Help re: spyware

I installed spyware detection program a few days ago. It revealed that microsoft has put spyware into my computer via the windows media, and internet explorer registration. If I zap these, I may not be able to use windows media or IE

Does anyone here have any experience with deleting spyware from microsoft?

If the IE spyware is Backweb or Backweb Lite, you can remove it without any problem. This is the most common spyware that is automatically installed in most computers that have IE pre-loaded.

About the Windows Media, I think that the worst that can happen is that you will disable some features that you don't want anyway, like they keep track of all the music you play so they can send you ads about it.

For all of the anti-spyware programs that I know, if you say "remove" the program will just put the offensive program in quarantine. If you don't like what happened, it has a "restore" feature. I usually let my stuff stay in quarantine for about a month, then if nothing bad happened, I delete it permanently.

I am not an expert, and I don't blame you for being careful. But 99% of the time it is perfectly safe to delete anything that your spyware program identifies as a security risk.

Mathman

Rtureck, first of all, what spyware detection program you're talking about? And do you know what kind of spyware (trojans, worms; their names if you know them?) you have on your computer? If you knew it'd be easier to determine if deleting them would interfere in any way with using IE (it shouldn't) and other things that are infected. The safest way is to puy them in quarantine first, as Mathman already said.

From what I've read about Windows Media Player, it does call home with some information (supposedly not user-specific). Install a firewall to monitor incoming, as well as outgoing traffic. There are only a few programs I allow to connect to the Internet, and only three of them can do that automatically (the rest has to ask for my permission every single time; I prefer it that way ). Every time I use Real Player and Windows Media Player they try to call home, but I just click "No."

MM, and windspirit

Thanks. I use the free version of spybot. I don't know whether there is the option to quarantine or not.

I have a fire wall installed.

If you click on "fix selected problems," and then "yes" on do you want to do this, the program will "remove" all of the problem files. But if you want them back, just click on "recovery" on the first screen, and they will all be there. Select the ones that you want to be restored.

You can leave files in that recoverable state forever, if you want to. Or you can remove them permanently later on.

Mathman