5 replies to this topic

[carton2475]

Does anyone have any opinions as to whether or not it's worth buying Pest Patrol in an attempt to clean my system? I've read good things, but wanted to get some other opinions.

[Doctor J]

IMO, not worth the purchase. The main problem I see with PestPatrol is a high rate of false positives. AdAware & Spybot search & destroy are extremely potent, yet free program.
If you want, list what security programs you have already, & people will comment on what you could add (or remove... )

[carton2475]

Well I have Spybot S & D as well as Adaware (including the Ad Watch add on). I'm also running an evaluation version of Trojan Remover, which consistently finds a trojab called "Startpage", but seems to be unable to completely remove it. None of the aforementioned programs seem to be able to clean my system. Any other software suggestions?

[spyware fighter]

Well, there is no one program that will offer full protection. I have Pest Patrol and X-Cleaner (paid versions) and I am pretty satisfied. They also detect the infections that normal anti-virus programs do not. Pest Patrol detects quite a large number of spyware, adware (especially if it comes up with IE) and trojans. As to the false positives. I would check them with their HelpDesk. Do not delete anything that you are not sure to be malicious. As to the trojan, try to find it in some spyware database to see how it needs to be removed, because often you have to kill the process first, otherwise it will not be deleted. Also try to clean your registry, if possible.

If you have more questions, here we are!

You can also post your HijackThis log in this forum and somebody will help you...

Good luck!

[Tuxedo Jack]

Trust the free stuff - Ad-Aware and Spybot are the best you're going to get without spending cash.

The best thing is truly wonderful, but it takes time - you use HijackThis and learn to read the logs. You also have to learn what is a legitimate Windows application and what isn't. Like I said, it takes time, but it by _FAR_ repays the investment later.

[lonewolf]

I think Pest Patrol is a decent app, but i just don't like it for newbies due to the False positive problems (some of which PP finally fixed in a recent update). With PP you just need to be careful what you delete. I think PP is helpful in detecting trojans and keyloggers though.

Of course, if you don't mind spending the cash, TDS-3, TrojanHunter, & Boclean are better IMO at detecting trojans than PP, and i would go with Spycop for keylogger detection. I also agree Spybot & Ad-Aware seem better than PP at detecting adware & spyware.

Overall PP is not too bad for an 'all in one' malware detector, but they just seem to be trying to do too much for one program. You've probably heard the saying, jack of all trades, master of none.