| PC World Magazine just conducted a wonderful test | | | | SMTP scanning to block e-mail-borne spyware threats. |
| study on several antispyware tools, to see how they | | | | Also, you can`t set a system restore point in case you |
| matched up against the latest "infections" on the web. | | | | accidentally delete critical files during a disinfection |
| We feature three of those here and their results. | | | | routine." |
| The antispyware tools that were tested were | | | | Spy Sweeper 5.5 was next on the list, and as Naraine |
| Grisoft`s AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5, Microsoft`s Windows | | | | puts it, "Things have changed for the worse with |
| Defender 1.1, and PC Tools` Spyware Doctor 5.0. They | | | | version 5.5. The software demonstrates excellent |
| were run through a gammit of tests to detect whether | | | | behavior-based detection capabilities, but we were |
| or not the products can not only find and detect | | | | disappointed at how the program struggled to remove |
| adware and spyware, but be able to clean them from | | | | adware and spyware from the test PC." The testing |
| your computer and registry. | | | | showed the program only detected 85% of bad files |
| They marked "Spyware Doctor 5.0" as the best buy. | | | | and registry entries, and get this only 2% of ones |
| According to Ryan Naraine of PC World, "Spyware | | | | relating to banking, and only cleaned up 25% of the |
| Doctor did an excellent job identifying and uprooting | | | | adware problems and even worse 15% of spyware. |
| adware". Naraine claims the results in regards to | | | | You would have thought, with Microsoft being the large |
| spyware were "less than impressive", but were still | | | | corporation that it is, and having access to the |
| better than the other products tested. Naraine says, | | | | underlying operating system level, it would have faired |
| "Spyware Doctor detected 81 percent of inactive | | | | well. Apparently, the operating system level developers, |
| adware samples and 100 percent of active adware | | | | do not allow the anti-spyware programmers to talk to |
| samples, and it successfully removed almost all of the | | | | them, I am just kidding of course. Microsoft`s Windows |
| active adware samples." Spyware Doctor also | | | | Defender version 1.1 ships free with Vista, and can be |
| classifies ad tracking cookies as spyware which, | | | | downloaded from their website if you are running XP |
| according to the test, flagged some items from sites | | | | SP2. In tests the program detected 50% of the |
| like Google, Yahoo and the New York Times. It does | | | | infected files, mostly adware, and was able to remove |
| lend itself to some areas of improvement, but for $30, | | | | 55% of the files and registry entries, according to the |
| you can`t go wrong. | | | | study. However, Naraine says, "In our tests the |
| The next product tested was AVG`s Anti-Spyware | | | | program neither detected nor disinfected the ten |
| 7.5. According to testing the product faired well in | | | | active spyware threats we introduced. It detected only |
| uncovering known adware and spyware, detecting 19 | | | | 7 percent of the inactive password stealers we threw |
| of 20 of them, with the only one not found being the | | | | at it." The tests also showed that it did do a nice job |
| Banbra Trojan Horse, which shocklingly is the one that | | | | with recognizing changes to the registry as well as to |
| attempts to collect banking information. Even though | | | | IE, but the test also showed that if spyware gets past |
| the test showed that AVG deactivated 50 percent of | | | | its first line of defense, you will still need another |
| the spyware files and registry entries, it only cleaned | | | | product to clean it up. |
| about 30 percent of them. Naraine says, "AVG | | | | You have some options depending on what you want |
| Anti-Spyware is easy to use, with self-explanatory | | | | to spend, and how much hassle you want to go |
| icons at the top of the main interface. On the | | | | through, however, you will want to implement some |
| downside, it lacks antiphishing protection to keep you | | | | kind of protection if you plan on using your computer |
| from going to fraudulent financial sites looking for | | | | to surf the net, and of course...who doesn`t. |
| personal information, and it has no POP3, IMAP, and | | | | By: Bruce A. |