Real-Time Protection?

[Mystik_TK]

I'm just wondering what the consensus is on which app has the best RTP? Spy Sweeper, SAS, Spyware Doctor or ewido?

I tried Spy Sweeper, however it was pretty harsh on my resources and the Shield protection caused the "hourglass" to appear and blink once every second. As soon as I diabled its shileds, no problems. However, once I uninstalled it, I noticed that I would get a message every boot from my Epson Ink Monitor saying that the printer needed to be plugged in and Ink Monitor would be closed. I never recived that message before installing/uninstalling SS and I have no idea why. ???

Anyway, back on topic...any advice?


Thanks.

[WSFuser]

i find SAS's realtime protection lighter than either Spy Sweeper or ewido. as for spyware doctor, ive never tried it.

regarding detection i dont know how any antispyware fares because ive never gotten spyware. Spy Sweeper will sometimes alert me to changes in the startup folder but thats all ive gotten.

[Mystik_TK]

Thanks for the reply. By "lighter", you mean it doesn't offer the same amount of protection, correct?

I should also add CounterSpy to my list of considerations. Anyone have thoughts on how that compares to the above-mentioned apps? Is there a rough time fram for when will v2 be released?


Thanks again.

[WSFuser]

i shouldve rephrased that. i meant lighter in resources.

counterspy will be worth consideration when version 2 comes out. the betas use far less resources than previous versions and its good overall.

[cheater87]

spyware terminator is great IMHO it protected me from CWS and that is awsome

[btman]

I like spyware doctor, just wish it was free...

[aigle]

-{ Quote: "I like spyware doctor, just wish it was free..." }-
Hi, Spyware doctor,s real time protection is free now as i know.
I tried it but I hate it,s slow load, it takes ages to load on start up.
Even on disabling it, its update process was running. Aslo i am not sure but people on these forums report false positive issues with it. I personally always saw that it finds a lot of stuff than other scanners, may be their way of counting the threats is different or false positives, I am not sure as i never investigated this point.
It,s older version used to eb free for on-demand scan.

[aigle]

I found SpySweeper,s real time protection as the best in my limited experience though I can,t comment about it,s being light or harsh on resources as I never used it on my PC except for a few test scans.
As freeware, ST is really good though I am still paranoid about Crawler.
Otherwise trhe only option in freeware is Ws Defender, it,s just OK.
BTW, if u are a safe-installer, safe-surfer type of person, u don,t need antipsyware. If u take risks, no AS can protect you. The only option here is ShadowSurfer, DeepFreeze, FDISR with freezed snapshot, and EAZ-FIX type of software. Just rollback after finishing ur surfing session.

[ErikAlbert]

The real-time protection of a scanner isn't strong enough IMO and you can only use ONE real-time scanner, if you don't want any conflicts between two or more real-time shields.
Only CIPS and HIPS do a much better job and depending on your knowledge you have to choose between both.

CIPS is for less-knowledge users, because CIPS decides for the users, what is good or bad and that's why some knowledgeable users don't like CIPS. The more knowledge you have, the more you want to be in control.
Only CIPS has a chance to become popular among the majority of users.

HIPS is for knowledgeable users. because the user himself can decide what is good or bad.
In the hands of less-knowledgeable users HIPS is a dangerous tool, too many wrong yesses and no's.

CIPS or HIPS is the very best protection you can have, because it prevents installation of malwares.
If scanners remove threats on your computer, it's already too late.

[lodore]

precisely why im looking at HIPS atm. its also because im sick of real time antispyware scanners that use way to much resource and HIPS dont.

if you read what i posted about online Armour else where what i forgot to put is it didnt slow me down anymore.

[bigc73542]

I am useing SpywareTerminator and it works great and doesn't drain your resources. It is worth giving a try since it is free.

[Mystik_TK]

Thanks again for all the advice.

It's shame about Spyware Doctor's slow start-up and flase postives. I've read about boh of those issues before.

As for HIPS protection, yes I completely agree that those are very important. However, I'm currently using Kerio Firewall and am about to switch to Comodo and both of those have enough HIPS functionality for my needs.

As for Spyware Terminator, I still don't trust Crawler, which is why I avoided mentioning it in my original post.

Does anyone know roughly when v2 of CounterSpy will be released?

Also, to help curb my paranoia, does anyone have any theories as to my Epson-related question in my original post? It's honestly driving me insane. LOL.


