January 2005
Smart Choice
SpyCatcher 3.0 |
You use antivirus software, you diligently filter out spam, and you restrict access to questionable Web sites. So you think your PC is safe, right? Yeah. So did most home computer users in the largest-to-date study conducted by the NCSA (National Cyber Security Alliance) and AOL (America Online). But even though more than three-quarters of the study participants thought their PCs were safe or very safe, experts who visited their homes discovered that 80% of the participants' PCs were infected with spyware.
Spyware, which is typically installed without your permission and/or knowledge, makes use of your computer's Internet connection to surreptitiously monitor your online activity and gather information about you that it can transmit back to its originator. Although this behavior is bad enough, spyware also can affect your computer's performance by displaying a plethora of targeted pop-up ads (accomplished by a form of spyware often referred to as adware), changing your browser's home page, and slowing down your PC or otherwise inhibiting your computing. And installing antivirus programs and firewalls is no guarantee your computer will be safe from spyware.
But you can do something about the spyware scourge. Anti-spyware products identify and quarantine or destroy these unwelcome invaders, and there are numerous effective and affordable programs out there today. To help you choose, here's a look at four popular anti-spyware products.
 How We Tested
We narrowed a list of more than a dozen programs to those geared toward the home, home office, or small business. We ran full system scans at least twice for each program and also tested each one's periodical maintenance scanning features. We considered many criteria in evaluating each app, including ease of installation, ease of use, range of features, and overall effectiveness. But because each program measures its results in varying ways—for instance, one may count five separate files as one piece of spyware, whereas another may count it as five apps—instead of relying on a program's reported results, we judged effectiveness by manually comparing catalogued and quarantined files, measuring unwanted pop-up occurrences after installation, and scrutinizing other features.
 Ad-aware SE Personal
Don't let the name fool you. Along with routing out adware, Ad-aware SE Personal combats the more offensive category of spyware, as well. This free program is one of the most popular anti-spyware products worldwide, and we suspect that it's because Ad-aware works both quickly and well. It scans your hard drive for spyware and lets you place those items in a quarantine folder where they are isolated from the rest of your system.
Setting up the software is a simple and fast process. Download the 2.5MB app—the smallest of the four we tested for this article—from the Web site and you'll be able to install the program within a minute. Then, click the Scan Now button on the left to display four scanning options: Smart System scan, used for daily maintenance; Full System scan, the most in-depth scanning option; Custom Scanning, to select drives and folders; and Scan Volume For ADS, for scanning Alternate Data Streams. Unless you're an expert PC user, you won't need to concern yourself with the latter choice.
The first time you use the software, the Full System scan is the way to go. Depending on the computer we used, it took us between 10 and 22 minutes to run the full scan, and when Ad-aware finished, we saw a neatly cataloged list of critical objects. You can click items for more information and then decide whether to quarantine, delete, or ignore the objects.
Computer novices might find the program a bit tricky to understand, as much of it is displayed in "geek speak." For instance, when you open the quarantine log, you'll see the paths of the objects on your hard drive, but it might be difficult to understand just what these objects are or what they do. We also would have liked to have seen some automated processes; instead, you must conduct scans manually in Ad-aware SE Personal. Even so, as a free product, Ad-aware is a true bargain. For real-time protection and more advanced features, you can upgrade to one of the for-a-fee versions. Ad-aware SE Personal
Free ($26.95 SE Plus version,
$39.95 SE Professional version)
Lavasoft
general@lavasoft.de
http://www.lavasoftusa.com
Scorecard
Performance 4
Ease Of Use 4
Installation 5
Documentation 4
Price 5
Overall Score 4.4/5
 Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3
One of the symptoms of a spyware-infected computer is that it slows down considerably. If you're frustrated with a slow system and want immediate help, we recommend Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3. Not only does the free program download and install in just a couple of minutes, the full system scans also took about five minutes on our 80GB hard drive, which is significantly less time than that of the other apps we tested. According to the creator, Spybot S&D performs its scan so quickly because instead of searching the complete Registry and hard drives first, the program "takes advantage of the fact that all spies have to anchor themselves at a few places over the system to get active." Once the software identifies these locations, it gathers information and looks deeper into your system.
Downloading and installing Spybot S&D also is easy. A wizard walks you through a few simple installation pages, and you're then ready to run a system scan. Click the no-frills interface's Search & Destroy icon, and in a few minutes, you'll see a list of questionable items. This user-friendly, color-coded list displays spyware in red and other items you should watch in green, the latter of which are typically innocuous "usage tracks" (which you may want to clean if you share your PC and don't want other users to see where you've been surfing). With spyware, you usually can click each item's listing to discover the name of the company, the type of item it is (for example, a cookie), the company URL (uniform resource locator), Spybot S&D's description, and an excerpt from the company's privacy statement. This information can be vital in helping you decide whether to disable the items.
If you do click the Fix Problems button, Spybot S&D creates a system restore point before scrubbing the files. That way, if you realize you mistakenly deleted a necessary file, the restore point will let you return your system to its previous configuration. Other user-friendly features include the ability to block your computer from downloading some types of spyware, a detailed tutorial, and an advanced mode for users who want more control and customization options. Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3
Free
Patrick M. Kolla
http://www.spybot.info/en
Scorecard
Performance 4
Ease Of Use 4
Installation 5
Documentation 4
Price 5
Overall Score 4.4/5
SpyCatcher 3.0
As you know, part of the problem with spyware is that it usually infects your system without your knowledge. If you'd like your anti-spyware to work almost as secretly, be sure to check out SpyCatcher 3.0. Several of its features, including a reinstallation shield and the Protector monitoring feature, work automatically behind the scenes.
