Free Spyware Doctor Edition [Archive] - Wilders Security Forums

JRCATES

July 1st, 2005, 04:18 PM

I've written to them about this, Erik, but it apparently has fallen on deaf ears. Their customer service USED TO BE absolutely fantastic....they would reply promptly and resolve the issue....but in the past few weeks I've contacted them about this and a couple of other things, but 3 emails to customer service and two weeks later, and still no reply.

Also, for those running "On Guard"...be sure to check out your memory and CPU useage here lately. It USED TO RUN very light on system resources, but now practically maxes out the CPU...and that's with basic real-time protection enabled (no scanning). The memory useage has a tendency to fluctuate....pretty heavy at times and not so bad at others.....but until they resolve some of these issues, I've ceased running Spyware Doctor, either in real-time or for scans. It's a shame too...because for the first 4+ months I had the product it was very, very good. Something has happened in the past month or so that has caused the problems, the delay in service response, etc., and basically it's just not a good scene at the moment.

ErikAlbert

July 1st, 2005, 04:56 PM

JRCATES,
Thank you for the info and you are right about the CPU.
I have a tool on my desktop that shows constantly my CPU in graphic mode and SD used constantly 100% during the scan.

It's my very first contact with SD, so I don't know much about the past, but I believe you.
I heard from somebody that the SD trial version detected malware, but didn't remove it and that's why I wasn't interested in SD.
I was quite surprised there was a free version. I didn't see that free version on their website, but member "notok" already said that it was well hidden.
I wonder what really happened to SD after reading your post.
I keep SD anyway as a scanner on demand.
One day it might find others than false positives ::)

rdsu

July 1st, 2005, 05:06 PM

Nice to see a free version of Spyware Doctor :)

The scanner takes a lot of resources and a lot of time! Very bad in this area... :(

Did you know if the download file on Spyware Doctor website, also have the free version?

See this nice review: Spyware Doctor Fails to Beat Favorites in Latest Tests (http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120531,00.asp) ;)

ErikAlbert

July 1st, 2005, 05:28 PM

What I don't understand is that people spend all their time on creating a new AS scanner and don't become the very best scanner on the market.

I would never spend my time on a new AS scanner, if I wasn't able to beat any competition.
You have to know this in advance, before you start programming.

There are already so many AS scanners, why making another one that can't even compete with the very best and is just another scanner in a long row ?
What a waste of time and talent. Do at least something with your talent, that has never been done before.

rdsu

July 1st, 2005, 05:30 PM

{QUOTE-> 127.0.0.1 adwords.google.com and
127.0.0.1 adservices.google.com <-QUOTE}
I also received these false-positives... :(

For a free program seems to have a much better detection than Ad-Aware or Spybot-S&D, so I will mantain it on my system, with CounterSpy and Spybot-S&D, to see the progress...

JRCATES

July 1st, 2005, 05:42 PM

{QUOTE->
For a free program seems to have a much better detection than Ad-Aware or Spybot-S&D, so I will mantain it on my system, with CounterSpy and Spybot-S&D, to see the progress... <-QUOTE}

I agree, VC....I still have it as well, just not running it currently (until the bugs are fixed). For several months, though, I've placed it right there with Spy Sweeper, CounterSpy, etc. as far as effectiveness and as an overall anti-spyware product. The fact that they have added additional features and addressed and improved upon areas where they were rated lower in previous versions (like detecting keyloggers, etc.) shows their commitment to putting out a good product, but it's almost like the past month or so something has happened. I'm still keeping it around, though, in hopes that whatever has been affecting detection performance and taking away from their response time as a company will improve.

ErikAlbert

July 1st, 2005, 06:00 PM

During the scan of SD, I saw that it checks for bad websites and the Hosts file contains nothing but bad websites. Maybe that's the reason for these false positives.
Of course this is not an excuse for SD.

JRCATES

July 1st, 2005, 07:13 PM

One negative that I have for Spyware Doctor, Erik, is that they do NOT have a forum presence anywhere. You'll see "PC Tools" pop in from time to time...either here or at CastleCops....but they don't have their very own forum presense so that users can voice things like the "false positives" that we've been discussing, or so that they (PC Tools) can issue statements addressing things like any "fixes" or improvements that have been made. We're kind of at the mercy of the technical support and customer service (which appears to be on a month long vacation at the moment) for those kind of answers.....

rdsu

July 1st, 2005, 07:50 PM

I think that they should improves a lot the scanning time and the resources used while scanning...

The rest, for free, isn't bad... ;D

bigc73542

July 1st, 2005, 07:58 PM

I have the free version 3.1 that came bundled with registry mechanic 4.0. If they haven't really improved their product I don't think much of either one.

Oleg

July 2nd, 2005, 10:57 AM

Sorry for the late reply. We have tested this version on 10 pcs it can scan and clean,but some protection needs registration :)
We have cleaned many pcs with it at my work place.

chaos16

July 2nd, 2005, 11:23 AM

i doubt spyware doctor will chatch anything extra to

adaware se
spybot-search & destroy
a2
ewido
microsoft antispyware

Oleg

July 2nd, 2005, 12:34 PM

{QUOTE-> i doubt spyware doctor will chatch anything extra to

adaware se
spybot-search & destroy
a2
ewido
microsoft antispyware <-QUOTE}
O yes it will we also have tested spybot,microsoft anti-spyware
Well results are microsoft anti-spyware was unable to clean many infections as for spybot it did not detect all infections :P

ErikAlbert

July 4th, 2005, 02:27 AM

I ran the Live Update of Spyware Doctor. Did a Full System Scan again.
Nothing changed, still the same false positives, 100% CPU and slow scan.
I give it time till 2005.09.01, if it is still not fixed, I won't need SD anymore.

JRCATES

July 4th, 2005, 02:32 AM

I finally heard back from PC Tools customer support tonight, Erik, and have emailed them with the false positives and information concerning other areas that need to be addressed (CPU and memory useage, HOSTS file scanning, ect.), so hopefully I will have something to pass along within the next few days. As I've said earlier, the first several months the product was very good....but these issues have all come about just recently. Hopefully they will address and correct them here shortly.

BTW....the reason the scans take longer now than previously, is because they scan the ENTIRE HOSTS file....and for people like you and I, that have rather large and extensive HOSTS file protection already, scanning that area isn't necessary (but unavoidable). Hopefully in their next version they will include options such as "Areas to scan" that will allow users to bypass scanning areas like the HOSTS file, and options like "Ignore" and "Always Ignore" when a false positive is first flagged.....

Spyros

July 4th, 2005, 05:19 AM

{QUOTE-> Nice to see a free version of Spyware Doctor :)
See this nice review: Spyware Doctor Fails to Beat Favorites in Latest Tests (http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120531,00.asp) ;) <-QUOTE}

Hmmm, on the other hand, PC mag awarded it "Editors' Choice", the same month. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1829268,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530 ;)

rdsu

July 4th, 2005, 05:25 AM

{QUOTE-> Hmmm, on the other hand, PC mag awarded it "Editors' Choice", the same month. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1829268,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530 ;) <-QUOTE}
I also saw this review, but with all this problems I don't think PD deserves that...

And they didn't test CounterSpy...

ErikAlbert

July 4th, 2005, 06:28 AM

JRCATES,
Thanks for the updating and I hope they will solve all these problems in the near future.
Right now it's very unpleasant to work with SD and it's the worst scanner on my computer.
It was good of you to report these problems directly to the right persons.