Thanks again. :)

[ErikAlbert]

-{ Quote: "
Also, to help curb my paranoia, does anyone have any theories as to my Epson-related question in my original post? It's honestly driving me insane. LOL." }-
I don't know if it will help, but it's worth to try, since the problem doesn't seem to go away and driving you crazy.
Uninstall the software of your printer completely and re-install it again.
Not a brilliant solution, but it might work. :)

[lodore]

oh dear epson printer software. I screwed up my Epson printer software once, i read in the instructions wrong it said turn off printer and plug in to usb, guess what? i forgot to turn it off so it screwed up and it wouldnt uninstall lol. lets hope you can uninstall your epson software if you need to. the lesson is always read the manual step by step dont think you know it all!!!

[the Tester]

-{ Quote: "Does anyone know roughly when v2 of CounterSpy will be released?" }-

I don't know if this helps give an estimate,but my beta is due to expire in 55 days.

I'm thinking that Eric from Sunbelt would have a better idea.

[Mystik_TK]

-{ Quote: "I don't know if it will help, but it's worth to try, since the problem doesn't seem to go away and driving you crazy.
Uninstall the software of your printer completely and re-install it again.
Not a brilliant solution, but it might work. :)" }-

Yeah, it actually cleared itself up. I tried restarting with the printer turned on, as the message said, and once I did that, Ink Monitor doesn't even attempt to start up. It's not even available in MSConfig, anymore. ??? Weird.

-{ Quote: "I don't know if this helps give an estimate,but my beta is due to expire in 55 days.

I'm thinking that Eric from Sunbelt would have a better idea." }-

Thanks. So, I guess once would assume that 2 months would be a reasonable time-frame.

What's CounterSpy like currently in 1.5, anyway? The reason I ask is because I've heard a couple of people say it will be good once 2.0 is released, which makes it seem like it's not all that great at the moment.

[WSFuser]

the only thing i dont like about teh current version 1.5 is that the resource usage is a bit high.

[the Tester]

-{ Quote: "the only thing i dont like about teh current version 1.5 is that the resource usage is a bit high." }-

That's the complaint I have heard too.

[farmerlee]

I'd have to say the best real time protection would go to either spysweeper or spyware doctor, both are very good. Imo the edge goes to spyware doctor as its not as heavy on resources as spysweeper.

Although for the last few weeks i have been trying trend micro antispyware on my main computer which seems to rate very good in many tests and compared to spyware doctor/spysweeper its very light on the resources.

[Tarq57]

Hi, New to Wilders Forums, another vote to Spyware Terminator. I know the parent company (Crawler) had a shady past, but the application has been de-listed on SpywareWarrior's "rogue spyware" list, and seems to be working well.
Realtime protection, HIPS, frequent updates, and fairly good forum help. The developers seem to want to change their ways.
Also use Winpatrol, Spyware Blaster and Guard. (+ a handfull of on demand scanners)

[Baldrick]

Have been evaluating Spyware Terminator (currently the 1.6 beta version, 1.5 is the official 'stable' release BTW) and it appears to be excellent. It is super ligt, scans appear to be quick and thorough. Definition updates are frequent and it contains what appears to be a relatively complete Real Time Protection HIPS.

SO another vote for ST.;D

[Mystik_TK]

Thanks again for all of the info, everyone. It gives me plenty to think about. I'll have to make a definite decision as I really dislike trying to multiple software as I've become fairly paranoid when it comes to uninstallations and the opportunities for errors.

I don't suppose there is a trustworthy, reliable anti-spyware comparison site out there, similar to AV-Comparitives? I've looked, but can't seem to find anything clear-cut.

[muf]

-{ Quote: "I don't suppose there is a trustworthy, reliable anti-spyware comparison site out there, similar to AV-Comparitives? I've looked, but can't seem to find anything clear-cut." }-


No. Afraid not. All the tests you'll find out there are subjective. You'll find some that have been tested by complete novices, by websites that are sponsored by one of the participating AS's(so guess which one won?). You'll find testers who are affiliated with certain AS's(how can you trust their results). You'll find tests done by the vendor themselves where they pit their AS against "other well respected AS's", and surprise surprise they always win those one's. I wonder why?

