Spy Sweeper: System-Wide Spyware Decontamination at Your Service Stiff Competition for Spy Sweeper Adam Stone
Stiff Competition for Spy Sweeper
Spy Sweeper stands in a crowded arena. Chief among competing products are the freeware/donationware clients Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware SE, as well as the commercialware Spyware Doctor from PC Tools and Spyware X-terminator clients. Both Spybot-S&D and Ad-Aware SE offer equally effective malware detection and removal capabilities, and in many cases deliver faster scans as well.
In addition to anti-spyware sweeps, Spyware Doctor also includes an integrated pop-up blocker. While there is no shortage of such blockers on the market, the integration here saves you from having to install a separate application. Spyware X-terminator meanwhile claims a high success rate, but offers a database of just 18,000 items, a figure that looks paltry compared to the 68,000+ in Spy Sweeper.
In fact, the extensive malware database may be Spy Sweeper's strongest feature. The pace of innovation among the creators of spyware seems to know no bounds, and an automated database update is therefore a crucial feature for any would-be blocker. In our last check, Webroot reported a range of nasties, including the adware program Clkoptimizer; the porn dialer Go In Dialer; Radmin, a remote access tool that can be used to control a computer remotely; and Realsearcher, a browser hijacker, just to name a few.
Yeah, we'd like to get rid of those, please.
If Spy Sweeper has a downside, it is the incredibly long sweep time, but this can be offset somewhat by tweaking the tool's options. One can choose, for example, to sweep only those areas where threats are known to reside, rather than sweeping every last nook and cranny. It's possible, too, to skip one's largest files. The skips can speed things up while still allowing for a high degree of protection.
Spy Sweeper is a powerful, versatile, and easy to use application. It's hardly the only program in this particular market space, but it certainly is worth checking out. Aside from Spybot-S&D and Ad-Aware SE, most competing programs come in at a similar same price point, so the comparison will be apples to apples in most cases.
Perhaps the most important lesson here is that small and mid-sized businesses absolutely have to take seriously the threat posed by spyware and other related intruders. Browser hijackers? Remote access control? This is serious stuff, and a $30 fix is surely worth the cost and effort.
Pros: Smooth, efficient, and thorough in its efforts to flush the baddies; inexpensive (and free evaluation)
Cons: A full sweep can be time-intensive, often taking 10 minutes of more, freeware/donationware alternatives like Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware SE offer equally effective malware detection/removal capabilities