Notok

July 4th, 2005, 06:59 AM

{QUOTE-> See this nice review: Spyware Doctor Fails to Beat Favorites in Latest Tests (http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120531,00.asp) ;) <-QUOTE} All that article really says is that it doesn't beat SpySweeper or CounterSpy.. it's right after them in the rest of the test, though.. not bad for a freebie :)

rdsu

July 4th, 2005, 07:35 AM

{QUOTE-> All that article really says is that it doesn't beat SpySweeper or CounterSpy.. it's right after them in the rest of the test, though.. not bad for a freebie :) <-QUOTE}
I agree with you.... ;)

peakaboo

July 4th, 2005, 01:16 PM

{QUOTE-> Nice to see a free version of Spyware Doctor :)

The scanner takes a lot of resources and a lot of time! Very bad in this area... :(

Did you know if the download file on Spyware Doctor website, also have the free version?

See this nice review: Spyware Doctor Fails to Beat Favorites in Latest Tests (http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120531,00.asp) ;) <-QUOTE}

VaMPiRiC_CRoW or anyone,

did you figure out if the download file at Spyware Doctor website http://www.pctools.com/downloads/sdinstall.exe

allows the free features of both scan and remove?

The file at PC Tools above link has same version number 3.2.1.359 but different MD5 a6c509c00a2662b51097fb9eb8d5edb6 it is also slightly smaller in size than the one from C/Net

C/Net file http://dw.com.com/redir?pid=10309792&merid=6257086&mfgid=6257086&lop=link&edId=3&siteId=4&oId=3002-8022_4-10309792&ontId=8022&destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pctools.com%2Fdownloads%2Fdownload.com%2Fsdtrial.exe

MD5 for c/net file is e7814ce2397f228512df25d4ea8052dd

also notice one clearly is named sdtrial.exe and downloads as sdinstall.exe and the other from the website is sdsetup.exe

rdsu

July 4th, 2005, 01:20 PM

I forgoten to say that after I tried the download file from the SD website and works...

peakaboo

July 4th, 2005, 01:27 PM

{QUOTE-> I forgoten to say that after I tried the download file from the SD website and works... <-QUOTE}

Thanks VaMPiRiC_CRoW,

if both allow scan and removal then I'll try the one from PC tools since it is likely the latest iteration.

Even though version # is same something is different if size and MD5 is different but if functionality is same, i'd rather get it straight from the horses mouth so to speak ;)

peakaboo

July 4th, 2005, 05:20 PM

{QUOTE-> I finally heard back from PC Tools customer support tonight, Erik, and have emailed them with the false positives and information concerning other areas that need to be addressed (CPU and memory useage, HOSTS file scanning, ect.), so hopefully I will have something to pass along within the next few days. As I've said earlier, the first several months the product was very good....but these issues have all come about just recently. Hopefully they will address and correct them here shortly.

BTW....the reason the scans take longer now than previously, is because they scan the ENTIRE HOSTS file....and for people like you and I, that have rather large and extensive HOSTS file protection already, scanning that area isn't necessary (but unavoidable). Hopefully in their next version they will include options such as "Areas to scan" that will allow users to bypass scanning areas like the HOSTS file, and options like "Ignore" and "Always Ignore" when a false positive is first flagged..... <-QUOTE}

1) The Spyware Doctor 3.2 version I downloaded from their site (PC Tools) allows you to customize your scan... under settings, General, scan button action --> select custom - then apply

then go to start scan - it will allow you to customize the scan

If your version does not allow this then this is an area where the c/net version (if that is the version you are using) differs also I wonder if the c/net version allows fixes without registering?

2) My scan once it got thru cww 1400+ checks, and browser favorites & browser scanner (rogue) seemed very quick especially when it did the file check...

3) The problem I had with this version is it found something called unstall.exe (media motor) in order to remove it I had to register - I guess by register it means I have to buy the product? Maybe I'll scan again and see if all I have to do is register and not buy... otherwise I guess I can do a manual wipe, and maybe run a HJT scan just to ck...

Anyone using C/Net download version do you have to register to use the remover spyware it finds?

SSD has never found the above file on my pc on numerous scans...

I'm liking this proggie...

the version I am using also has ignore options...

JRCATES

July 4th, 2005, 05:34 PM

You are right, peakaboo, thanks for pointing that out.....I stand corrected. I am using version 3.2, and there is a "Custom Scan" feature that does allow users to ignore certain areas. They don't exactly make this feature well known, though, so it's no surprise that I was unaware of it. The only problem with this option, is that it has to be run manually....you can't "schedule" scans using the custom option.

As for the "ignore" options with scan results, I still haven't seen those yet. I don't mean the option to "uncheck" what it finds, I mean an option to select "Always Ignore" for a particular entry so that future scans don't even flag the item. If you have that option, then I would really appreciate it if you would share with me how and where you found it.....

peakaboo

July 4th, 2005, 07:41 PM

{QUOTE-> You are right, peakaboo, thanks for pointing that out.....I stand corrected. I am using version 3.2, and there is a "Custom Scan" feature that does allow users to ignore certain areas. They don't exactly make this feature well known, though, so it's no surprise that I was unaware of it. The only problem with this option, is that it has to be run manually....you can't "schedule" scans using the custom option.

As for the "ignore" options with scan results, I still haven't seen those yet. I don't mean the option to "uncheck" what it finds, I mean an option to select "Always Ignore" for a particular entry so that future scans don't even flag the item. If you have that option, then I would really appreciate it if you would share with me how and where you found it..... <-QUOTE}

JRCATES,

I found this in SD help:

1) To Set Spyware Doctor to ignore specific items

To ignore specific malware, move the malware items to the Ignore List. On the infections list screen, select the check box of the item you want to ignore, then right-click on it and select "Move Checked to Ignore List". Each time you conduct a scan, items in the Ignore List are ignored.

Ignore List
To view or remove items from the Ignore List, click the Status button on the left of Spyware Doctor's screen, and click "Click to View Ignore List". To remove an item, select the required item from the list and click the Remove Selected button. The items are then removed from the ignore list.

2) infections list screen:

When the scan is complete, if infections are found you will be taken to the infections list screen, where you can select which malware infections you want to action.

-----

following the above my version which I downloaded from Spyware Doctor site (PC Tools) does not allow me to select or right click the adware I found unless I purchase a registered version first.

Let me know if you downloaded using the C/Net download version - I'm thinking that C/net trial version will allow you to correct items found and or add them to the ignore list.

__________________

btw I have gotten the scan down to about 4 minutes (approx 16700 items scanned using the latest 7/4/05 3.02490 ref file of over 30k sigs) from 22 minutes by unchecking Browser defaults favorites and zonemaps under custom scan.

I'm posting while scanning even with 100% CPU utilization - they really need to fix that ;)

JRCATES

July 4th, 2005, 08:07 PM

{QUOTE->

I found this in SD help:

1) To Set Spyware Doctor to ignore specific items

To ignore specific malware, move the malware items to the Ignore List. On the infections list screen, select the check box of the item you want to ignore, then right-click on it and select "Move Checked to Ignore List". Each time you conduct a scan, items in the Ignore List are ignored.

Ignore List
To view or remove items from the Ignore List, click the Status button on the left of Spyware Doctor's screen, and click "Click to View Ignore List". To remove an item, select the required item from the list and click the Remove Selected button. The items are then removed from the ignore list.

2) infections list screen:

When the scan is complete, if infections are found you will be taken to the infections list screen, where you can select which malware infections you want to action.

