Ballam

Has anybody used Spyware Terminator's AntiSpyware ???
If Yes, how would you rate it?
Ballam

tetonbob

Once a product has been on Spyware Warrior's rogueware list, I'll not trust it, even if it's been de-listed, as Spyware Terminator has been.

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_...m#spyterm_note

I stick with products such as Spybot Search and Destroy, AVG Anti-Spyware, and Ad-Aware.

You'll likely get many opinions on this....the above is mine.

Wox

I used it for a while, it was legit and all, but it, frankly, stinks.
Slow scans, no results, and way too "nosy" HIPS.
Although it's safe to use, it doesn't help much.

Ballam

Thanks,I saw their full page ad in PCWorld and thought to check it out.
Ballam

Adam_30457

Yeah, I also downloaded it and tried it out and it sucked eggs.

wally246

I'll stick with ad-aware and spybot.

Adam_30457

I use Spyware Doctor Starter Edition and And AVG Anti Spyware

Wox

SD Starter's my only AS.. works almost perfect.

Adam_30457

It really does!!! SD Starter is the first one to prove to me that it actually worked.

tetonbob

Topic Starter asked about Spyware Terminator.

Let's keep it on topic, please.

Tokar

Hello I work for Spyware Terminator.

The fact that you received no results from your spyware scan is not an indication of a poor detection engine or poor definitions, if you dont mind me saying. If your computer is clean then I don't think Spyware Terminator will find anything on it.

The "noisyness" of the HIPS can be controlled using the settings in the real-time protection tab. I have HIPS running 24/7 and do not get bothered by the HIPS all that much. Yes, HIPS will bother you quite a bit when installing software, but this is normal and the reason why we have provided the "Install Mode" option. While using HIPS, you may temporarily pause protection by using the "Install Mode" option, which tells HIPS that you are installing a program you trust and not to alert you during this time.


If you dont mind me asking, what about Spyware Terminator did you not like? not enjoy? find poor? etc.

Wox

I know the settings are changeable. And yes, I know that some users won't bother.
And yes, I know that if a product as to be tweaked before it's even usable, then it sucks.
The worst thing about this product is that it takes FOREVER to scan- well not forever, but it never completed a full scan on my testing laptop. I start the scan, and five hours later I came back it's at its 20%. The laptop has a 80g hd, which is about 1/3 full.
Now I don't want to go off-topic or anything.

Adam_30457

First off, I didn't mean to sound rude if I did, but I didn't like the Clam AV integration and the fact that when you disable the Clam AV part, you still have to download the database and it does take abnormally long to scan anything. It just didn't suit my needs and I didn't like it.

Tokar

Sorry for the slow reply. Busy week. I will turn on the subscription to this thread to be better notified.

The setup wizard provides sufficient basic setup for the program (enable clamav, enable RTS, enable crawler spyware community settings, etc.).
To control the agressiveness of the RTS/HIPS, all the user needs to do is click the "Restore from Profile" button in the real-time protection tab, and select from Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert user modes, with beginner providing the least amount of user interaction. Not much more is required in the ways of configuration after that.
Enabling the HIPS of course requires interaction with the system tray icon as Im sure you know.

I dont consider that a lot of configuration.

One thing to consider is that the average user uses a defined set of programs and really does not venture outside of this set of programs. I bring this up because with every alert the RTS shows, an option is available to remember the action for subsequent alerts of that file. So with the person using a standard set of programs, remembering each program's action, alerts are rather minimal.
We advanced users of course use many programs, so this isnt exactly the case. But I certainly dont mind the excess alerts as I know what Im getting into by trying several different programs I stumble across while using the internet.


As far as your full scan issue goes:
May I have the details of your computer, what type of scan you performed, and if you have any other security software running in realtime?

Well the ClamAV integration is optional. It is not required for normal operation.
I will bring up a suggestion internally to provide a way (inside ST) to remove ClamAV, since I think that is necessary (since there is no way besides manually deleting the files) to remove ClamAV when desired.
I think ST just detects if the core ClamAV files exist to determine if ClamAV databases should download:
ClamAV core exists -> include ability to download DB updates
ClamAV core do not exist -> do not include ability to download DB updates

I think that providing an option to prevent ClamAV updates is a mistake if you intend to use ClamAV. It is important to have updated databases in the event that you use it.
I can understand if you will never use it. If you never use it, then you might as well remove it and just remove it from the updates tab all together.
But if you intend to keep it, then you are keeping it for a reason, at which point it is important to keep it updated.

Personally, I think that a button to uninstall ClamAV is sufficient. Agree? Disagree?

Adam_30457

Personally I don't like ClamAV at all. I do however, agree that there should be some option that allows users to have it or not. I think that saying "sucked eggs" was not the right thing for me to say, sorry. It is just that I have dial up and that the core database for ClamAV took forever and when I tried to download the updates for the spyware part. There was no way to disable it and I had to sit there and wait, and wait, and wait. I don't think that it is really that bad just a little too much trouble. Look, I'm not saying that it should not be bad just needs a little more tweaking, that's all. Maybe, somewhere down the line, I will give it a try. No hard feelings?

Tokar

No hard feelings, indeed.

Yeah ClamAV is not the best. The developers are not exactly "happy" with it, to put it mildly. It is coded rather poorly and because of its poor code, its database size is becoming a hindrance on its speed.

However, good news has come with regard to ClamAV, in that it was acquired by Sourcefire, the people who make Snort (an opensource intrusion prevention system). Sourcefire, in their press release somewhere, said they would work with the five current developers of ClamAV to improve the scanning engine.

I think a way to remove ClamAV without removing ST is necessary given that the only way (currently) to remove ClamAV is to fully uninstall ST from the computer (which gives you a prompt to remove ClamAV). I will put in the suggestion.



Edit:
On a side note: to disable updates of ClamAV, just go into the Settings tab, click ClamAV settings, and uncheck "Use WinClamAVShield for integration". This should remove ClamAV version info and updates from the Update tab.

Adam_30457

Not to argue with you, but I did that, it said that it was disabled but when I did updates, it still downloaded the clamav update database.

Tokar

Hmm. Well rest assured that a built-in ClamAV installer is on our todo list for 2.1 (which is slated for release in less than 2 months).

In the meantime, you can just uninstall ST and reinstall it without ClamAV.

Adam_30457

I'll do that.