Superantispyware blocked by ZA and Uninstall wizard is a joke !

Hello all,
First I installed a few month ago Superantispyware Free, to try and to compare (and to complete) with other antispyware like Spybot...

A few weeks ago, after upgrading ZAPro to 7.0.462, I encountered problems to update SAS database... After having looked in ZAP Program Control, I saw that SAS was banned (black listed) by Smart Defense (automatic rule setting) and that was the reason why it was impossible to update database... After some reseaches on the web, I found some posts that said that SAS deactivated ZA firewall and reactivated Windows XP firewall without having notified user... I thought that this was the main reason why Checkpoint desided to black liste SAS...

Well, using SAS Free, I found all commercial advices to buy complete version of SAS suspicious at each level....

So I decided to uninstall definitely SAS Free from both of my computers...

Uninstalling process (twice exactly the same on to different processes) :
1) Using add/remove programs, I found the SAS Free entry and launched the uninstall wizard... Good
2) I was asked if I wanna remove all history and quarantined programs... And then internet explorer were launched on an appropriate survey page... Well ! I took sometimes to explain the reasons of my choice...
3) Finishing unstallation : when uninstall wizard ended, I had a look on my start menu entries and the link to Superantispyware were still here... I deleted it.... I had a look to my C:\Program Files\ and saw the folder \SuperAntiSpyware was still here... And still containing all sys, dll, exe files, etc... And the plugins folders... So I decided to delete all to get rid of all of the application but.... Impossible to delete the folder because of sasctxmn.dll
and saswinlo.dll still registered and activated.... "What else ?"

I decided to use the biggest weapons I had to destroy this was begining, for me, an annoying pet that I had to delete of my PC (My weapon is from jv16.org, thks a lot)!!!


To be quick, the only way to get rid of this pet is to delete all registry entries that contains one of the following entries :
- sasctxmn.dll
- saswinlo.dll
- superantispyware

If you try, you will see about an hundred of registry keys !!! Yes...
After the reboot : I was able to delete the whole folder, in C:\Program Files\...

That's happened on exactly in the same way, for both of my PC... I will try tonight on another one and I'm sure that will be the same !


So : my conclusion is this application is one of the biggest pet I never had... And the first rule to fit, before being an antispyware, is to provide a proper uninstallation wizard !!!! And I hate all the application that say there are free but continuously telling or pop-up you "Hey Guy, You have to pay for real time monitoring etc...."


Bye bye SAS !!!!

 

SAS really leaves remnants when you use the Add or Remove option in the Control Panel to uninstall it. To uninstall it successfully run its installer and choose remove.

thanatos

 

In fact I did not remember to have seen any uninstaller in Superantispyware, but may be you are right, there was an SAS free repair and probably it had the uninstall feature... No matter... When you type superantispyware and uninstall, on google for example, you will be surprise of the number of different sites that deal with that problem... And it is said that the SAS uninstaller never worked in fact ! The solution is either to unregisterer dll's and delete folder, or delete all registry keys mentionned in my first post and to reboot... Note that the first method does not rid of obsoletes registry keys. You will further need to clean your registry (about 100 junk keys)

 

Or one could use programs like CCleaner/Revo Uninstaller etc.

@Phillippe: a shame that you don't like the program. I agree that the uninstall procedure can be improved, but other than that I find it to be a very helpful tool.

 

Well, in fact, even my words are a little bit to strong (and sorry, for my poor English, I'm french ;-), superantispyware does not keep value added compared to really opensource of freeware like Spybot... So, to my experience I use :
-> Antivirus / Antispyware = EAV 3.0
-> FW = ZAP 7
-> Spyware scanning engine : sypbot and some times lavasoft (but this one is now becoming too commercial and seems to become as a "pet")

So no need to add some more sharewares like SAS...

 

Your loss dude, SAS is probably one of the best anti spyware programs available,it is not shareware,its on demand scanner is free.If you want resident protection ( which I hear is excellent ) you buy it,whats 'suspicious' about that.Pop ups ! what pop ups.All I,ve seen is, when updating,a message,to purchase real time monitoring.As for deactivating firewalls, well that is a joke !

 

SUPERAntiSpyware is built using Window Installer, so it has a full uninstall under the Add/Remove Programs as any Windows application should have. If it is not there on your system, it's likley you have a corrupted Windows Installer or another security application blocked us from adding to the Add/Remove programs list. A simply re-install and immediate uninstall will remove all traces - there is no need to ever delete things manually.