__________________

btw I have gotten the scan down to about 4 minutes (approx 16700 items scanned using the latest 7/4/05 3.02490 ref file of over 30k sigs) from 22 minutes by unchecking Browser defaults favorites and zonemaps under custom scan.

I'm posting while scanning even with 100% CPU utilization - they really need to fix that ;) <-QUOTE}

Thanks for the follow-up, peakaboo. I appreciate that you found this info....but their wording still leaves a little to be desired.

For example, when I first encountered these two false positives....I looked at the IMMEDIATE screen where they appeared, and the ONLY option was worded something like "Fix" or "Repair" (no "Quarantine". or "Ignore", etc.). From what you posted.....it sounds as though by choosing that option (Fix or Repair, or however it was termed) that it would take the user to another screen that would provide the "option" to choose. But just from the wording of the following "To ignore specific malware, move the malware items to the Ignore List. On the infections list screen, select the check box of the item you want to ignore, then right-click on it and select "Move Checked to Ignore List", they don't make real clear exactly WHICH screen you should enact this from....because the first screen they show doesn't give these options (and knowing that I did not want them "fixed" or "repaired", I simply unchecked each box and clicked close.

Oh, BTW.....using "Custom" I was able to turn a 25-30 minute scan into 9 minutes, simply by leaving out the option to scan LSP and HOSTS files. But you're right....even though with On Guard enabled the memory useage is much better today than has been the past several weeks....the CPU useage still needs to be improved upon (the spikes are still way too high right now, even WITHOUT scanning)....

peakaboo

July 4th, 2005, 08:34 PM

{QUOTE-> Thanks for the follow-up, peakaboo. I appreciate that you found this info....but their wording still leaves a little to be desired.

For example, when I first encountered these two false positives....I looked at the IMMEDIATE screen where they appeared, and the ONLY option was worded something like "Fix" or "Repair" (no "Quarantine". or "Ignore", etc.). From what you posted.....it sounds as though by choosing that option (Fix or Repair, or however it was termed) that it would take the user to another screen that would provide the "option" to choose. But just from the wording of the following "To ignore specific malware, move the malware items to the Ignore List. On the infections list screen, select the check box of the item you want to ignore, then right-click on it and select "Move Checked to Ignore List", they don't make real clear exactly WHICH screen you should enact this from....because the first screen they show doesn't give these options (and knowing that I did not want them "fixed" or "repaired", I simply unchecked each box and clicked close. <-QUOTE}

Yes it is confusing but I think when your scan is completed, the infections screen is brought up - just right click on the item you want to ignore and I think I saw the right click context item of add to ignore list.

{QUOTE-> Oh, BTW.....using "Custom" I was able to turn a 25-30 minute scan into 9 minutes, simply by leaving out the option to scan LSP and HOSTS files. But you're right....even though with On Guard enabled the memory useage is much better today than has been the past several weeks....the CPU useage still needs to be improved upon (the spikes are still way too high right now, even WITHOUT scanning).... <-QUOTE}

I just checked Spybot v1.3 and on my old pc it is hitting 100% cpu on scan with a swap file of about 47Megs - Bot check took about 21 minutes; I think version SSD 1.4 is much faster...

I think I remember Spyware Doctor hitting about 54 Megs on the swap file. Sounds like 100% CPU is the way it is at least on this pc... so as I said before Spyware Doctor if I can get it to clean is looking real good to me.

I just downloaded again from C/net on a separate laptop, I'm hoping this trial version will enable the cleaning option. As noted above in one of my posts, I did not install the cnet version and instead went directly to the PC tools website, this version I am using appears to not allow cleaning, just scanning and ref file updates, and maybe the guards which I am not using.

JRCATES

July 4th, 2005, 08:41 PM

{QUOTE->

I just downloaded again from C/net on a laptop, I'm hoping this trial version will enable the cleaning option. As noted above in one of my posts, I did not install the cnet version and instead went directly to the PC tools website, this version I am using appears to not allow cleaning, just scanning and ref file updates, and maybe the guards which I am not using. <-QUOTE}

A friend of mine downloaded version 3.2 from Download.com, and he was able to use it to remove detected items...so perhaps it does have something to do with WHERE you download it from. From what he told me....he was able to trial the fully functional version for 30 days (including On Guard, real-time protection...with scheduled scans, etc.). Not sure if he was blowing smoke or not.....but I was at his house one time when he used it to scan and remove, and while surfing the net the Cookie Guard did remove a few cookies, so maybe he was being legit. It's definitely worth a try anyway (and you should at least be able to "remove" identified items)....

peakaboo

July 4th, 2005, 10:22 PM

{QUOTE->

did you figure out if the download file at Spyware Doctor website http://www.pctools.com/downloads/sdinstall.exe

allows the free features of both scan and remove?

The file at PC Tools above link has same version number 3.2.1.359 but different MD5 a6c509c00a2662b51097fb9eb8d5edb6 it is also slightly smaller in size than the one from C/Net

C/Net file http://dw.com.com/redir?pid=10309792&merid=6257086&mfgid=6257086&lop=link&edId=3&siteId=4&oId=3002-8022_4-10309792&ontId=8022&destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pctools.com%2Fdownloads%2Fdownload.com%2Fsdtrial.exe

MD5 for c/net file is e7814ce2397f228512df25d4ea8052dd

also notice one clearly is named sdtrial.exe and downloads as sdinstall.exe and the other from the website is sdsetup.exe <-QUOTE}

I ran the Spyware Doctor trial from Cnet on a laptop,

MD5 for c/net file is e7814ce2397f228512df25d4ea8052dd (MD5 changes depending on when you download)

This version allows for cleaning. adding items to ignore list, custom scanning but looks like the guards are disabled - I did not look to close at the guards since I run these disabled anyway - but it looked like you had to register to use the guards - I'll check and correct later if not true.

___________

JRCATES,

after I ran the scan using the cnet trial dl of Spyware Doctor, the list of found items pops up - this is the infections list screen

to put something on the ignore list, select that item by placing a check mark by it, then click on the item so it is highlighted, then right click the item and you will see an option to add to the ignore list.

I'm at the other pc now, and will uninstall the version which allows the guard but no cleaning in favor of the cnet download trial which allows cleaning but no guard

BTW i did a custom 1st scan on the laptop and it blazed thru over 20,000+ scanned items using the latest ref file of over 30k sigs in less than 3 minutes

sweet ;)

JRCATES

July 4th, 2005, 11:52 PM

Well, I put it to the test, peakaboo....and it worked.

I followed your directions, and it DID "ignore" them for the immediate follow-up scan (even though those two items were once again identified....just as "ignored" and not threats).

As of now, doing something about the CPU useage is the primary concern (for me...but probably others as well). Being able to schedule "CUSTOM" scans should also be something added to the next version of Spyware Doctor as well. Actually, perhaps the best solution for scans would be to have the "Custom" feature incorporated into and available for Quick Scans (rather than as a "separate" scan option, which can not be sceduled).....

peakaboo

July 7th, 2005, 04:19 PM

{QUOTE-> i doubt spyware doctor will chatch anything extra to

adaware se
spybot-search & destroy
a2
ewido
microsoft antispyware <-QUOTE}

Spyware Doctor caught & effectively dealt with a download motor called unstall.exe

Looks like this may have been a remnant from a prior drop in; this file has been on my pc for at least 4 years maybe longer.

