Spyware Blaster focuses on preventing attacks from happening in the first place. Unlike other spyware programs that may need to be run all the time, the program only needs to be run when the protection needs to be updated, and of course initially to configure the spyware protection for the first time.

Here is how it works. Once you have downloaded, installed and started Spyware Blaster you’ll see the main application window for the first time. Here you enable protections, create a system snapshot, update the program or use various tools that ship with the program that may help protect or recover the system.

Protection Status displays a summary of the system’s protection. Users can enable or disable protections for specific web browsers. The software is compatible with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and all browsers that use the IE rendering engine, Mozilla Firefox, Seamonkey and variants. The software did not detect my Firefox profile folder during tests. This may have been caused by me running Firefox Aurora and not Firefox Stable on the system. There is unfortunately no option to point the software to the profile folder manually (it is likely caused by a version check).

Internet Explorer users can protect their browser in three different ways: They can restrict access to sites that are known to spread spyware, block known spyware that uses ActiveX and prevent ad or tracking cookies. The program uses native functions of Windows or Internet Explorer to protect the browser and system from these threats. Blocked sites are for instance added to Internet Explorer’s restricted sites list.

Users can enable or disable items on the block list individually. Can for instance be handy if you want a cookie to be written on your system.

The Tools section lists five additional tools that can be used to take back control. The IE Browser Pages tool lists for instance the browser’s start, search and local page as well as the search bar, making it easy to change the values here directly without opening the browser.

The other tools allow a user to create a backup of the hosts file, disable Flash completely in Internet Explorer and to block ActiveX controls that Spyware Blaster does not block automatically.

Spyware Blaster will not scan the system for spyware or remove it when discovered. It only blocks known threats, and that’s why it needs to be updated regularly. The free version of the program can be updated manually from within.

The program may be especially useful for Internet Explorer users. It blocks thousands of known spyware threats automatically, and without running in the background all the time. Once you have installed the software you should run an update check regularly to add new protections to the PC.

Should you install Spyware Blaster? That depends on your browsing habits. Internet Explorer users can benefit from the program the most. If you use other browser’s you probably won’t benefit at all, or only marginally.

Windows users can download the latest version of the software from its developer site. The program is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows.

You will notice right away that the Spybot application has turned into a heavyweight over the years. The 66 Megabyte download indicates this already, and it is later confirmed during installation. The sheer amount of tools and services that you can install, or will if you do not select the custom installation option, is confirming this impression. The average Spybot-Search & Destroy 2.0 installation will take up more than 120 Megabytes of space on the system.

You can select the custom installation option to enable or disable some of the tools and services that are offered in addition to the core program files and functionality.

Among those are browser plugins, background services, for instance to perform program updates, or a tool to create a bootable CD to scan and repair the PC.

The program asks you to restart the PC after installation. Some functionality is however directly available without restart. You can for instance run the program without restart, or perform update checks and file scans.

The options in the interface are displayed on a scrolling page, which makes orientation a lot harder. An option to switch to a list view is missing. You should run an update check on first startup, to make sure that the program libraries and database are up to date.

The available selection on the main page depends partially on the type of installation. Some options may not be there if you have customized the installation.

A full scan of the system, or a scan of individually selected files or folders can be started under Basic Tools. Spybot-Search & Destroy scans the system for installed spyware. Especially the full system scan takes a while to complete. It took more than 25 minutes on a fast test system with fast cpu, lots of RAM and speedy Solid State Drives.

Scanning is only one thing that you can do with the Spybot program. You can use it to manage Windows autostart entries, scan for rootkits, shred files or scan mobile phones that are connected to the PC at that time.

Here are a few screenshots of some of the program’s tools:

Some users may think that this is overkill, while others will love the extended tools sections that they can use to manage other parts of their operating system.

Spybot feels bloated just like the burning software Nero does nowadays. Users who only want the spyware scanning should use a custom installation to remove all additional tools that are installed otherwise with the program.

Keep in mind that it is a beta release, which means that things may change and that bugs may exist. You can download Spybot-Search & Destroy 2.0 Beta from the official website. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

Both editions support the detection and removal of all sorts of malicious programs including malware, trojans, worms or keyloggers. Users can add files and folders to a whitelist so that they will not be processed during scans.

