed... generally I only use ad-aware for most systems I deal with... I know I kinda deviated from the question at hand but I figured this might be more useful... I use this stuff every day and they work great for me... hope you try it out... let me know what you think good/bad whatever...

Thanks for your suggestions. Others have suggested Spybot too, so I think I will try that next. I have a good first impression of Ad-aware, but it is not perfect at cleaning away the junk. Each time I reboot the computer, I seem to get about 20 things back, representing two or three applications. One of them is called "Common Names". I do not remember the others right now. I will have to investigate this more later. Also, I think I will remove Kazaa. They can install Kazaa Lite later if it is still something they want to do. I tried to automatically remove it (first via Control Panel, then via Kazaa) and it missed pretty much everything. I have removed all the obvious stuff manually, but will now need to search WinDrivers and Google to find instructions for getting the rest.

Thanks everyone for your input.

[arch0nmyc0n]

Well if the spy/adware is being reinstalled after it's found then you or someone else must be installing it again later... either that or there's another program or setting allowing it to reinstall.

To give you an idea, I had a computer in on a friday morning. It was totally messed up. It had a few viruses on it and TONS of spyware, temporary files, invalid registry stuff... 3 virus scanners and a whole slew of stupid memory resident garbage like winamp agent, real player, ATI programs, Kazaa and the like... so I spent a while cleaning it all up with my program I mentioned before. Eventually it was running sweet... so I updated windows and removed all AV but Norton AV (only because they paid for it). I rebooted the machine 3 or 4 times to make sure everything was good and the customer came and paid for it...
They came back in on Monday all pissy cause it wasn't working. So I was like "ok did it work fine when you set it up when you got home"
"yes, but now we're back to the way it was."
(Keep in mind I had explained how these files and programs got installed before)
So I look at the computer while the customer is there and it's totally jam packed with garbage again... I was perplexed for a minute... then I asked her if she had children who use the computer... she said she had children but they didn't know the password for windows... I just stared at her for like 30 seconds and logged off windows to bring up the windows logon and ask "you mean this?"
Up to this point she's been all uptight and snotty, and she says yes.
so I'm like "watch this" I click cancel and it loads windows. The look of utter amazement on this womans face was well worth the free charge for fixing it again... she called her kids at home and asked them and they lied at first and eventually they said yes they'd been on it and installed everything again...
so I'm sure they got beat that night...

ANYWAYS.... I don't know if that's yer problem... but use spybot as it does have detailed descriptions of each program yer removing but it misses a few things Adaware picks up and vice versa.....

[arch0nmyc0n]

oh, and in response to craigmodius's answer.... I've had a number of people who actually WANT some of the stuff installed like those stupid bars... I talked myself blue in the face explaining what it was and to get rid of it and get a better one like the google bar or something... so I just remove the stuff and don't prevent it, but I do show people how to use the programs so they can remove it if they want to...

[craigmodius]

Here is info on that Common Name item that keeps coming back up along with info on how to get rid of it.

For my money I run Adaware along with Spybot Search and Destroy as well as Spyware Blaster.

I find that one Adaware will detect and fix things that Spybot won't and Spybot will detect and fix things that Adaware won't etc. And Spywareblaster will prevent alotta things from getting installed in the first place.

And yes there are plenty of people out there who actually think they want commet cursor and bonzi buddy or gator, and thank heavens for them because it puts food on my table.

[Pinnacle]

Here is info on that Common Name item that keeps coming back up along with info on how to get rid of it.

For my money I run Adaware along with Spybot Search and Destroy as well as Spyware Blaster.

I find that one Adaware will detect and fix things that Spybot won't and Spybot will detect and fix things that Adaware won't etc. And Spywareblaster will prevent alotta things from getting installed in the first place.

And yes there are plenty of people out there who actually think they want commet cursor and bonzi buddy or gator, and thank heavens for them because it puts food on my table.

Thanks for the link. I have not found Commet Cursor or Bonzi Buddy yet, but they must have Gator because I saw a Gator patch file on their root directory.

[inferno_gn]

Hi there,

Kazaa Lite is actually better then the original Kazaa, beside not having any ad-ware or spyware. As mention before, it also got an IP blocker and other utility that help you exprinces the best P2P that to offer.

http://www.klitesite.com/

If you got that much spyware and ad-ware install, I recommend you backup all important files and just do a full reinstall (format and reinstall) the system. A clean start. Before you install any software, ask around if it got spyware/adware before installing. It will save you the trouble.

Ju Leon...