I've been using Spybot Search & Destroy for about 3 years, tried Asquared, trojan remover, Mcafee etc in the past & just scanned the file with Avast - not a peep out of any of these about unstall.exe

plenty of info here on it though: http://sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/adware.medload.html

Best advice seems to be to find at least 2 good Spyware scanners and hope that what one doesn't catch the other one will:

http://spywarewarrior.com/asw-features.htm#rec

_________________

The Spyware Doctor scan once customized was very fast... under 4 minutes the signature file contains over 30k items and the program looked at about 17,000 items on my pc.

This is a keeper for me ;)

oh and yes this is the cnet trial referenced in post #1 offering custom scan, & cleaning which is what I was looking for...

rdsu

August 10th, 2005, 09:43 PM

Someone knows if the free version use the same signatures database of the full version?

Thanks

JRCATES

August 10th, 2005, 10:11 PM

From what I have been told, VC, everything in relation to the scanning engine and signature database is the same between the free and the pay....the difference is that the free does not offer real-time ("On Guard") protection, with the ability to schedule scans and schedule live updates. The free is purely an on demand scanner.....but everything else supposedly is the same.

Notok

August 10th, 2005, 11:13 PM

{QUOTE-> From what I have been told, VC, everything in relation to the scanning engine and signature database is the same between the free and the pay....the difference is that the free does not offer real-time ("On Guard") protection, with the ability to schedule scans and schedule live updates. The free is purely an on demand scanner.....but everything else supposedly is the same. <-QUOTE}That's my understanding as well.

After updating just now I have 31877 signatures with the paid version, for anyone that wants to compare.

rdsu

August 11th, 2005, 07:32 AM

{QUOTE-> From what I have been told, VC, everything in relation to the scanning engine and signature database is the same between the free and the pay....the difference is that the free does not offer real-time ("On Guard") protection, with the ability to schedule scans and schedule live updates. The free is purely an on demand scanner.....but everything else supposedly is the same. <-QUOTE}
I thought the same but I'm starting to see Lite database one the updates and...

{QUOTE-> That's my understanding as well.

After updating just now I have 31877 signatures with the paid version, for anyone that wants to compare. <-QUOTE}
I have 31708 with the lastests signatures update, so maybe my doubts have some reason of being... :(

Beefcarver

August 11th, 2005, 10:55 AM

So after reading all your inputs about this which download is the one to go with Pctools or cnet?

Notok

August 11th, 2005, 11:03 AM

{QUOTE-> I have 31708 with the lastests signatures update, so maybe my doubts have some reason of being... <-QUOTE}You might try updating again just to be sure. We can compare again a little later, too.. also 169 sigs less isn't too bad :)

rdsu

August 11th, 2005, 11:31 AM

Try to always download a program from the source, so you should go to Pctools... ;)

rdsu

August 11th, 2005, 11:36 AM

{QUOTE-> You might try updating again just to be sure. We can compare again a little later, too.. also 169 sigs less isn't too bad :) <-QUOTE}
I tried to see if I can download some new update, but nothing...

Maybe some signatures are put first for the full version...

Notok

August 11th, 2005, 11:59 AM

You're probably right. Let me know when you get an update again, we'll compare again :)

rdsu

August 12th, 2005, 04:18 PM

{QUOTE-> You're probably right. Let me know when you get an update again, we'll compare again :) <-QUOTE}
Here you have: ;)

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2763/spywaredoctor9ed.png

hotdog_and_a_shake

August 12th, 2005, 09:14 PM

Yes SpywareDocter free a good program i like alsu.

Notok

August 12th, 2005, 10:39 PM

..and here's mine. It does indeed look like the free is just one step behind. I wouldn't think it's enough to really be a deal-breaker, though.

rdsu

August 13th, 2005, 01:25 PM

{QUOTE-> ..and here's mine. It does indeed look like the free is just one step behind. I wouldn't think it's enough to really be a deal-breaker, though. <-QUOTE}
Agree with, this is a very good program, better than Ad-Aware, but when I put a clean image of Windows, I will use CounterSpy, Spybot (as backup and IE protection), SpywareBlaster and HostsMan, because I think that it's enough for me...

Notok

August 13th, 2005, 02:01 PM

{QUOTE-> Agree with, this is a very good program, better than Ad-Aware, but when I put a clean image of Windows, I will use CounterSpy, Spybot (as backup and IE protection), SpywareBlaster and HostsMan, because I think that it's enough for me... <-QUOTE}That sounds like a good combo to me, too :)

JRCATES

August 13th, 2005, 02:13 PM

{QUOTE-> That sounds like a good combo to me, too :) <-QUOTE}

Yeah, except that I (personally) would keep Spyware Doctor over Spybot. Not intending to knock Spybot here, but I really wish somebody would clue me in as to WHY it is considered by many to be all that "worthy" of keeping. I wasn't impressed with it, I've seen it rate pretty low as far as independent AS testing goes, the "Tea Timer" option did absolutely NOTHING to help protect my sister's PC.....and I'm just curious why people still think it's a top AS product. Granted, it was "one of the first", and "it's free"....but other than that, I'm a little baffled that people still consider it to be a top product.

rdsu

August 13th, 2005, 02:19 PM

{QUOTE-> That sounds like a good combo to me, too :) <-QUOTE}
Yep :P

I already had a lot of them to test them, but now I just want to use what I really need and like... ;)

rdsu

August 13th, 2005, 02:30 PM

{QUOTE-> Yeah, except that I (personally) would keep Spyware Doctor over Spybot. Not intending to knock Spybot here, but I really wish somebody would clue me in as to WHY it is considered by many to be all that "worthy" of keeping. I wasn't impressed with it, I've seen it rate pretty low as far as independent AS testing goes, the "Tea Timer" option did absolutely NOTHING to help protect my sister's PC.....and I'm just curious why people still think it's a top AS product. Granted, it was "one of the first", and "it's free"....but other than that, I'm a little baffled that people still consider it to be a top product. <-QUOTE}
I agree with you.

Spyware Doctor have a better detection that Spybot, but I want the Spybot because it have the Immunize feature for IE and for backup the excellent CounterSpy... I never used the active protection of Spybot...

Besides that, Spybot is also good because you can see a lot of system areas with it...

If the new version of Spyware Doctor have a faster scan and the prevention for IE of SpywareBlaster is enough, I can change to it ;)

In this site, you can see that they complement +/- each other: http://www.spywarewarrior.com/elh/adw-state.htm

JRCATES

August 13th, 2005, 03:01 PM

Fair enough, VC. Thanks for sharing :)

Just curious, though....did you try using the "Custom" scanning option for Spyware Doctor? I know you use a HOSTS file (MVPS, I believe), and I do as well....and with the Full and Quick scan options through Spyware Doctor it scans the entire HOSTS file, and that is what takes it so long. With the Custom scan option, you can eliminate the HOSTS and LSP scanning...and that will cut scans from around 25 minutes down to around 10. If you haven't checked it out, I would highly recommend doing so.

Oh, and Spyware Doctor does have an "immunization" feature....but unfortunately, it's only included with "On Guard" protection enabled (pay version).

Notok

August 13th, 2005, 03:57 PM

Another good feature of Spybot is that you can easily set up scheduled scans without having to pay for it. Maybe it doesn't have the best detection right now, but that could change, and some is better than none. Like VC, I also use the immunize function as well as the tools.. don't forget that it has a database of what start items are, too.

