Anti-Spyware Test Results Published

At Spyware Warrior http://netrn.net/spywareblog/

Regards - Charles

 

Interesting results, Charles. Thank you.

 

Charles,
Am I reading this right? Giant AntiSpyware catches the most spyware and is recommended as the best antispyware program out there?

Never heard of it before?

Thanks
Rockit

 

Your welcome Dave.

Rockit, seems that way. Not free though.

Regards - Charles

 

Rockit--And while Giant had the best result in this test, Eric Howes recommends use of more than one spyware detector. And remember the test was based on a specific batch of spyware. AAGHR!!

 

Hi Jim,

Eric Howes recommends use of more than one spyware detector

I extend that philosophy to any software type, or least as much as I can.

Because I dual boot, I have two AV's scan each OS - multiple reg cleaners and so on.

Regards - Charles

 

Notice also, that the major differences between what Ad-aware detects/removes (in this test) and what Giant detects/removes (in this test), are Altnet (installed along with Kazaa) and MyWay/MyBar, both of which IMO should be removed, but have also been around long enough for Ad-aware to have added them to it's detection rules. I suspect there may very well be good reason for those omissions. If anyone knows why, or finds a possible explanation before I do, I would appreciate that info being posted.

 

This seems to be a hot topic on various forums and now there is a rush to download and test with GIANT. I know of one person who found a Keylogger with the deep scan which neither Ad-aware or Spybot picked up. I have also read about the false positives with this software (as there is with others!! I am disappointed in Spybot as so many of us both use and recommend this for spyware cleaning. I know the article points to using several but how many scanners will we need in order to make sure that our computers are spyware free?

GIANT certainly is being tested after the article but does this add yet more registry changes and room for conflict with False Postives. I have to admit I downloaded it but am looking about to see which one or which suite 'proves' to keep ahead of spyware (if any)

I depended on Ad-aware and Spybot for this and now it looks like there may be hidden spyware these have failed to find

 

I have to agree with that because I have experienced the same thing.

If there was one good one that would remove everything I would pay for it.

I have had some good luck with Trendmicro House Call and NAV 2004/2005 finding some stuff that neither Spybot S&D or Ad-Aware found.

 

Hi Mini,

You've raised a lot of issues, I'll address some of them in no particular order.

I am disappointed in Spybot as so many of us both use and recommend this for spyware cleaning

I am not! For a free tool, and a very elaborate one at that, it's worth every bit of the space it occupies on a computer. A big plus for SSD and AAW is the support forums and the expertise in those forums.

I depended on Ad-aware and Spybot for this and now it looks like there may be hidden spyware these have failed to find

That may always be the case no matter what is used. You know as well as I do, one can go off the deep end with this sort of thinking.

And I'm glad that anti-malware software is entering a competitive era, best mechanism for improvemant.

Regards - Charles

 

Hello ssmith,

Not going to happen. Does one AV "find" everything?

Regards - Charles

 

Hi Charles

I realise we have the use of Spybot free and it does have hidden tools which are advantageous to us at times. It is just when reports are published about anything like this including our AV's and firewalls it does leave a little 'worry' and should I change etc for any user of the software. I hope and trust with safe surfing and security layers that my computer is as clean as my other scans report. I am not demising Spybot just found the report disappointing (if that makes sense) 'Yes' it is good to have 'support' forums which is much better than any bells and whistles within the software that is why I hesitate to install and run GIANT - in fact if we read further into the details of the way the software works there is a factor which depends on us letting the software 'call home' (so to speak) one thing which Ad-aware and Spybot do not require us to do. We can submit 'suspects' to these but not feel the need to be part of the Spynet community in order to keep our computers free from spy/malware

A user will have to decide if inforamtion can go out of their computer to build the database.

I apologise if you think I was demising Spybot as I am not - I still have it and use it to scan along with Ad-aware plus and my AV and AT scanners - I fully agree that even with these one can pick up something another misses and do not depend on my AV to scan for 'unknown' trojan signatures. I am thankful to the signature writers for giving so freely of their time and experience.

I hope this clears up the disappointment factor from the report about Spybot. Many magazines feature reports on firewalls and AV's each month and if I followed them I would have a new firewall and AV every month depending on which magazine I read.

