Hi Jeff,
FYI
Known issues
Windows Defender might prompt you to remove some peer-to-peer (P2P)
file-sharing programs. If you choose to remove such a program, Windows
Defender deletes all the contents of the Program Files folder associated with
the P2P program. Because some P2P programs store downloaded files in a
default folder under Program Files, this might remove all files you have
downloaded through the file-sharing program. For example, KaZaA stores .exe
and .dll files at C:\Program Files\Kazaa. Downloaded files are stored at
C:\Program Files\Kazaa\My Shared Folder. If you use Windows Defender to
remove KaZaA, all files and folders under C:\Program Files\Kazaa are removed.
If you have installed any P2P file-sharing programs, it is a good idea to
back up your downloaded files before you run Windows Defender.
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/about/releasenotes.mspx
-- --
What is Adware?
Adware is software designed to track your usage patterns and display
targeted ads while you are using a free software package or while browsing
the web with a helper application you installed. The ads may appear inside
the application or may pop-up in separate windows. Either way, these ads are
based on information that has been gathered from your usage patterns and sent
to a server for storage and analysis. Typical applications include a program
like Kazaa that many users download and install without really reading the
license agreement (EULA) -- see, for example, Kazaa's Ad Support statement.
Watch what you download!
Many freeware programs, and P2P programs like Grokster, Imesh, LimeWire,
Bearshare, Grokster, KaZaA, and WinMX, Emule, eDonkey, etc. and others are
amongst the most notorious, come with an enormous amount of bundled spyware
that will eat system resources, slow down your system, clash with other
installed software, or just plain crash your browser or even Windows itself.
If you insist on using a P2P program, please read This Article written by
Mike Healan of Spywareinfo.com fame.
http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/p2p/
It is an updated and comprehensive article that gives in-depth detail about
which P2P programs are "safe" to use.
File-Swapping - Another common security breach is the practice of P2P file
swapping. Basically, people could connect to a special network and swap
files with each other.
Music files in the popular mp3 format are the most commonly traded, but any
file can be swapped, such as movies and pirated commercial software.
You should know that if you are file-swapping, your computer's security is
breached. File-swapping programs create a "Shared Folder" on your hard drive
where you put the files you wish to make available to others. If you enable
file sharing of one folder, your entire hard drive is open to the world. If
you use your computer for business or have important personal information on
it, those files are potentially compromised, along with all your passwords.
Additionally, you take the chance of downloading some sort of malware with
your mp3's. Trojan horses and viruses have already been found in the KaZaA
and LimeWire programs. If you decide to participate in file-swapping, be
aware of the risks. You are basically bringing a file into your computer and
you have no idea whether the computer it came from is clean (virus-free),
whether the file-swapper you got it from is malicious or not. The best thing,
aside from refraining from file-swapping, is to use a separate dedicated
computer containing no important data. A separate hard drive is not a good
solution, because it is vulnerable to infection from the main drive. There
are now many legitimate places to download music, such as iTunes, Real's
Rhapsody, and even Napster which has reinvented itself as a legal download
service.
-- --
Please check Windows Defender's quarantine area to see whether the songs
have been quarantined.
If they have, you can restore them from the quarantine. Tools, quarantined
items.
--
Tools, spyware scan, manage spyware quarantine.
If this reads "there are currently no spyware threats in your spyware"
you are probably out of luck.
If it shows what you want, check off the items, and choose to unquarantine.
There are several processes here which may take a long time--perhaps hours:
One is the appearance of the list of items in the quarantine management
screen. If this screen is completely blank, leave it up there--go away, do
something fun--and check back on it later--maybe even overnight.
If the stuff appears, I'm unclear how long the unquarantine process takes,
once checked and initiated.
Once you've unquarantined the music, I STRONGLY recommend moving it to a
non-standard location--maybe under My Music, for example. We haven't seen
these reports for awhile, but there have been regular reports in the past of
loss of the files after the next reboot, in this kind of situation. So move
it before rebooting.
There have definitely been reports of success in removing large volumes of
music from quarantine, and quarantine is now the default action for these
files--so I believe you have a good chance. Folks who have interrupted the
process of moving the files INTO quarantine, and thus preventing creation of
the index for these files, have had no success.
The files are in a quarantine subfolder of \program files\microsoft
antispyware, and are renamed--i.e. if you name them back xxx.mp3, they will
play. However, although in theory there are command line apps to extract
the titles from the files, and allow you to use that info to rename the
files, I've not heard from anyone who succeeded in going that route.
Good luck
Watch what you download! and from where.
--
LAW
Man became free when he recognized that he was subject to law. -----Will
Durant