SUPERAntiSpyware Professional on top of this offers the following features that are not available, or limited, in the free edition:

• Ability to repair HiJacked web browsers and system settings, e.g. resetting the home page, enabling the task manager, broken network connections or desktop policies.
• A feature called First Chance Prevention which analyzes 50 critical points on system start and shut down to eliminate threats before they have a chance to infect the system.
• Threat realtime blocking by monitoring the Windows PC and processes.
• Registry protection against web browser hi-jackers and other threats.
• Auto-scanning on application startup.
• Automatic update checks and definition updates every 8 hours.
• Daily definition updates.
• System diagnostic to locate new threats on the PC.

SUPERAntiSpyware Professional Review

The security software displays a clean interface on startup. Users can press on buttons to perform manual operations. This includes scanning the system for harmful software, configuring scheduled scans, managing the quarantine, editing the program preferences and checking for updates. Update and license information are displayed there as well.

A click on Scan your computer opens the scan menu with options to scan the whole computer system or just a specific drive for malicious programs. SUPERAntiSpyware Professional users can perform a quick scan of the Windows PC, perform a complete scan or custom scan.

The quick scan scans all running programs and processes, critical Registry locations and the most common places on the connected hard drives for harmful software. The complete scan adds the selected drives to the scan list. Custom scan finally can be used to scan specific areas of the operating system (like the Registry or memory) and selected folders.

A system scan takes a while, depending on the speed of the PC and the selections that have been made. The quick scan took a few minutes to complete and results are displayed in detail on the results page. Each possible file and location found are categorized in groups and listed with their local path on the PC. It is possible to unselected items from being cleared, add items or locations to the list of trusted items, report false positives, manage the trusted items list or explain one of the detected items.

Especially the explain detected item can be helpful considering that it is not always clear why a file is being marked as being malicious. This loads a page on the SUPERAntiSpyware page with additional details about the selected item. It still may take more research to find out about a specific item. It is for instance a good idea to upload files to Virustotal for a second opinion.

All selected items will be removed by SUPERAntiSpyware Professional, and it may take a reboot of the system to clean them completely from the system. If it does a reboot is suggested by the security software to complete the process.

Scans can also be scheduled in specific intervals, for instance daily at a specific time or once a week.

All removed items are added to the program’s quarantine from where they can be restored or completely removed.

The control center offers extensive configuration options. Users should especially pay a visit to scanning control which displays scanning related settings. It is for instance possible to include non-executable files in the scan, files that are larger than 4 Megabytes or to terminate memory threats before quarantining them.

Other control center options include the previously mentioned repair options, real-time protection settings and access to scanner logs.

The program is very light on resources while running in the background. It used just a little over 1 Megabyte of system memory. Memory usage can peak at a few hundred Megabytes however during scans, but that is only temporary.

SUPERAntiSpyware Professional Installation

Users can enter the registration code during installation. Privacy conscious users need to pay attention to the installation dialog as system information may be submitted to developer servers to optimize the software. Disabling the option during installation prevents this from happening. The security program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of all Windows operating systems from Windows 2000 on.

400Mhz or Faster Processor with at least 256MB RAM

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Automated software like Process Explorer, Autoruns but also SpyDLL Remover aid the user in analysing and protecting the computer system from malicious software.

The filename of a process, dynamic link library or generic executable file can hint at problems but it does not have to be thanks to rootkits and spyware injection which can turn harmless files into spyware spreading time bombs.

SpyDLL Remover is a portable software program that concentrates on the running processes and especially the active dll files that are linked to them. It scans and analyzes all the dlls and displays the result of the analysis in a color coded table sorted by threat level.

Dll files that have passed the scan are not displayed in the program’s interface, only dangerous, suspicious and those that need further analysis are displayed.

The detected files can then be processed by the user. The spyware remover supports removing the dll, killing the process and removing all which will remove both the processes and dlls.

The software program suggests to research dlls online that need further analysis. This can be done by selecting a dll in the interface and clicking on the Check Online button.

This opens up information about the dll at the Process Library website. The website is a vast resource for file related information. We did experience some “not found” messages on the other hand when trying to check some of the dlls running on our computer system.

The only option in this case is to perform a manual research in a search engine.

