Hey Yoshi,

First off, let me say that everyone is a "Newbie" at one time, so don't worry if you get confused sometimes.  Believe me, even the experts get confused sometimes.

Why can two scans done moments apart, by the same program, produce different results?  I guess one would have to take apart the program and see how it does what it does to answer that.  You8 might get a detailed answer if you posted at the lsvasoft forums.  However, if you're new to computers and no nothing about programming (I surely don't. LOL), the answer probably would be just confusing.

Different programs can give different results because they each use their own method for the scanning engine.  Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware work very well in conjunction with each other, and scanning with them both on a regular basis produces good results.

Are there bet6ter programs available?  Maybe, but I can't imagine spending my hard earned cash for a program when I can get great results from those two freebies.  That's just my own opinion, of course.

Visit Chris RLG's and Texruss's sites for information on some other great free programs that help stop malware before it can even GET to your machine...SpywareBlaster and IESPYAD.  Lot's of good information at BOTH sites.

Hope this helped.

George

Hi Yoshi...thanks for your comments. I will attempt to answer some of your questions and respond to your comments. I have reviewed software for national magazines for over ten years and perhaps I have some insight into your specific anti-malware software questions.

>The only suggestion I have to moderators and assistants to the site is to be more understanding, if already not, of newbies. Some of the language I keep hearing gets me even more lost or confused

We are constantly revising the language of responses and FAQs in an attempt to reach 100% of novice users. This will never be possible, but a goal we strive to achieve. Read my Profile to see Mark Twain's quote about word choice (click on my name to left).

>I downloaded "Ad-aware", version 6.0 and it found a whopping 306 problems that it corrected.

Not a record...my personal high for machines I have worked on is 1288, 801, and 786. *;-) The 801 would have been tops, but it was so clogged I had to manually delete over 20 malware folders first in Safe Mode before Adaware could even run.

> But, just to make it sure it had gotten it all, I did another scan a few seconds later and it found 7 more problems. 

  Our recommendations are to run Adaware several times as it does get smarter as it rescans. Your fairly huge amount of problems made it miss a few. The speed factor is also important... a scanner can be better if it is coded to run very deep into the bowels of Windows, but at a great price in speed. Did you for example use the customized scanning options mentioned in the pinned post? 

Adaware also will continue to find minor problems (mainly tracking cookies) after you run IE again and then rescan.

>I also downloaded a software program called "Software Doctor" and it found a few more problems,....Spyware doctor said I'd have to purchase it to actually get rid of what it found. Sheesh, what a bufoon I am, huh?

Not a buffoon...just a victim of hucksters:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm#products

At least you didn't buy it...then you would feel worse.

>1.) Why can a spyware removal software program find problems that it missed after a first scan shortly after?

  They are all programmed differently. I can tell you that Spybot will find things Adaware does NOT find and vice versa. And in my experience in manually cleaning machines I can also tell you they both miss things...all anti-malware programs miss files, folders, and registry entries that are glaring to me when I see them. The malware situation is pandemic...and there is not a single program or even ten of them that can clean a machine 100%. I can make the clean factor closer to 100% if I can spend time personally on a PC, but I will miss some myself. The human brain is smarter than software, but there are limits for the infoglut problem. Windows is huge...many places to hide.

>2.) Are there is fact better spyware removal programs on the web than Ad-aware and Spybot on the web? Are these simply most recommended because they are *free* or most used?

I don't know of a better cleaner than those two...they both have strong points. If I had to chose between one I would go with Adaware, but Spybot would be sorely missed.

HTH,

Texruss
www.russelltexas.com
Spyware Fighter Wilders Forum                  
Slyware Warrior Tom Coyote Forum
Expert Malware Responder Dell Forum

Please be aware only the following DellForum members were trained at TomCoyote.com and SpywareInfo.com to help with malware like viruses, worms, adware, scumware, foistware and crudware in general. They are also the only experts specifically trained to analyze and advise on Hijackthis logs: Texruss, Baskar1234, Grinler, ChrisRLG, pskelley, cghost, and SpotCheckBilly.

Also...these longtime DellForum regulars have proven to me time and again their advice is excellent for malware questions in general, Windows operations, and many specific items in Hijackthis logs:  jimw, ddeerrff, msgale, and redwolfe_98. Please follow their advice when they respond to your problems. They have a proven track record here.

BTW...clicking on people's usernames at the left will reveal information about them if they chose to have an open profile. My credentials are available for your perusal.

*completely blown away*

*mouth agape*

Well, I'd say Texruss deserves any medals in his field.

Awesome answer. Being duped is somewhat of a regular, non-intentional frequence for me. With these forums, that frequence will be cut down quite a bit. I can tell.

Thanks a LOT.