I feel the report has helped us all to realise the spy/malware attacks are so vast now that we need to employ more than one tool/scanner and also remember we need to start the safe surfing with ourselves We do need to decide how many scanners to have in our suite and more importantly not to have any of the 'rogue' ones!

 

My main angle for looking at this is I clean infected machines all day for a living.
I would pay good money for a tool that would clean everything.

 

Hi Mini,

Your second post sums up very nicely my thinking on this subject.

The SSD & AAW forums are THE big pluses, otherwise they would be just another pair of adequate anti-malware tools. Not only are the forums a knowledge base, they are also a feedback mechanism to the developers.

Have a personal story concerning AAW. Prior to the new SE version, the logs were written in day of the month order as the primary collating sequence. I use the logs as a way to compare over time how many and what processes are running. Over a span of multiple months, that order made it really hard to do that if all days of the month are collated together.

I posted in the AAW forum about this asking to have the collating sequence changed to year - month - day order. At first I got one of those silly replies from one of the senior mods - "why do you want to do this and you don't need to keep logs for more than a month" and so on. Well apparently, the developer listened - the old collating sequence made no sense - and with SE, the logs are written in year/month/day order.

Regards - Charles

 

I do think that everyone viewing these test results, needs to keep in mind that the list of spyware/malware/adware used for it is very limited, and may not properly reflect the number of 'infections' that each of the scanners used can or will detect and remove. Unless all are tested and compared against ALL known nasties, some of which are considered by many to be optional, the detection/removal results, as well as the number of false positives reported, cannot be viewed as accurate and is not grounds, IMO, to be dissapointed with the removal tools that many users here have come to trust and recommend. The list of definitions in Spybot goes way beyond the programs used for this test, and the extra features included such as SD Helper, TeaTimer, 'immunization', etc., are another part of what makes this program a very valuable one to have.

A detection/removal tool that finds every known nasty would be invaluable indeed, but at the rate the nasty developers are working to come up with new ways to infect us, the only sure-fire way to remove it all in one pass, and will continue to be, is with an OS cd and full format.

 

I thought more about software forums and how invaluable they are.

The major security programs I use all have forums:

NOD AV - WinME
SpyBot
Ad-Aware
SSM (process firewall)
ZA - on WinME
Syagate
NAV - the exception, and it shows by how clunky it is. Although I am reading reports that NAV2005 is much more efficient than it's predecessors and it will be interesting to follow up on that.

There are others I use such as Bazooka and Ewido (trajan scanner) that now has optional resident blockers (paid version). There is an "unoffcial" ewido forum at Wilders.

Regards - Charles

 

I am the same with my security software and forums; in fact I browse the forums prior to making my decision on the actual software. DiamondCS have very good support froums both privately and publically on Wilders.
One little resident I have is BOClean although I use TDS-3 (awaiting TDS-4) for scanning I keep BOClean resident. I was very impressed with the e-mail support given for this software after one incident after an incorrect signature was added.
With any security scanners updates are vital either manual or automatic. I do agree that the tests were selective and it was unfair of me to be disappointed in Spybot's results. I have looked again at the tools in there and 'yes' they are beneficial and do more than just a scanner.


I learn a lot from the forums which specialise in their area of cleaning from reading other posts which all helps to understand the tools at our disposal. I have resident guards and dedicated scanners which cover my browser and computer and have served me well to keep out any nasties which I certainly do not want. It is sad that with everyday someone somewhere is seeking to escape the protection and the cleaning tools so faithfully provided by third parties. I am very sad when I see sites which are dedicated to helping all of us come under DoS attacks

BTW Lavasoft forum has gone for some reason

 

Hi Mini,

BTW Lavasoft forum has gone for some reason

Yes, I just tried it. "Expired Domain" page. Wonder what's that all about?

Regards - Charles

 

Hello again Charles
I am not sure but it has been like that all day. I was on the forum yesterday but today nothing (lease expired 3.10.04) but it was there yesterday I have tried to access via their product updates and also directly to the forum but still nothing.

 

Hi Mini,

Just posted a thread here - link to Spywareinfo on this. Maybe its a on again - off again deal.

Whatever that site is, it wants to drop something on you.

Regards - Charles