Reports about the findings of the application can be exported as html files to the local computer system for further analysis and archiving.

SpyDLL Remover is a solid security software for the Windows operating system that combines a fast scan with good results. Its portability makes it an ideal candidate for a user’s repair CD or USB stick.

The software can be downloaded from the developer’s homepage over at Rootkit Analytics (via Rarst)

SUPERAntiSpyware is, as the name suggests, an anti-spyware software that is offered as a free and commercial version with both versions of the program using the same detection algorithms and definition databases. The program’s main task is to detect, remove and protect a computer system from various forms of malicious software that includes trojans, dialers, adware or keyloggers including the effects they may have had on the system..

Computer users who do install SUPERAntiSpyware will notice that it is a lightweight program with a computer memory usage of less than 4 Megabytes while running. This usage only changes during scans but drops back down to the default value once the scan has been completed. This means that the program is a good choice even for slow computer systems where users have to use resource friendly programs (even better if the programs are working as well as SUPERAntiSpyware).

The low resource usage is reflected in the interface of the anti-spyware program which some users might even call minimalistic.

The main interface displays options to scan the computer system, schedule scannings, check for updates, manage the items in quarantine and to open the preferences. It will also display statistics like the definition database version and the last update or scan date.

A click on the Scan for harmful software button displays the various manual scan options that are available. Users can perform a quick, complete or custom scan. The quick scan will only scan the most notable locations that malicious software uses to infect a computer system including locations in the Windows Registry, startup folders and directories on the main hard drive.

Complete scan will scan the full computer system. This scan will take longer to complete due to the amount of data that needs to be analyzed.

Custom scan finally gives the user the option to select the items and locations that should be scanned. It is here for instance possible to only scan the computer memory, registry and startup locations and not folders on the hard drive or tracking cookies.

The time it takes to scan a system depends on the selected scan type and the data that is stored on the system. A link to the scanning preferences is provided which first time users should use to customize the scan according to their needs.

Some options that are provided in the preferences include the ability to add applications to a whitelist and to exclude folders from a scan. Whitelisting applications makes sense if the program detects a false positive so that it will not accidentally be deleted or moved into quarantine.

SUPERAntiSpyware will display a list of items that it has identified as possible malware after the scan. Additional options are provided in this result list which is unlike many other programs which only allow to ignore or delete the findings.

It is here for instance possible to trust items, report false positives or view a explanation of a detected item which will open a page on the SUPERAntiSpyware website with information about the selected item.

Here are the features that the commercial version of SUPERAntiSpyware offers and the free version does not:

• Repair broken Internet Connections, Desktops, Registry Editing and more with our unique Repair System!
• First Chance Prevention examines over 50 critical points of your system each time your system starts up and shuts down to eliminate threats before they have a chance to infect and infiltrate your system.
• Real-Time Blocking of threats! Prevent potentially harmful software (spyware, adware, worms, dialers, hijackers, keyloggers) from installing or re-installing.
• Registry Protection against Browser Hi-Jackers and other threats.
• Schedule either Quick, Complete or Custom Scans Daily or Weekly to ensure your computer is free from harmful software.
• Auto-Scanning on application startup ensures a clean system daily.
• Automatic Updates check for program and definition updates every 8 hours.

Especially interesting in this regard is the repair option which can perform various system and browser repairs like repairing broken network connections, enabling system tools like the Windows Task Manager or Control Panel and reseting desktop policies and web settings. Excellent if a system has been damaged by spyware or malware.

SUPERAntiSpyware is a comprehensive and resource friendly anti-spyware software for the Windows operating system. It’s repair functionality makes it an ideal candidate for removing and repairing a computer system. Interested users can download the free edition or a fully functional trial version of the pro edition at the developer’s website.

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Free Fixer will also scan various critical components of a Windows operating system including running processes, autostart entries, Browser Helper Objects or TCP/IP settings. The difference becomes obvious after the report is being displayed on the screen. Free Fixer will for example whitelist critical system files which means that they will not show up in the default report. This is done to decrease the number of entries that are displayed making it easier for the user to concentrate and analyze the remaining items. There is however no way of displaying whitelisted items in the application, something that the developer’s might want to consider integrating in their security software program.