The other thing you'll find dubious is the test condition's. Do they install a product, update it to the latest version, ask the vendor to confirm they have the latest version/build and signatures. Do they make sure all options are set to max. Do they then scan the test set, record the results, format the HDD and move on to the next application to test? Do they test only scanning or realtime protection. And if they test the realtime do they try to import it to the test pc in the way that the actual malware would try to get on the pc. i.e do they launch it from a CD or do they connect to a lan and try to simulate the malware getting in through the test pc's browser. And then they would have to test the scenario through different browsers as they are all different. Going back to launching from a CD, or even from a folder on the HDD. This is not how malware gets on your pc. I mean you are sat there surfing the net, a CD doesn't leap out from the webpage jumps in your CD/DVD drive and launch itself does it? Then you have the test set itself. How many is correct to test against? 10, 100, 1000, 10000 etc. And what malware should be in the test set. Something that's not been seen for 4 years or only malware from the last 12 months? And how about cleaning capability? Surely it's a waste of time if it can detect but not clean!!!

And this is where i come back to subjective. Some people think it should be done one way, others think it should be another. Even when someone does a professional(seemingly) test, and for example VirusBulletin or AV-Comparitives you see people not agreeing with the methodology used. How many people complain about VirusBulletin and failing apps for false positives. Plenty of people don't take FP's too seriously as long as the AV detected the real malware. How many times have you seen tests where someone has said "I can't believe XXX scored lower than ZZZ? So you have peole doubting the results.

All in all there are no tests out there for AS's that you could feel are reliable, and certainly none that you can honestly look at the results and choose your AS from. Use the reviews as a rough guide only. Try them yourself and form your own opinion. Is it known and respected and not classified as a rogue product? Does it run well on your system? Is it easy to use? Does it have advanced options that you need? And i'd also have 1+ free scanners installed to get a second(or more) opinion.

muf

[farmerlee]

I find it best to look at a wide range of tests/reviews to get a basic idea of what products are out there and what people are saying about them. Try out the ones which are recommended and see which one best suits your needs.

[WSFuser]

-{ Quote: "I'll have to make a definite decision as I really dislike trying to multiple software as I've become fairly paranoid when it comes to uninstallations and the opportunities for errors." }-
unfortunately trialing teh software is the best way way to find what works best for you and your computer.

if youre worried about poor or failed uninstallations, there several programs that can help overcome this (examples in parenthesis):

uninstaller program (Total Uninstall)
rollback program (FD-ISR)
imaging program (True Image)

[JerryM]

I am using SAS Pro, and also Counterspy 2.0 beta.
I like both, and the V2.0 beta CS uses much less memory that 1.5. I like it, and have a subscription that is until next summer. If the cost of renewal remains as now, I will probably renew. I have a lifetime license for SAS.

I have high confidence in both, but frankly, I do not know how to determine the effectiveness of any of the AS/AM applications. There do not seem to be tests that are highly regarded to make that determination, as we have with AV Comparatives. So I guess we just go by the tests we see, and a gut feel. No one agrees as to the methodology, the malware specimens or how to count them.

I have never had infections of any kind. With other applications that I have such as Ewido, I don't expect any.

Best,
Jerry

[the Tester]

Hey Jerry,
You are running the CounterSpy beta.Good choice.:thumb:

Mystik,
The best way to decide on any program is to actually use it for the trial period.Don't take my word (or anyone's for that matter) on a program.Different people have different tastes.

[gevin]

CounterSpy sure a superior AS, but why the beta installer size also 26Mb, after installed size 78Mb... wow!

These day, all product borderline become more blur, AV have AS functions, AS can kill virus, all proclaim they have HIPS/proactive defence +Firewall,... blah blah... i think this is bad for user, it's become harder to config 2 different brand product to work fully conpatible. Seem like these company heading to all-in-one suite, they hate each other, they compete to GRAB as much $ as they can from you.

[Mystik_TK]

I see what you're all saying about trying each one out.

I think I'll give SAS and CounterSpy a go. Where can I find the v2 Beta? I've looked around the site and can't seem to find it. Also, if I started with the beta while waiting for the final version, how complicated would the upgrade be?

As for the uninstallation issues, it's more paranoia on my end than anything else. After I uninstall a program, I always clean out the registry with CCleaner and that seems to prevent most errors.


Thanks again. :)

[WSFuser]

register at the sunbelt software forum (http://beta.sunbelt-software.com/index.php), and go to the beta info section to become a beta tester and get access to the beta testing forum as well as teh download.