Page 2: ZeroSpyware continued, Conclusion
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After the scan is completed, you are shown the total amount of spyware components found on the PC. My test computer had about 4,500 traces of spyware on it, which is a bit overblown. From my experience, I'd say that Ad-Aware or Spybot would have listed this particular infection at under 1,000. Regardless, this screen shows too much information and the options don't make much sense. Quarantine? Why? I want to delete this stuff! The scroll bar is a bit buggy as well (again, Flash!). You can click on a piece of spyware that's listed and it pops up with more information and describes what it does, which is nice (if you're the curious type).
Shown below is 'Alexa' which is the browser bar that tracks the URLs you visit for statistics on site traffic. This is a common piece of spyware and should be removed. Do not be fooled by websites that ask you to install the toolbar, it helps their own traffic rating and shows they don't care about their users' privacy.
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After the known spyware is confirmed, you are shown some 'Grayware' apps that have also been given the option of removing. The default is set to ignore, but I set it to quarantine them. Grayware apps should really be removed as well. KaZaA, for example, will break after disinfection, because when removing the spyware from the app, you are removing a piece of the program it needs to function.
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Once you hit next, the program starts to remove all of the crap it found. This takes a bit of time to do as well.
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You are given another popup that shows the results of the scan and removal. In total, I had 29 garbage programs installed that it was able to remove. The program also asked for Windows to be restarted so it could clean up some things that were running. It didn't shutdown Windows, so I did it manually. When Windows came back up, the program didn't run automatically like Adaware or Spybot would.
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While the program cleaned much of the spyware on the system, it missed programs that are labeled as spyware removers but installed via drive-by. Realistically, these should also be considered spyware as well. To the program's advantage, it cleaned the browser and Windows itself to the point where simply going into Add/Remove Programs would finish the job. I did run Adaware and Spybot afterwards, and they both removed about 100 more minor traces of spyware each. Lesson learned: when dealing with spyware, try to use as many removal programs as possible... they all catch different things. ZeroSpyware is also "resident" and protects you from spyware in realtime, which is good if you install it BEFORE you start heavily using the internet.
The protection offered is good. It catches things running on your computer as well as things you install. It doesn't block them, it tells you that something is installed and then does a full scan to remove everything. I would have liked the program to block things automatically, but this is better than nothing. The program also has a helpful 'process viewer' that shows unknown and known spyware processes: a useful feature for advanced users.
<B>Conclusion</B>:
<a href="http://www.fbmsoftware.com/pmain~sid~7967186~bttn~211~id~3.html">ZeroSpyware</a> is a good alternative (or, even better, ADDITION) to removal programs such as Spybot & Adaware. Those two programs may be great, but do not offer the realtime protection that ZeroSpyware offers. <a href="http://images.aselabs.com/adlink.php?do=adlink&id=5">For $30, you get a nice removal program and decent realtime protection at the same time</a>. I think the price is worth the piece of mind you get. Make sure to install <a href="http://www.lavasoftusa.com">Adaware</a> & <a href="http://www.spybot.info">Spybot</a> as well and use them weekly.
I'd like to thank Tracy from <a href="http://www.fbmsoftware.com">FBM Software</a> for making this review possible.
</center>After the scan is completed, you are shown the total amount of spyware components found on the PC. My test computer had about 4,500 traces of spyware on it, which is a bit overblown. From my experience, I'd say that Ad-Aware or Spybot would have listed this particular infection at under 1,000. Regardless, this screen shows too much information and the options don't make much sense. Quarantine? Why? I want to delete this stuff! The scroll bar is a bit buggy as well (again, Flash!). You can click on a piece of spyware that's listed and it pops up with more information and describes what it does, which is nice (if you're the curious type).
Shown below is 'Alexa' which is the browser bar that tracks the URLs you visit for statistics on site traffic. This is a common piece of spyware and should be removed. Do not be fooled by websites that ask you to install the toolbar, it helps their own traffic rating and shows they don't care about their users' privacy.
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</center>After the known spyware is confirmed, you are shown some 'Grayware' apps that have also been given the option of removing. The default is set to ignore, but I set it to quarantine them. Grayware apps should really be removed as well. KaZaA, for example, will break after disinfection, because when removing the spyware from the app, you are removing a piece of the program it needs to function.
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</center>Once you hit next, the program starts to remove all of the crap it found. This takes a bit of time to do as well.
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</center>You are given another popup that shows the results of the scan and removal. In total, I had 29 garbage programs installed that it was able to remove. The program also asked for Windows to be restarted so it could clean up some things that were running. It didn't shutdown Windows, so I did it manually. When Windows came back up, the program didn't run automatically like Adaware or Spybot would.
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</center>While the program cleaned much of the spyware on the system, it missed programs that are labeled as spyware removers but installed via drive-by. Realistically, these should also be considered spyware as well. To the program's advantage, it cleaned the browser and Windows itself to the point where simply going into Add/Remove Programs would finish the job. I did run Adaware and Spybot afterwards, and they both removed about 100 more minor traces of spyware each. Lesson learned: when dealing with spyware, try to use as many removal programs as possible... they all catch different things. ZeroSpyware is also "resident" and protects you from spyware in realtime, which is good if you install it BEFORE you start heavily using the internet.
The protection offered is good. It catches things running on your computer as well as things you install. It doesn't block them, it tells you that something is installed and then does a full scan to remove everything. I would have liked the program to block things automatically, but this is better than nothing. The program also has a helpful 'process viewer' that shows unknown and known spyware processes: a useful feature for advanced users.
<B>Conclusion</B>:
<a href="http://www.fbmsoftware.com/pmain~sid~7967186~bttn~211~id~3.html">ZeroSpyware</a> is a good alternative (or, even better, ADDITION) to removal programs such as Spybot & Adaware. Those two programs may be great, but do not offer the realtime protection that ZeroSpyware offers. <a href="http://images.aselabs.com/adlink.php?do=adlink&id=5">For $30, you get a nice removal program and decent realtime protection at the same time</a>. I think the price is worth the piece of mind you get. Make sure to install <a href="http://www.lavasoftusa.com">Adaware</a> & <a href="http://www.spybot.info">Spybot</a> as well and use them weekly.
I'd like to thank Tracy from <a href="http://www.fbmsoftware.com">FBM Software</a> for making this review possible.