I'm the only person at my work that uses TeaTimer (since Spybot's already installed and we can't use anything else, but have to use IE), and I have seen it pick up things here and there. My profile tends to work better than others in my department, and I've been able to work at stations that nobody else could. :)

rdsu

August 13th, 2005, 08:08 PM

{QUOTE-> Fair enough, VC. Thanks for sharing :)

Just curious, though....did you try using the "Custom" scanning option for Spyware Doctor? I know you use a HOSTS file (MVPS, I believe), and I do as well....and with the Full and Quick scan options through Spyware Doctor it scans the entire HOSTS file, and that is what takes it so long. With the Custom scan option, you can eliminate the HOSTS and LSP scanning...and that will cut scans from around 25 minutes down to around 10. If you haven't checked it out, I would highly recommend doing so.

Oh, and Spyware Doctor does have an "immunization" feature....but unfortunately, it's only included with "On Guard" protection enabled (pay version). <-QUOTE}
When I used the Spyware Doctor, I only use the Custom scan with the Hosts scan disabled... ;)

Mrkvonic

August 14th, 2005, 01:52 AM

{QUOTE-> Yeah, except that I (personally) would keep Spyware Doctor over Spybot. Not intending to knock Spybot here, but I really wish somebody would clue me in as to WHY it is considered by many to be all that "worthy" of keeping. I wasn't impressed with it, I've seen it rate pretty low as far as independent AS testing goes, the "Tea Timer" option did absolutely NOTHING to help protect my sister's PC.....and I'm just curious why people still think it's a top AS product. Granted, it was "one of the first", and "it's free"....but other than that, I'm a little baffled that people still consider it to be a top product. <-QUOTE}

Hi,
Reasons to use Spybot:
1) It takes little space on harddisk, it doesn't hurt.
2) It's always been free and was never influenced by money, unlike Ad-Aware (When-U) and MSAS (Claria).
3) I never had false positives with it, unlike Spyware Doctor.
4) It's fast and efficient.
5) Free scanners always get lower grades in independent AS testing; you should ask yourself is Linux less good than Windows, since it's a free product?
6) Reliability over years and continuous improvement are reasons to consider something a top product.
Mrk

JRCATES

August 14th, 2005, 05:25 AM

{QUOTE->
3) I never had false positives with it, unlike Spyware Doctor. <-QUOTE}
I'm glad you didn't, too bad I can't say the same. Spybot continually flagged DSO Exploit for me, even after running other AS scans and then Spybot, as well as running Spybot immediately after I had finished a scan with Spybot! It got very frustrating and that's when I began to question it's effectiveness. Here is a specific link to the CastelCops Spybot forum where they are discussing this well known false positive:

DSO Exploit Bug Fixed with Latest Update (http://castlecops.com/t108125-DSO_Exploit_Bug_Fixed_with_Latest_Update.html)

Here's a forum specifically devoted to False Positives within Spybot:

Spybot False Positives Report (http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showforum=72)

Definition updates for Spybot are also rather infrequent compared to most AS products.

My guess is that if this was a pay, commercial product....people would call it for what it is. But since it's freeware, there's no need to look a gift horse in the mouth...

muf

August 14th, 2005, 08:20 AM

I can't remember the last time i had a false positive with Spybot. However, i decided to download and install Spyware Doctor last night. I did a full system scan and it came up with 5 false positives. I know they are FP's as the files in question are from legit software. For example it picked up SmtLaunch.exe as spyware which is part of Pagemaster 6, and is the main launch file to start it up. It also identified a file as a home page hijack Wininit.ini which the contents suggest it is talking a load of bo!!ocks. Here's the contents of Wininit.ini

[Rename]
NUL=Feurio_Uninstall.exe

This is of course the remains of an application i used to have called Feurio which is software for cd burning, much like NERO(although not as good).

It also broke my ability to get on the net using IE. When i started IE all i got was a blank screen. Once i had unistalled it IE worked fine again.

All the other stuff was FP's as well. I uninstalled it immediately. Sorry but how can i trust something that does this sort of thing, and so badly.

muf

JRCATES

August 14th, 2005, 08:29 AM

Spyware Doctor DOES have it's share of FPs....just like CounterSpy, Ad-Aware, Spy Sweeper, etc., etc. ALL anti-spyware and anti-virus programs are likely to encounter some false positives along the way, so I don't want anyone to think that I am saying that it doesn't. Matter of fact, I have been disappointed with Spyware Doctor here lately because I reported to them on a few ocassions a couple of false positives related to the HOSTS file scanner, and yet well over a month later those two still exist (and show up during scans when I know they are FPs!)

No, the point I was trying to make, is that Spybot is over-rated by many and is somehow regarded much more highly in many people's eyes than it SHOULD be. And I believe the reason for that is because it has been around for a while (probably longer than most, one of the first), and it's FREE! If it was a commercial product rather than freeware, I seriously doubt that we'd have nearly as many people using or singing it's praises as a part of their anti-spyware arsenal.

muf

August 14th, 2005, 09:34 AM

Well i get your point, but lets look at this constructively a moment. Spybot has a large database of malware it can detect, it has very few false positives and has many useful tools(especially it's immunizer).It's also free which is important to many people with limited income. Now look at a commercial product. They have more resources, more money to develop and can spend a lot more time improving their product. But they also have lots of FP's which is probably due to adding many signatures before they have been properly tested.

Due to the cutthroat business out there, commercial products are too quick to add signatures and end up with plenty of FP's. The author of Spybot updates less frequently but he has properly tested his signatures. At least if you are using Spybot you can more or less say that when it finds something it will be malware. But with the others, the chances are that you are deleting something that may break some software on your pc.

Spybot is an honest reliable program. The emphasised word is something that can't be said of others. Especially the commercial programs who are way too fast to release some of their signatures. I've seen Spy Sweeper release an update that a day later the new update has as many as 100 less. Do we assume that they found a problem in something they were detecting? Hell yes!!!

muf

JRCATES

August 14th, 2005, 10:08 AM

{QUOTE->
Spybot is an honest reliable program. The emphasised word is something that can't be said of others.
<-QUOTE}

I hear what you are saying, and agree....although I believe the above is more than a bit harsh.

For almost a year, I had a firewall, AV, Ad-Aware and Spybot....that was it. Practically every night I would run Ad-Aware and Spybot, and both scans using both products would come back with about half a dozen items. Spybot would repeatedly flag the false positive that I was referring to earlier. Anyway, no big deal. So I tried Spyware Doctor....and after using it's "On Guard" real-time protection, afterwards both Ad-Aware and Spybot had nothing to show and came back empty when I ran their scans nightly.

Now, is "paying" for a product to keep stuff off of your PC in real-time worth it? That's up to the user to decide. But because a lot of malware can do bad things in a relatively short time, I'd prefer to have constant protection as opposed to scanning every so often.

But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....and for a freebie Spybot seems to be effective for many, and therefore I can see why some consider it worthy and are comfortable having it around. For me, it proved useless once I had purchased Spyware Doctor for the real-time protection....but for those who don't wish to spend money for software I can see where they fill a niche with it. And BTW, I wasn't criticizing the author of Spybot, because I do appreciate people who put out products to help others out of the kindness of their heart and aren't looking at it as a reliable source of income. I was just questioning the product's reliability as far as effectiveness goes, that's all. And I have heard as much good as I have bad, so I will refrain from criticizing it anymore (don't want "the Cult" to start bashing me here). Ultimately, though, if you're happy with and believe strongly in it, that's all that really matters.....

Hard Rocker

August 14th, 2005, 10:39 AM

Hi, :D

I have the 3.2.1.359 version of Spyware Doctor on my PC & have found way too many F/P's with this program.

The Process Guard Feature even prevented UnHackMe from loading until I reconfigured it !! :(

CounterSpy, SpySweeper & AdAware are much more reliable IMO ..... although CS & SS have detected a few F/P's as well.