Another important difference is the “more info” link that is displayed next to each item that was found during the scan. A click on the link will open a page (in Internet Explorer) on the developer’s website that is listing information about the specific entry. Files from trusted companies like Apple or Mozilla are highlighted in green giving the user another indication of potentially safe applications and processes.

The program displays delete or repair checkboxes next to each entry that has not been whitelisted or indicated as being trustworthy. Additional information like the system path are displayed for each item which, combined with the link to display more information on a website, can be a great asset of identifying potentially dangerous items quickly.

Free Fixer is compatible with most versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system (including Windows Xp, Windows Vista and Windows 7). A download is provided at the developer’s website.

The spyware add-on itself is distributed through forums and websites but not the main Firefox add-on repository. Users are once again reminded to only install add-ons from trustworthy sources.

The spyware add-on injects ads into Google search results pages. More disturbing than that is the fact that the Google search history gets transferred to a third party website that is (most likely) run by the developers of the spyware add-on. This means that every Google search query is transferred to the third party server.

Trendmicro suspects a change in criminal behavior. The web browser that was targeted the most in past years was Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. The user increase of Firefox makes it the second most popular web browser after Internet Explorer and some spyware developers might have decided that the critical mass is large enough to develop spyware for that web browser as well. Via Trendmicro, thanks Jojo for the news.

Update: The situation is about to change. Mozilla has announced protections against third party add-on installations in the Firefox browser that can prevent the majority of insertions in the browser. Firefox users are still asked to only use the official Mozilla Add-on repository for add-on installations. Red flags should go up if an add-on is only available on third party websites and not the official Mozilla site. Mozilla checks every add-on, and even every new version of that add-on, before it becomes available publicly in the repository.

And then there are programs like Inoculate that use the hosts file of the operating system to block spyware websites from being opened by routing the address of the spyware website to the local computer system (which means the website will not be displayed when the user tries to open it).

Inoculate is a portable software program for the Windows operating system that will add more than 14000 spyware websites to the Windows host file. These 14000 spyware websites are blocked from being accessed by users of the computer system. The software creates a backup of the current host file before it begins to add the spyware websites to it so that spyware attacks and spyware programs are automatically blocked.

It is possible to reset the Windows hosts file or restore a previously created backup. One slight disadvantage of this spyware blocking approach is that it is not possible to view the spyware websites before they are added to the hosts file. Another problem is that the program is not automatically updating the spyware list over the Internet which alternatives like Hostsman which offers four different block lists and auto updating. Hostsman on the other hand is not a portable software program.

It would be nice if the developer of Inoculate would add an auto update option and the ability to load different hosts file lists into the application.

This article will concentrate on two lesser known free spyware removal tools. The first program is called Roguefix. It has been designed to counter so called rogue applications. The tool has been specifically designed to remove rogue scanners, desktop and homepage hijackers, trojans, codecs and miscellaneous malware.

Roguefix comes as a simple batch file that has to be executed in Windows safe mode.

The tool will then scan the operating system for spyware and remove detected spyware automatically from the computer system. The free spyware cleaner is only compatible to the Windows XP operating system according to the software developer.

SmitfraudFix on the other hand can scan a Windows XP or Windows 2000 operating system directly. The user needs to boot into safe mode for the removal process though. The program will generate a report after the scan which will list all the malicious files found after the spyware scan.

Both tools have been designed to detect and remove rogue applications only which does limit their usefulness in day to day spyware scans. It is however a good idea to have them at hand in case the computer system gets infected by rogue spyware.

Update: Roguefix has been discontinued, the developer site is no longer available.

Windows Defender comes with the usual options to automatically update the program and schedule regular system scans to protect the computer system. Default actions for low, medium and high alerts can be defined that will be executed by the anti-spyware program automatically.

Microsoft’s anti-spyware solution comes with the interesting advanced tool Software Explorer which can display extensive information about startup programs, currently running programs, network connected programs and Winsock service providers.

Each program and provider is sorted by company which makes it easier to find non-Microsoft programs that are running or connected to the computer system.

Microsoft has improved Windows Defender over the years. The company did receive lots of criticism in the beginning which can be attributed to a low spyware detection rate. Several anti-spyware products have performed better in tests, outlined here or here. Please note that the tests linked in this article have been performed about 10 months ago and that the situation may have changed in the mean time.

