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There are many settings in the advanced mode of SpyBot that can help secure your computer. Following are several suggestions that should provide some added security for you...
The newest version has changed here somewhat. I will update this page soon to reflect the changes.
First off, set the program to remind you to update it whenever it is opened...
Then go to the "tools" tab on the left and there are lots of goodies that suddenly show up on the right...
There are 4 things that are not checked by default that I think should be... ActiveX, BHO's, Browser Pages, and Hosts File. Additionally, in the hosts file, click on the icon with the 3 computers linked together and we will add some more protection...
Click on the "Add SpyBot S&D Hosts list" button (green + above). What this does is add a bunch of known bad sites to the hosts file. FYI, the hosts file is the first place your computer goes to resolve names to internet sites. If you put an entry in it (in the right format) you can control where a typed address goes. The entry above, "localhost" is standard on all computers. It means "go to this computer" and the destination address, 127.0.0.1, is the internal address of your network card or modem when you're online.
After you apply the SpyBot S&D Hosts list additions, any program or page that attempts to go to the listed sites will fail, thus saving you from any problems associated with it.
After you finish with the hosts file section, click on the grey "Tools" tab again to bring up the list of tools and go to the page for Internet Explorer protection, AKA the "IE tweaks" page.
It is safest if you check ALL THREE boxes here.
The first one protects the hosts file (the one we just modified) from being modified by any attacker (or anyone else).
The second one locks the "Start Page" in IE so that when you go surfing the web, a bad site can't re-direct you to begin on their page. (The IE start page is the first page that opens when you start Internet Explorer). After you do this you will occasionaly see warnings that look like this:
Note that it is trying to change your "First Home Page" AKA the IE start page. If the "New Data" line looks like above (Microsoft), then the warning was caused because Microsoft has set IE to periodically go check in for updates (how many holes are there in Microsoft's software anyway???). You can let it do it, and it may want to change again next time you open IE to go back to your regular page. Any other warning that looks like the above should probably cause you to click "Deny" !!! It may cause a site or two to fail, but it's worth it.
There is also another type of warning you will see after you get SpyBot set-up. This one asks if you are sure you want to BLOCK something from loading. The answer is YES!!! This may also cause some sites to be limited. You can make your own decisions about which ones are ok to allow.
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