I mainly use Spyware Doctor for the Cookie Guard.

HR 8)

pctools

August 15th, 2005, 01:16 AM

Hi all,

I am from PC Tools, maker of Spyware Doctor.

Sorry to hear some of you are experiencing false positives.

In order to assist you, if you have a registered version, could you please run the Malware Detective tool within Spyware Doctor? This will generate a log so that we help you further.

Otherwise you can contact us on this link so that we can assist you: http://www.pctools.com/contact/support/guide/spyware-doctor/

Thank you for highlight possible false positives. We really appreciate such feedbacks.

Cheers

PC Tools

WhereIsTheBeef

August 15th, 2005, 11:09 AM

To PcTools

Could you please offer some explanation as to why spyware doctor attempts to "call home" each time the program is opened. This would be the freeware version without the auto update feature.
Also, why are two seperate entries made in the registry? One entry for spyware doctor and another for a dll with a "software company name

peakaboo

August 15th, 2005, 01:01 PM

{QUOTE-> To PcTools

Could you please offer some explanation as to why spyware doctor attempts to "call home" each time the program is opened. This would be the freeware version without the auto update feature.
Also, why are two seperate entries made in the registry? One entry for spyware doctor and another for a dll with a "software company name <-QUOTE}

I really like spyware doctor... with a few questions...

It would be nice to have a host forum somewhere so some of these nagging questions can get answered.

I have SWDr on a desk top with no problems and installed it on a friends laptop running WinME.

I have also noticed the free download version from c/net calls out using UDP on startup - why it does this is a mystery since updates are done manually.

Also I notice the MD5 and digital license for swdoctor.exe changes every other start up which Kerio catches.

The MD5 changes bugged me so much I thought it might have been a dll injection trojan of some kind and posted here about it:

http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=32563

Lonny from spybot forum speculated the program was attempting some sort of update, but this answer did not fit completely eventhough it was calling out, so I am still left with this question of why the MD5 changes for swdoctor.exe

Note I'm not having this same problem on my desk top. I used the same program load for both.

strange stuff...

WhereIsTheBeef

August 15th, 2005, 02:25 PM

PeakABoo

The program works very well to which I agree with you. But there is something just not right. Will give the vendor an opportunity to provide an answer.
For now and until the vendor provides an answer if he so chooses spyware doctor is considered "Suspect" imo. There is no ligitimate reason imo for spyware doctor to attempt opening of an internet connection.
The issue of that strange dll also is bothersome.

cheater87

August 15th, 2005, 03:18 PM

my uncle has the pay version and his computer is pretty safe. i tested Adaware SE and it found a dialer that spyware doctor missed.

doubtthat

August 15th, 2005, 04:16 PM

{QUOTE-> my uncle has the pay version and his computer is pretty safe. i tested Adaware SE and it found a dialer that spyware doctor missed. <-QUOTE}

probably a false positive

Hard Rocker

August 16th, 2005, 05:12 AM

Hi, :)

From my experience I have not had any F/P's with AdAware and nothing but F/P's with SpyWare Doctor. >:(

HR 8)

skylights

August 16th, 2005, 08:36 PM

Two things:

Most people here have referenced the CNET version of Spyware Doctor, which allows scanning and cleaning, but no resident protection or immunization. But only one person mentioned, and I think it should be reiterated, that the version from the PCTools website is exactly the opposite: it enables the resident protection and immunization, and scans too, but cleaning is disabled. I got the latter; wonder if I could install the former too and have a complete Spyware Doctor for free?

Regarding SD "calling home": I read somewhere in another forum that SD does this to check that your registration is legit.

skylights

August 17th, 2005, 07:57 PM

I found out for myself that the two versions of Spyware Doctor can indeed be installed side by side - just install them into different directories and create separate start menu folders. If you want to run the scanning/cleaning version, you'll have to close the resident protection version first.

PC Tools direct version - resident protection, immunization, scanning; no cleaning:
http://www.pctools.com/downloads/sdsetup.exe

CNET Download.com referral version - scanning, cleaning; no resident protection or immunization:
http://www.pctools.com/downloads/sdinstall.exe

There's no time limit on either version. It appears the only thing missing from both is automatic updates - you'll have to click "Live Update" yourself. One more thing - I almost uninstalled the resident protection version because it was using 100% of my CPU... but then after a few minutes it finished whatever it was doing and dropped off to nothing with only intermittent CPU spikes. So have patience. This seems to be a great resident antispyware.

Anyone know of a web page that lists special, "referral versions" of software? The above is one example, another is the one year free trial of EZ Antivirus offered to Microsoft customers at http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/ . Others?

WhereTheBeef

August 17th, 2005, 10:23 PM

#Regarding SD "calling home": I read somewhere in another forum that SD does this to check that your registration is legit.#

What registration? These are freeware, un-registered versions ! There is no auto-updare feature either.
Soon as it was obvious the this program was trying to access the internet without permission it was removed from my computer. Several registry entries remain after removal that had to be manually removed.
There are other programs that try this call-home bull. Just not on my computer. Just purchased and return a very nice photo program purchased at $40, it did just what spydoctor does, an was returned for a refund today after one hell of an argument with the store manager.
Software is not suppose to call-home without the User's constant an if it does thats Trojanware imo. There is no excuse. Its why we install firewalls and detection programs.

skylights

August 18th, 2005, 11:02 PM

A couple other minor things if you want to install and use both of these versions. To make the resident version (not the scan/clean version) always run on startup, you'll have to go to the Spyware Doctor console, Settings -> Startup Settings -> and uncheck Run at Windows Startup. (You can do this in either version and it will affect both versions.) The reason: when you run the scanning and cleaning version with the box checked, upon exit it will automatically set that version, and not the resident version, to run on startup.

Next, put a shortcut to the resident version in the Startup group in the Start menu. If you want the program to start minimized to the system tray, right-click on the shortcut and select Properties. In the Target field add a space and "/Q" at the end of the program path. So, if for example you installed this version in the folder "Spyware Doctor," the Target should look like this:

"C:\Program Files\Spyware Doctor\swdoctor.exe" /Q

One other quirk. If you run the scanning and cleaning version, it will turn off the resident protection of the other version. When you restart the resident version (you can't run the two side-by-side), or when you restart your computer after a cleaning, you'll have to manually select Activate OnGuard Protection to get it going again. For this reason, as well as the need to update manually, you may not want the program to start minimized, so that you can do these things upon program start.

Other than the minor user intervention required, these two together are almost the full pay version, and you don't even need a crack or a serial.

pctools

August 24th, 2005, 01:26 AM

Hi all,

I am from PC Tools, maker of Spyware Doctor.

Spyware Doctor attempts to "call home" each time the program is opened, in order to verify the license/registration details as well as any eligible updates.
The next service pack for Spyware Doctor has the ability to turn off the "call home".

Should you have any other queries regarding Spyware Doctor, please contact us on this link: http://www.pctools.com/contact/support/guide/spyware-doctor/

Cheers

PC Tools

sclausen

August 24th, 2005, 07:27 PM

Hi all, I was told about this thread from a staff member and wanted to clarify a couple of points.

1) Phone Home
First of all I totally agree with you, the "phone home" should be able to be completely disabled, and it's due to the way we upgraded this free version to include updates that it isn't. A little background, originally we offered a free version that didn't include Live Updates, we found that people using the free version were starting to run with old definitions which was impacting effectiveness (not good for either us or the customer) so we decided to also open up the Live Update feature to trial users as well. This introduced a problem because our live updates are authenticated which means we had to come up with a quasi-registered state for the evaluation users. So in effect, even though people are using the free version it does use a generic (anonymous) license code to get live updates.