Which leads to the question: Are you running anti-spyware software? If so which?

The important part of the agreement is outlined below.

… The information which is monitored and collected includes internet usage information, basic demographic information, certain hardware, software, computer configuration and application usage information about the computer on which you install RelevantKnowledge. We may use the information that we monitor, such as name and address, to better understand your household demographics; for example, we may combine the information that you provide us with additional information from consumer data brokers and other data sources in accordance with our privacy policy. We make commercially viable efforts to automatically filter confidential personally identifiable information and to purge our databases of such information about our panelists when inadvertently collected…

The user has the option to go back, accept or decline the agreement. Back simply goes back one screen, accept will install Relevant Knowledge on the computer system while decline will not install Relevant Knowledge and exit the software installation.

Looking at the agreement it is obvious that Relevant Knowledge is collecting and monitoring information about the user, the computer system and usage. It is also clear that the collected information are combined with information from various other sources to create an extensive profile. Relevant Knowledge may also display surveys from time to time on the computer system. It is therefor clear that most anti-spyware applications and other programs that protect a computer system against malicious software consider Relevant Knowledge to be spyware.

Relevant Knowledge can be uninstalled from the Windows Control Panel. It has its own entry there. Uninstallation will not affect the software program it was installed with. Some developers, like those that develop SUMO, provide access to a lite version of their application which will install the program without the Relevant Knowledge addition.

Users who usually click-through installations should begin to pay better attentions to the dialogs presented to them to avoid installing programs like Relevant Knowledge on their computer system.

Hitman Pro is making use of eight spyware scanning engines. It’s a mixture of free and trial versions. Among the software programs are popular spyware cleaners like Spybot Search and Destroy, Ad-aware and Webroot Spysweeper. Each application can be selected to be included in the system scan or excluded from it. Besides those eight engines can include the commercial antivirus applications TrendMicro Sysclean and McAfee Virusscan if the user has a license for those applications.

The options contain several additional interesting features that require some explanation. The user can select to use the Browser security plugins that is offered by some of the anti-spyware applications, install security updates and configure least user access levels for his web browser.

The first run takes a bit longer than the future ones because all selected applications will be downloaded from the Internet. Hitman Pro is installing the automatically on the user system with minimal to no user input required. Once the applications have been downloaded the system scan begins. Each application is run after the other and the results are visible in the application itself and in Hitman Pro at the end.

This process can slow down the computer quite a bit and it is probably a good idea to let the scans run automatically and do something different in the meantime. One aspect that is not optimal is the fact that most of these anti-spyware tools run a permanent process even if the main application is not running.

This can create quite some noise in the background and experienced users might prefer to install and uninstall the applications manually instead. The idea itself is great however and it would have been really nice if Hitman would be able to use the scanning engines and definitions without having to install the software programs itself. That’s probably wishful thinking though.

To give an example. Should a user run Ad-Aware, Spybot Search And Destroy, Spyware Terminator or one of the other dozen or so anti-spyware applications that can be used freely for personal non-commercial use.

To much choice can be confusing and this article tries to narrow down the list to security applications that are recommended most of the time. Some users will disagree with the choices and they have every right to do so. You can rest assured on the other hand that the selection of tools should be sufficient to scan a computer system thoroughly

Anti-Spyware:

Spyware usually refers to malicious software that tries to spy on the user or serve advertisement to him. This can be done with tracking cookies, changing the user’s homepage or showing popups from time to time.

• Spybot Search And Destroy – Spybot Search and Destroy is updated regularly and does not confuse the user with different versions like Ad-Aware does with Ad-Aware Free, Plus and Pro.
• Spyware Terminator – A tool that has been downloaded more than 17 million times should do a good job. Spyware Terminator is fast and efficient.

Anti-Virus:

Anti-virus applications create probably the most controversy. There is so much choice of free and commercial applications that makes it nearly impossible to make a decision. The applications protect the computer in realtime and can scan the computer thoroughly.

• AVG Anti-Virus – A classic anti-virus software that provides protection against viruses, rootkits and spyware.
• Free AV – Antivir protects the computer against viruses, rootkits, dialers and phising.

