It is my understanding that it is unwise to run more than one anti-virus application on the same computer but it's OK to use a plethora of anti-spyware programs. Following that logic, I have used AVG Free solely for anti-virus along with AVG Anti-Rootkit and Ad-aware. When it became obvious Ad-aware was doomed, I downloaded AVG Anti-Spyware which promptly found Downloader.Agent.hym and it has since quarantined Downloader.Iframe.u and Not-A-virus.Hoax.Win32.goldFake.d. From what I read on AVG's site and on this forum, their Anti-Spyware program will soon be a thing of the past unless you want to upgrade to version 8. I have to wonder now how long that will last.

My questions are:

If I uninstall AVG Anti-Spyware or any spyware program for that matter, what happens to the quarantined buggies? Are they loose again or will they remain in quarantine somewhere on my system?

Is there some way I can just delete them? Shred them? Maybe, mark them for deletion on start-up?

It makes sense to me that when I am online, it would be advantageous to have anti-spyware providing real-time protection, but when I am offline, I don't want anything interfering or taking up precious time and memory. Which, if any, spyware programs will just wait around quietly until I am ready to make use of them?

I once downloaded Spybot Search and Destroy, but Teatimer got installed at the same time. I uninstalled the program but teatimer did not uninstall completely so I don't know if re-installing SS&D again would start teatimer up. Would it?

Thanks for any answers or suggestions.

HP Pavilion - Pentium® 4CPU
160GB HDD 512 MB RAM
Windows XP SP2 Home

When I have un-installed an anti-spyware application it has asked if I want to delete the quarantined items and I have always replied Yes.

No.

I'll leave the remaining questions to someone with additional experience.

Thanks,YoKenny, for taking the trouble to answer what you could. It is a great help to know I can safely uninstall the programs when I am ready without worrying about re-infecting myself!

It's been awhile but it seems to me I could wipe the "baddie" with AVG 7.5.It is what I always do.
davey

P.S. In AVG 7.5 you can wipe the objects listed in the Virus Vault.

hi writeaway.
i got the info below from avg website. i hope it helps.

Most of today's viruses (Trojan horses, I-Worms, Worms, etc) create their own files which contain nothing but a body of the virus. In such cases the only way to remove the infection is to delete the infected file. When you moved the file to the AVG Virus Vault it was deleted from its original location, coded, and then saved in a non-executable file in a hidden folder. Your PC is no longer infected then.


If you are not missing any data file and your applications are running, then you can delete these vaulted files from the AVG Virus Vault program.

You can do it selectively from AVG Virus Vault program -> select files -> delete. Or you can delete all AVG Virus Vault contents in one go:

* Double-click the AVG icon on your desktop -> choose the "History" menu and select the "Virus Vault" option -> click on the "Empty Vault" button.

And should you uninstall the program without emptying the quarantine, (and answer "No"), the contents of the quarantine should be deleted along with the program.
Re Spybot. Try re-installing it. See if you can control the tea-timer via the new installation. If so, disable it prior to uninstalling (if you choose to then uninstall it.)
Generally, with quite a lot of programs, it's wise, and sometimes essential to turn them off/deactivate them prior to uninstalling.

And should you uninstall the program without emptying the quarantine, no kill off be for you take off to be safe,some will kill off for you some leave in folder may be new name like add ver to end of name.

With spybot ver 1.5, the tea timer can be disabled by clicking "mode", then "advanced mode", then "tools", then "resident", then uncheck the tea timer box.

Tea Timer runs pretty heavy, as I bet you've noticed, but it is a good protection.