The update request at startup is only used to tell the program the license code (in the case of free versions they all use 0-0-0-0) is valid, and whether there are new updates available This is how the "New Live Updates are available" taskbar message is generated. Anyone with a packet sniffer can confirm this, but for full disclosure here is a sample request:

CLIENT -> SERVER
request=update
code=0-0-0-0
version=3.2.1.359

SERVER -> CLIENT
<xml>
<subscription>
<status>valid</status> /* used to say that evaluation code 0-0-0-0 is OK */
<expires>20091231</expires> /* because the free version is a quasi-registered version it still has an expiry at the end of 2009 */
</subscription>
<update>
<database>
<item>…</item> /* list of new databases available */
</database>
<tools>
<item>…</item> /* list of new updates (scanners, real-time monitors…) available */
</tools>
</update>
</xml>

That's it, a bit boring and sorry no secret tracking information! The new version of SD coming out soon will completely disable this if selected by the user.

2) False Positives
A few people mentioned false positives, and yes like any anti-spyware/anti-virus program Spyware Doctor does get them occasionally. I would like to say though that both SpywareWarrior.com and SpywareInfo.com reported none in their testing, in fact SpywareInfo commented it was the first time they had _ever_ tested a program that didn’t report any FPs. Please see the full story here: http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/spyware/spywaredoctor.php

That being said, we hate false positives and jump on them very quickly when they are reported. If you ever find one, we have a submission page available under "Research" on the site that goes directly to our malware research team. The direct URL is: http://www.pctools.com/mrc/submit/

3) Support
JRCATES mentioned in one of the posts that support times were lagging and this is something we are aware of and working hard to fix. Support is very important to us, and we prided ourselves in always being the first to respond to queries in our external quality testing. Recently though we have been going through tremendous growth, we have served over 30 million downloads of Spyware Doctor and have many millions of active trial and registered users. Importantly, we also do support our trial users, so even if you haven’t paid and have a problem we’ll do our best to sort it out. This is in stark contrast to some of our competitors and unfortunately does have a flow-on effect to all our support as we get more and more people using the trial version we get more and more inquiries. But we think it’s important to not leave people hanging regardless of whether they have paid us or not. We are rapidly increasing the team, I believe we hired another 10 people this month, so we are doing our best to get on top of this and bring support levels back to where they should be.

4) MD5 issue peakaboo mentioned
I’ve got some people looking into this, but as far as we are aware this is not being caused by us and we can not duplicate it. We are thinking it's potentially someone injecting into the binary which will break the checksum for the security certificate. Potentially this could be Kerio doing some additional app-level protection but we need to look into it further to see if we can duplicate.

5) Finally
I would like to say how much we appreciate the community and people taking the time to talk about our product and help us improve it. Even if you don’t see us posting we do have people following most of the forums to keep track of issues, and once support eases back a bit, hopefully taking a more active role. We also take it as quite a compliment that people would go so far as to run two copies of SD to get it for free! (Although FYI the full version does get new scanners and monitors that the trial doesn’t, also they get daily DB updates while the free version is delayed a couple of days) ;)

Thanks to everyone that took the time to comment.

Best,

Simon Clausen
CEO
PC Tools

ErikAlbert

August 24th, 2005, 08:04 PM

{QUOTE-> That being said, we hate false positives and jump on them very quickly when they are reported <-QUOTE}
I'm glad to hear it, because false positives are really a SERIOUS problem, especially for ignorant users.
So I appreciate your attitude towards false positives.

{QUOTE-> Importantly, we also do support our trial users, so even if you haven’t paid and have a problem we’ll do our best to sort it out. <-QUOTE}
Wise decision !!! Reporting problems isn't a privilege for users, who actually paid for SD.
You would miss alot of info, when you excluded trial users.

rdsu

August 24th, 2005, 08:12 PM

Thanks for your explanation, Simon Clausen ;)

Like ErikAlbert said, it's very nice to hear all these nice behavior and way of working from the PC Tools team...

Hope we can see some improves in the SD engine to improve it's speed and reduce the resources usage.

Regards

Beefcarver

August 24th, 2005, 08:41 PM

well Im impressed with this. and with the fact that the CEO of PcTools took the time out of there busy day to comment on these issues. and there honesty to the public of there product and how much there users mean to them and how they are commited to there product and wanting to improve it. way to go PcTools....

sclausen

August 29th, 2005, 02:22 AM

Sorry for resurrecting this thread but just wanted to provide an update in regards to the resource issue, especially around some of the real-time tools. We have been working hard on getting these resolved and I'm pleased to say when you Live Update this week you will be getting updated real-time tools that remove the CPU spiking issues some people have been experiencing with OnGuard.

These are currently going through QA and external beta testers and should be released to all customers early this week.

Best,

Simon

JRCATES

August 30th, 2005, 05:18 PM

Thank you for your posts here in Wilders forums regarding this topic, Simon. I think nearly every Spyware Doctor user greatly appreciates the updates and information that you are sharing.

Which brings me to a topic I have been wondering about for some time now. Why doesn't Spyware Doctor and/or PC Tools have a dedicated forum devoted especially for users to ask questions and inquire about the product or features of the product? When I email tech support about things like false positives, I am at the mercy of tech support to get back to me, generally saying they will look into it, but with no definitive answer or result being provided. In a dedicated forum, other users could chime in, providing more details and more examples or potential problems so that Spyware Doctor could address and correct them. But as it is now, there's no where to go other than tech support, and that has been painfully slow in responses here lately, with several issues seemingly going unresolved. I also think that a forum could serve to quiet some of the critics of the product as well, because answers rather than questions would be forthcoming.....

Just a thought.

chaos16

August 31st, 2005, 04:41 AM

i have spyware doctor free version that only scans i can enable the realtime protection if i pay but inot going to so i stay with the scan only.

i would like to know if i can download the other version of spyware doctor as well that only has realtime protection and if i can wat are they seperate programs? or they will be both put in one?

and as i use firefox and since yesterday opera well is there realtime protection worth it or all this is overkill?

hollywoodpc

August 31st, 2005, 01:35 PM

Took time out to come here ? lol . They do not answer emails ! I sent two to sales over a week ago and have gotten nothing . Wrote to tech support a month ago and got nothing . Others have complained about this too . Nice to come to a forum but , they have email addys for tech support and sales sooooooo , they ought to put them to use . And , I found the pctools website version does NOT give free immunization and resident protection .
Something strange somewhere

sclausen

September 1st, 2005, 06:45 PM

Hello,

In regards to your question JRCATES we've put it off in the past as we preferred to manage support directly, but I'm going to look into it more and see what we can do about setting up a customer forum as it certainly would have some benefits.

hollywoodpc, if you can PM your email address I will see what happened to your tickets. In 99% of cases when people don't get a reply it's because the ISP has filtered our reply and you don't receive it. We do not ignore inquiries and it's frustrating for us too when we reply, then receive another question from the same user asking again for a reply. Normally we will try and phone users if emails keep getting filtered but if we had no contact number then we would have had no other method to contact you with.