Rootkits:

Rootkits have been gaining popularity in the last years and one could say that Sony did not have a small part in raising the public’s perception of rootkits with their music CDs that contained a rootkit in order to prevent customers from copying the music.

• Rootkit Unhooker – a portable rootkit scanner with a size of under 100 Kilobyte.
• Gmer – is another tool to scan the computer for rootkits.

Is the list missing any categories? Would you put other applications up there (I know you would so let me know)?

Here are the two links to the Spyware Doctor 5.5 with Antivirus Starter Edition [link] and Spyware Doctor 5.5 Starter Edition [link]. Version 5.0 of Spyware Doctor received the PC World’s Best Buy award in the October 2007 and several Editors’ Choice awards from PC Magazine, the last in 2008 for Spyware Doctor 5.5.

The main purpose of Spyware Doctor is to scan the system for spyware and remove it securely. It does this by offering three types of scans, two pre-defined and one custom. It also features the so called Onguard Protection which is a real-time protection which is limited in this Started Edition. Only two of the seven Onguard Protections are available in the Starter Edition. The two that are enabled are the File Guard and Immunizer Guard.

The File Guard protects the user from opening unsafe email attachments and launching malicious applications while the Immunizer Guard protects the computer from latest Active-X threats.

I cannot really say how effective the anti-virus module is and would not recommend installing it anyway, especially if you already use another antivirus software. The only limitation that was able to spot are those five Onguard Protections that are disabled in this version. They protect Processes, Startup Items, Network Settings, Cookies and Browser Settings.

The problem with the Say no to drugs virus is that most virus scanner still do not detect it. Extensive information about this virus is available on the Precise Security website. If you suspect that your computer is infected with this virus you need to download the (free) Ewido Micro Scanner and perform a scan of your system. Remove the entries found and remove the entries of the virus as an autostart entry (autoruns comes in handy) and kill the tasks associated with the virus as well.

I was not able to find out if other products like Spyware Terminator or the various anti-virus applications like Antivir would be able to find and remove the Say no to Drugs virus. I was not infected with it but I guess they should be able to if you consider the fact that the removal procedure at the Precise Security website was posted in January.

Malewarebytes Anti-Malware is a software currently in Beta that has an easy to use interface. Users can either quick scan their computer which scans only the hard drive of the operating system and Registry or fully scan their system with the choice of selecting the hard drives that should be scanned.

The quick scan finished on my main Windows XP partition in under 3 minutes while the full scan of all of my hard drives took completed in roughly 30 minutes. Neither scan did find any malware on my computer and I personally find it hard to judge the effectiveness of Anti-Malware.

The main disadvantage of Anti-Malware is in my opinion the non-existent realtime protection which is only available in the Pro version. This is a major drawback and makes the product inferior to other free anti-spyware applications.

It still seems to be pretty useful if you want to scan a system quickly considering that it uses less resources during the scan. CPU in the task manager for instance never went up above 20% while Spybot for instance was always using 65%+.

The beta version of Malewarebytes Anti-Malware is only available in the forums of the homepage with new versions being released every 2-3 days.

He experienced slow downs even when no downloads were in the queue which are indicators that something is not right. Ghacks to the rescue. I decided to investigate orbitnet.exe and see what I can find. I remembered a setting in the options of Orbit Downloader that could have something to do with this behavior.

I opened Tools > Preferences and scanned all options for a sign of Orbitnet. I found it in the Accelerate menu. Enable Orbitnet to accelerate downloads is checked by default, as is Use mirror connections to accelerate download speed and Try to download from P2P and mirror sources when the target url does not exist.

Orbit Downloader uses Orbitnet to accelerate download speed which is based on p2p and auto mirroring search technology. If Orbitnet is disabled, you will get (the) file from source only and can’t get accelerated download speed via Orbitnet.

I disabled this options when I configured Orbit Downloader because I do not use mirrors and did not want to use P2P to download the files that I send to the download manager. The easiest way to get rid of this task is to uncheck Enable Orbitnet to accelerate download speed.

Close and Restart Orbit Downloader afterwards and you will see that the orbitnet.exe process is not listed in the task manager anymore.

I was not able to find a engine that I knew of that was not listed, all the major players like Symantec, AVG, Kapersky and Avira are listed which means that the file will get a very special treatment. Even though the file gets scanned by those 32 engines it is no guarantee that it does not contain a virus. No script or software can give you that guarantee but this looks like the best way to scan a file for malicious code and the possibility of success is greater with it.