Initially, SpyCatcher works similarly to the other programs we tested for this article. After installation, the first thing you'll see is the Sweep Spyware dialog box. The checkboxes let you select which parts of your PC you'd like to scan, such as the memory, Registry, and all hard drives or selected folders and files. Then, you simply click Go, and within 10 to 12 minutes, SpyCatcher returns a list of Found Spyware, many of which contain links to online articles describing the spyware. You can choose to allow or disable as many or as few of the items as you wish.
What makes SpyCatcher stand out from similar programs are several notable extra features. One is Protector, which lets you select options that will watch your computer's memory for running spyware and protect your browser's home page and search page from being hijacked. Another is Reinstall Shield, which overwrites a deleted spyware app so it can't run and keeps it from reinstalling itself. A third feature is the Scheduler, whereby you configure the software to run sweeps automatically. And, instead of having to press a button for these features to work, you aren't required to do anything more than open the software after you boot up your PC.
We also were impressed by the interface. The clean look, easy-to-understand language, and numerous buttons on the left make it a cinch to configure and use the software. Because you must pay $29.95 for this product, the one feature we'd like to see added is free phone support. As it stands, you must pay $9.95 for unlimited support, but that price covers all Tenebril products. SpyCatcher 3.0
$29.95 (plus $9.95 unlimited support for all Tenebril products)
Tenebril
(800) 790-9060
http://www.tenebril.com/products
Scorecard
Performance 5
Ease Of Use 5
Installation 5
Documentation 4.5
Price 4.5
Overall Score 4.8/5
 Spy Sweeper 3.2
Spy Sweeper offers both comprehensive spyware detection and removal, as well as a variety of tools that keep your PC from becoming reinfected. Using the program is straightforward. After downloading and installing Spy Sweeper, you're initially prompted to run a full sweep of your computer, including the Registry, memory areas, and files and folders. You aren't required to conduct a full sweep of your entire system, however; Spy Sweeper's options include the ability to skip files larger than a size you determine, to sweep only known spyware folders, and to sweep all user accounts, even those related to another user or login ID on your PC. You also can set up Spy Sweeper to run scheduled scans, such as on a specific day at a specific time or an hour after you turn on your PC.
Spy Sweeper offers a commendable variety of shields. These prevent spyware from redirecting Web searches, hijacking the browser's home page, altering Internet Explorer's Favorites list, diverting you from desired sites to undesired ones, adding programs to your Start menu without your approval, and creating phony pop-ups in Windows Messenger, among other things. Other notable features include an automatic update check, detailed spyware detection logs, and telephone technical support.
In addition, the Webroot Software site features Spy Audit. If you aren't convinced your system is hosting spyware, we recommend that you run this free online check. Odds are good that Spy Audit will find at least a handful of (and likely many more) spyware items, which you then can disable with a trial version of Spy Sweeper.
We found two small drawbacks to using the software: the amount of time it took to run a full scan and the pricing scheme. It took 53 minutes for the first full scan, but the second scan of just the memory items was significantly shorter at 28 minutes. Also, you must pay a yearly subscription fee to ensure your copy of Spy Sweeper stays current. Spy Sweeper 3.2
$29.95 (one-year subscription fee)
Webroot Software
(800) 772-9383; (303) 442-3813
http://www.webroot.com/products
Scorecard
Performance 4.5
Ease Of Use 5
Installation 5
Documentation 4.5
Price 4
Overall Score 4.6/5 Our Smart Choice
Recently, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) filed its first federal case concerning spyware, and the House of Representatives approved two bills to increase criminal penalties and fines for those who infect your PC with spyware. But until legislation bares sharper teeth, you need to rely on anti-spyware. We enthusiastically recommend all of the programs we reviewed, including Ad-aware SE Personal for its free performance, Spybot S&D for its speed and simplicity, and Spy Sweeper for its comprehensiveness and ease of use. But overall, we preferred SpyCatcher for its outstanding array of features in a user-friendly package, and that's why we award it our Smart Choice award. 
by Heidi V. Anderson
Buying Tips
• Know what you're paying for. Anti-spyware products offer a range of features, and this variety is reflected in the pricing schemes, as well. Some software developers offer free technical support, where-as others charge additional fees. Some developers offer unlimited coverage, whereas others charge for yearly subscriptions. Know what you're paying for and be sure to factor in additional costs. • Test its interaction with other anti-spyware. One recommendation we here at Smart Computing often make is that you consider purchasing a full-featured anti-spyware product and run a freeware program to clean up any spyware the first app may have missed. Some anti-spyware products don't work well with other anti-spyware, however, so if possible, test out the demo versions beforehand. • Consider your Internet software. True, most surfers use Internet Explorer, but Microsoft's browser isn't your only option. Opera, Netscape, and Mozilla are viable alternatives, but various anti-spyware products have different capabilities when paired with less popular browsers. In fact, some anti-spyware products require you to use newer editions of IE. Check the system requirements of anti-spyware before installation or you may not be detecting everything you think you are. |
|
Email This
Print This