Best,

Simon

Bubba

September 1st, 2005, 07:04 PM

{QUOTE-> I'm going to look into it more and see what we can do about setting up a customer forum as it certainly would have some benefits. <-QUOTE}Well....what better place than here at Wilders to set up that Forum :o ;)

the_rippah

September 1st, 2005, 08:08 PM

{QUOTE-> Well....what better place than here at Wilders to set up that Forum :o ;) <-QUOTE}

Or maybe the CastleCops forums, they seem to have all kinds of different anti-malware vendors over there like Prevx, WinPatrol, NAV, Ewido, Ad-aware, Spybot, SpySweeper, Trojan Hunter, Proxomitron, etc.....even a forum for MSAS. ;)

rdsu

September 18th, 2005, 07:36 PM

Someone knows if a new version of SD will coming soon?

Thanks

Brandon

September 18th, 2005, 08:10 PM

{QUOTE-> Someone knows if a new version of SD will coming soon?

Thanks <-QUOTE}

Maybe contact there support and ask them?

Regards,

Brandon

JRCATES

September 18th, 2005, 08:29 PM

No "major" changes or new release will be forthcoming anytime soon, from what I have heard. But a few slight improvements and changes should be added here very soon. Spyware Doctor makes many of their changes through updates, so unless it is something major (cosmetic/new or replaced features, etc.), from what I have been told they apparently do not release a "new" version.....

rdsu

September 19th, 2005, 03:40 AM

Thanks, JRCATES ;)

Beef

September 19th, 2005, 02:50 PM

To: Simon Clausen
CEO
PC Tools

IMO, you violated the holy grail of computer privacy by having your program Call-home without the knowledge of the computer owner or the permission of the computer owner. This is classic Trojan behavior by a program thats suppose TO PREVENT SUCH BEHAVIOR!

An you got caught!!

well, a snake can change its skin.....but its still a snake.

Its not at all important WHY your program Called-home just the fact that it did so without advising the public and without knowledge of the public is a violation of computer security and privacy. Thats my personal opinion....take it or leave it. But be of the clear understanding that no matter what you say or what you do.....your program began as a Trojan.....an will be consider as such by many.

Thats all I have to say on this subject.

sclausen

September 19th, 2005, 09:33 PM

Beef, it's a pity that you posted anonymously as we have no way to respond to your concerns directly. Live Update checks are pretty standard practice these days and I think we have explained and admitted the reasons why this is occurring previously in this thread. You of course have the right to your opinion but we'll have to respectfully disagree with your comments.

To VaMPiRiC_CRoW, JRCATES is correct, we are constantly updating the program with new scanners, OnGuard real-time and tools through Live Update. The benefit of this is that we are generally able to improve any part of the program without waiting for a major release, compared to some other products that had to release standalone hotfixes/new product versions for specific threats early this year we can just update or add a scanner through Live Update.

Regards,

Simon Clausen

Bubba

September 19th, 2005, 09:44 PM

{QUOTE-> Its not at all important WHY your program Called-home <-QUOTE}Perhaps you need to re-read the response given early on in this thread and enlighten all of us where You feel the beef is :-\

Posted earlier by sclausen---> http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=540482#post540482

Otherwise you are simply spreading Fud with your comment of...."your program began as a Trojan.....an will be consider as such by many"

peakaboo

September 19th, 2005, 11:32 PM

{QUOTE-> 4) MD5 issue peakaboo mentioned
I?ve got some people looking into this, but as far as we are aware this is not being caused by us and we can not duplicate it. We are thinking it's potentially someone injecting into the binary which will break the checksum for the security certificate. Potentially this could be Kerio doing some additional app-level protection but we need to look into it further to see if we can duplicate.
<-QUOTE}

Simon,

re: the MD5 changes...

1) I received a response from Kelly Griffin on your Staff

@ 10:28:18 PM
Tue, Sep 13th 2005

saying:

This is a known Spyware Doctor occurance on some operating systems, and is not something malicious you should be concerned about.

Kind Regards,

Kelly Griffin
Technical Support Representative

*******

2) It looks like the date on your post I am quoting was prior to Kelly's response.

3) If you run across this please verify Kelly's response and if you could add a little more information as to why this is happening, and what if anything I can do to stop it.

The issue is very disconcerting, since the 1st thing one thinks of is some sort of trojan or dll injection.

+ Were you able to duplicate the problem and was it Kerio 2.1.5 which was breaking the md5 check sum for swdoctor.exe?

I appreciate your Spyware Doctor program and your effort to satisfy your customers.

Beefcarver

September 20th, 2005, 12:15 PM

I downloded the cnet version that supposed to clean. But it never finds anything and has nothing to clean... But I think im spyware free anyway.
Is anyone using this and actually cleaning anything? I mean the free version?
Or how I can use something to test it to see if it catches it?

sclausen

September 20th, 2005, 08:25 PM

peakaboo, regarding the MD5 change what we do know is it does not appear malicious as it also happens on a clean box, but it appears to only happen on Windows Me in our testing (if you have a different OS please let us know). It's possible that it's caused by our software protection as that effectively "wraps" the program and attempts to avoid some cracking / reverse engineering, possibly something in Windows Me is triggering this.

We've sent a message to the makers of the protection software to see if they know more, but it appears confirmed it's nothing to worry about and is not caused by anything malicious.

Regards,

Simon Clausen

peakaboo

September 20th, 2005, 10:39 PM

Simon,

Thank You for looking into this.

Yes the machine in question is running WinME.

Just a suggestion, but you may consider adding this to your FAQ list page. That is one of the first places I went to try and understand the issue.

If there is something that can be done to prevent this, I'm sure you will try and accomplish.

Beef

September 21st, 2005, 11:19 PM

To: Simon Clausen

Its only normal that you would disagree. As a business person your goal is to make money. An the last thing you want is for the public to question .
Your explanation of the Live Update was sorely lacking. In essence you said that the Public could not be trusted to make decisions for themselves SO YOU MADE THE DECISION FOR THEM which reeks of a Big Brother mentality . You did not ASK PERMISSION to install your Live Update nor did you give the Public an opportunity to refuse your Live Update. you simply failed to inform the Public that it even existed . YOU TOTALLY DISRESPECTED THE PUBLIC by making YOUR decisions and YOUR choices instead of allowing the Public to make their own choices.
There were other options you could have used to programm the Updater. Did you even consider those options or did you just take it upon yourself to install the Live Update Trojan an to hell with what the public may or may not want.
You clearly stated that YOU did not want YOUR COMPANY to look bad if the Public failed to update your program. Your concern was for YOUR company image not the public.
Double-Talk may work on the Newbes and Groupies. A few in-experience computer users may actually be taken in by your “explanation” but that wont change the facts. Your program was a Call-Home BECAUSE YOU CHOOSE TO MAKE IT THAT WAY. An in so doing you insulted the Public. You placed yourself above The Free Will Of The Public and Their Freedom Of Choice.
Now, do really think that you are a person who should be trusted? What about the next time YOU DECIDE that You want to do it YOUR WAY . Can your products ever be trusted not to contain trojans?
You did it once will you do it again? When were you going to inform the Public about the Live Updater?
If you had not been caught would you ever have mentioned it?
The Public is not as ignorant as you seem to think. An the Public can decide if they want to purchase your products knowing now that those products may contain questionable contents.
Sir, I carry no ill will towards you. My time is far to valuable to waste in such a manner. As a business person every hour of every day decisions are made by me so there is no lacking on my part at being able to make rational judgments.

Again, let it be understood that its not why your program called home that's an issue. Its the fact that it called home PERIOD that's an issue. You have no right to secretly install a Live Updater on a person’s computer without their knowledge and permission.

Now I am finish with this conversation so anyone who cares to comment can do so to anyone other than myself.