Handling Alerts and Warnings

If you have turned on the corresponding Spy Sweeper shields, the following types of activities will cause Spy Sweeper to display the Alerts panel (see Figure 3 ), an alert pop-up near your system tray in the lower-right corner of your screen (see Figure 4 ), or a separate warning window:

Changes to your Internet Explorer favorites, home page, or default pages. For more information about the Internet Explorer shields, see Setting Up the Internet Explorer Shields.
Changes to the Hosts file. For more information about the Hosts file, see Setting Up the Hosts File Shields.
Changes to the list of programs that start when Windows starts. For more information about the Startup shield, see Setting Up the Startup Programs Shields.
Spyware, adware, or other unwanted program attempting to run in memory. For more information about the warning that displays, see Responding to a Memory Shield Warning.
Spyware, adware, or other unwanted program attempting to install or start. For more information about the warning that displays, see Responding to a Spy Installation Shield Warning.
Program attempting to start from an alternate data stream (ADS). For more information about the warning that displays, see Responding to an ADS Execution Shield Warning.
Program that uses ActiveX technology attempts to install. For more information about the warning that displays, see Responding to an ActiveX Shield Warning.
Program that uses a BHO attempts to install. For more information about the warning that displays, see Responding to a BHO Shield Warning.
Changes to your Internet Explorer security settings. For more information about the warning that displays, see Responding to an IE Security Shield Warning.





Figure 3: Example of the Alerts panel





Figure 4: Example of the alert pop-up

Note: You can avoid Internet Explorer-related alerts if you use the Automatically Restore Default without Notification option on the Internet Explorer tab. For more information, see Setting Up the Internet Explorer Shields.

When you see the Alerts panel or an alert pop-up, you should take action as soon as possible to either keep the changes that you want or to remove changes spyware, adware, or unwanted programs caused.

To handle alerts:

When you see the Alerts panel as shown in Figure 3 or a pop-up alert as shown in Figure 4 , do one of the following:
If the Alerts panel displays, continue with step 2.
If you do not want the Alerts panel to display automatically, select the Show Only Alert Pop-up from System Tray option. For more information, see Setting Spy Sweeper Program Options.
If the pop-up alert displays, click Show Alerts.
The pop-up alert displays if you have selected the Show Only Alert Pop-up from System Tray option or if you are using a password to protect your Spy Sweeper settings.
The Alerts panel of Spy Sweeper displays with information about any alerts.
Take action based on the type of alert.

Alert type	Actions
IE Favorites Shield	The alert shows the Web sites that have been added by a program to your Internet Explorer list of favorites. To keep the Web sites in your Internet Explorer favorites, select each site you want to keep and click Keep. To remove the Web sites from your Internet Explorer favorites, select each site you want to remove and click Remove.
IE Home Page Shield	The alert shows the Web site that a program changed as your Internet Explorer home page. It shows the site that was listed as your Internet Explorer home page and the new Web site that it was just changed to. To restore your Internet Explorer home page back to the page listed, click Restore. To update your Internet Explorer home page to the new page listed, click Keep New.
IE Hijack Shield	To restore your Internet Explorer default pages to the state they were in when you installed Spy Sweeper, click Restore. Most users do not change their default pages. Unless you or your system administrator made changes, you should click Restore. To update your Internet Explorer default page to the new pages, click Keep New.
Hosts File Shield	The alert shows the IP address of Web sites that were added to your Hosts file and the IP address found after looking up the domain on the Internet. To remove the added items from your Hosts file, select each item that you did not add to the Hosts file yourself and click Remove. Most computer users do not add Web sites to their Hosts file. Removing these sites ensures that you will not be directed to an advertising or other site when you intend to go to a legitimate Web site. To keep items you want in your Hosts file, select each item that you added to your Hosts file yourself and click Keep.
Startup Programs Shield	The alert shows the programs that have been added to your startup list along with an assessment. The assessment is either Spyware for known spyware, adware, or unwanted program or Unknown if the Spy Sweeper cannot match the item. To see more information about the item listed, if available, click More Details. To keep items in your startup list, select each item you want to start whenever Windows starts and click Keep. If you just installed or updated a program, including Windows updates, you should keep the items listed. To remove items from your startup list, select each item you want to remove and click Remove.