There does not seem to be a file size limit, at least nothing is mentioned on their pages regarding a file size limit. I suspect that big files will result in an error message after a certain time.

Files can be uploaded using SSL for increased security and it can be checked that the file will not be distributed to the antivirus companies if a virus is found. This is an important option that should be checked most of the time because of privacy issues.

Virus Total offers another way to check files for malicious code. You can send them an email to scan@virustotal.com with SCAN (or SCAN- if you do not want to distribute the sample) and no body text. Attach the file to the email and make sure that it does not exceed 10 Megabytes.

A report will be send after the scan to the email that send the file. Users can also download a shell extension to send files directly from the context menu to Virus Total. Found the link at Make Use Of.

The sentenced that always reminds me of how amateurish Sony handled the whole affair went something in the line of “People who don’t know what rootkits do should not care about them”.

It seems Sony did it again. F-Secure is reporting that Sony is now selling a USB stick – the Sony MicroVault – which installs a hidden folder in c:\windows when installing the USB fingerprint software.

So, when enumerating files and subdirectories in the Windows directory, the directory and files inside it are not visible through Windows API. If you know the name of the directory, it is e.g. possible to enter the hidden directory using Command Prompt and it is possible to create new hidden files. There are also ways to run files from this directory. Files in this directory are also hidden from some antivirus scanners (as with the Sony BMG DRM case) — depending on the techniques employed by the antivirus software. It is therefore technically possible for malware to use the hidden directory as a hiding place.

F-Secure suspects that the hidden folder is used to protect the fingerprint authentication and strongly disagrees that this is the correct way to achieve a protection.

I think that Sony made a big mistake in using such a technology again even if it was intended to be of good use for the owner.

Read More:

F-Secure Blog

Spyware Terminator assists you in setting up the software after installation by providing a setup assistant. You setup automatic updates, the protection level which offers a choice between beginner, advanced, expert and no protection, the integration of the free antivirus software ClamAV and finally whether you would like to send spyware information to a central server. Last but not least you can schedule scans and perform a fast system scan.

The fast scan found several critical objects which are automatically rated as Threats, Safe SW and Unknown SW. The threats are obviously the most critical objects that you should deal with before you take a look at the two other categories. Most threats get an automatic ranking from one to five with five being the most critical threat of course.

You may select some or all threats and either move them to quarantine or delete / uninstall them right away. The spyware removal itself is recommending to use the uninstallation routine (if existent) for the spyware that you want to remove. It should be obvious that many spywares do not offer uninstallation routines and it was not a problem for Spyware Terminator to remove all of the threats in that category.

It could be tricky to receive additional information about the objects listed in Spyware Terminator. There is no obvious way to find out more about “Nwiz” from within the program which means that you have to perform a search on the Internet to be sure why this is considered safe for instance. There is however a way to contact the support team which apparently helps if you have troubles identifying a certain object.

Another way would be to use the forum at the official website which has a own subforum that deals with questions and problems that occur when removing Threats.

The fast scan did not scan all files on my system and I decided to take a look at the available scan options to perform a full scan of my system. Next to the fast scan you can perform a full scan and a custom scan, both offering several options to optimize the scan. The Full Spyware Scan gives you the option to perform a system scan, a registry scan, a files scan or a deep files scan while the custom scan lets you choose a drive that should be scanned.

Let us take a look at the real time protection which is one of the main features of the free spyware program. The protection is divided into three different areas, namely Application Guard, System Guard and Internet Guard. All three guards can protect several different elements of your system. The System Guard for instance may protect your hosts file which is often used by spyware and phishers to redirect you to fake websites.

The Internet Guard protects your system against Toolbars and Browser Helper Objects among other things which is indeed very useful if you surf the web with the Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Spyware Terminator is a nice program that is in my opinion at least on the same level as Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware. Ad-Aware for instance does not offer realtime protection in the free personal version which is a big plus of Spyware Terminator.

Most inexperienced users should activate the realtime protection feature making it much safer for them to use their computer on the Internet. I honestly never heard of this software before but I can only say that I will recommend it from now on.