Anti-Adware Programs false detection of malicious websites:
I am using a freeware version of Ad-Aware. Some may not like it, some may use it. Generally, now most anti-virus programs also detect malware and adware when the software is running, however, I always liked the idea that Spybot would run a process that would reject changes to my registry if something tried to alter it without my knowledge. Ad-Aware does the same thing, but at the time did not.
I have Ad-Aware detecting sites it says are malicious. If I drop the page not allowing to access the page, I can come in the next day and when I shutdown my browser, I dump all cookies not retaining much but bookmarks and history. I'm currently running Firefox 3.6.8 which doesn't work with many addons despite the idea that it has been reviewed by Mozilla.
I don't generally like beta software. I've had it install and not be removable without a lot of pain in the butt work, including messing with registry keys which I don't like to mess with unless I know which key I'm looking for via instructions somewhere, then I have no problem connecting to the exact same webpage. I have even had an addon that would detect when I was being redirected, and I could choose whether or not to allow it, and NoScript which works to a degree but often prevents sites from working even when you allow "all" the scripts. This is easily explainable in that a site could try to access a planted cookie, run a redirect, or trigger some javascript program it can use the programming in the cookie to get info it needs. Awful extreme mess to go through, but some people have nothing better to do.
Despite all that, Ad-Aware will reject a site one day, and I only update the thing maybe once every 2 or 3 days, so on occasion, nothing has changed, but it doesn't identify the site as malicious. I see no redirect, nor any script blocked unless it's Google, Google Analytics, etc... where corporate busy bodies annoy me.
I've ended up dumping NoScript and the redirect detector, between the two I couldn't get most sites to work despite allowing this and allowing that, so now it could refer me to a site that is malicious and Ad-Aware could detect such a risk, but so far nothing. However, sites I distinctly go to twice even if it's before my cookies are dumped will hit once and not hit again (ie - in the same browsing session). AVG is supposed to reject access to malicious sites and often when I access forums to get simple info, such as this one, it does not say they are malicious but Ad-Aware does. I get so annoyed I shut down Ad-Aware Live. I like the idea that Ad-Aware can detect sites, deny changes to the registry, and after updates, scan the machine, but I'm not convinced that it can always decipher between a page that is malicious and one that is not. Usually these detections go off of a list which is loaded during an update, but there must be the ability to decipher via attempts to access the computer via what would normally be considered malicious that can be detected by Ad-Aware - javascript alterations for example, but I have yet to see anything try to install a virus or adware that would make an attempt at changing any registry keys. Often times too, Ad-Aware only blocks a section of a page, such as something coming from a site on its list, but the rest of the page works, however, most of the time it blocks entire access to the forum. On more than one occasion, links have been deceptive and you never quite know where you'll end up, generally redirected to an ad, and amazingly, Ad-Aware has no idea what happened nor detect anything. Perhaps much of what Ad-Aware is picking up would only mess with IE. I don't know, but I don't use IE; because, it leaves the whole computer open. It is deeply integrated with Windows.
Spybot used to always lock up the computer with it's registry change detector called tea something, but I could still get it to work most of the time, and it didn't break down enough to bother me. Since, henceforth, Ad-Aware surged ahead in popularity. Now most people no doubt consider the software unnecessary since anti-virus software normally will do the same thing. Ad-Aware is even sold in the same version as you can download for around $20 in Walmart without any extras. I wonder, is Spybot as good since it doesn't seem to be as popular, and does it continually annoy you by blocking simple forums without blocking their ads by referral? Ad-Aware (and Firefox and AVG) seem to allow any pop-up or pop-under to show up without triggering anything. I could find an addon to stop that I suppose. Are Spybot or Ad-Aware even necessary? Generally, if something is going to install where it shouldn't do so AVG stops it. Then I scan and make sure it couldn't. I believe that what I am seeing are exactly what this forum here suggests. False positives. I've already seen a couple of registry entries left behind that via my registry cleaner clearly identified that while they are not directing to any particular location they are generally always left there after you uninstall a program and don't hurt anything. Thusly, the registry cleaner at least admits it has identified something normal, but why identify it at all? It's normal, so why annoy me with it? Another false positive.
I get false positives from not just anti-virus software as you have claimed even McAfee does, but also anti-spyware/adware software, malicious viral (etc) sites, and even from registry cleaning software. Maybe this particular forum title should be: False Positives. Without specifying that you are only interested in anti-virus software. It would open up a whole new wing of discussion. A new forum topic might be in order, but in my opinion, this one will do just fine. Another new one could be: Windows Security Holes. Most of the time it's people like us that end up reporting them to Microsoft who doesn't do much until the next fix release. Might help to know how the attack is carried out in order to avoid it until they fix it.
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