 

SUPERAntiSpyware does not disable ANYTHING on your sytem - we are a reputable anti-spyware application with over 5 million users.

 

You can google any application i.e. "spybot uninstall" , "adware uninstall", etc. etc. and you will see problems uinstalling those applications as well - in today's software age, it's impossible for anything to work 100% on everyones systems - it just isn't possible.

 

Philippe_FR22

1)SAS dose not adjust firewall settings in any firewall period so why do you think it dose and where are the source of the others that posted the same ?

2)Have you tried rebooting after running the uninstaller inorder to complete the clean up because to me your jumping the gun by saying *it has'nt uninstalled properly* yet you had'nt even rebooted at that point for the uninstallation process to complete

So your not a happy camper,fine everyone to their own opinion but when you post such negative things expect them to be challenged if they are untrue as in the case of the firewall mystery and the obvious pointed out with reguards the uninstallation process

 

Hello,

1) Well, I saw on a french post thar SAS deactivated ZA and reactivated Windows default FW :=> Here
http://forum.telecharger.01net.com/...et_active_pare-feu_win-317571/messages-1.html

2) SmartDefense Advisor for ZA Pro blocked SAS update... And that was the case with KIS (Kapersky)

3) Commercial banners inside the SAS GUI
Many reasons that decided me to uninstall this software (even if it sounds good for many people, nor for me, I prefer Sybot and Eset is realtime monitoring either for virus or spyware)... And I don't like superantispyware GUI....

And the uninstall process ? Definitely a problem...

Ok sorry for my last "negative" post and you know maybe am I happier camper than you can imagine ;-) but I'm angry about lost of shareware/freeware hurting you with lots of banners saying, please buy me if you want this feature... If people choose the freeware / limited release, let them and forget the commercial license they will probably buy if they want more...

 

So basically you are making statements about the de-activation of Zone Alarm without any actual "proof" yourself - you just repeated what you read on another post. You should have made that clear on your first post.

Zone Alarm and KIS blocked us as any firewall does the first time a new application accesses the Internet - that's what a firewall is supposed to do - the user has to allow an application full access.

As for the uninstall process - we have a complete uninstall available via the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs - just as any Windows application is supposed to - I guess that's a problem for you - you must have problems with every Windows application out there then

It sounds like you want everything for free, which is fine, but you have to realize that companies spend lots of resources (time, money, etc) to create these applications and have to be supported in some way or else they can't continue to create top notch applications.

 

I think what he was saying is that he had a problem with the uninstall not completely removing the program and all it's associated files and registry entries. Most programs do seem to leave a few remnants when they go (maybe this is unavoidable?) but some are worse than others. I can't comment on how effective the SAS uninstall routine is myself as I have never had the need/desire to remove SAS.

 

Hi,

The Windows' add/remove feature CAN NOT completely remove all traces of any given application including SAS in question, I bet one Lonnie on this.

The complexity and severity of this problem highly depend upon all other security programs the individual has on his/her box.

File search, registry cleaning and manual registry search/deletion are all needed to make a happy ending. No exceptions.

Any developer telling you his program can be easily uninstalled completely thru Windows' add/remove feature is an analogy to telling you that all sheep are black.

Take care.

 

Would you care to have a real technical debate on this? An uninstaller can certainly clean up all traces.

 

Hi, Nick

I am NOT a tech in your field, although I am involved in daily R&D in other tech field.

I did say any uninstaller including third party one, excepting perhaps those utilizing snapshot technology, can not completely remove all traces. Just d/l any of them and QA yourself..

Just a reminder to you , you have 5 millions followers, every word exiting your keyboard means a lot to them either way.

I can not engage any debate with you, because I am a underdog, lacking the speciality you possess.

Perhaps my daily computing experiences involving many different broader applications is my ONLT advantage to you. But who knows, after all this is not my worry nor my concern, just curiosity. My bread and butter are something other than AS application.

Take care.

 

My concern is that when people (anyone) makes a blanket statement that may not be correct, others who read it take it as fact and then that gets spread onto others, who keep the cycle going.

The fact is an uninstaller can certainly remove all traces of the product(s) IT installed as it will have full knowledge of everything modified on the system. That's not saying that if something blocks or corrupts the uninstaller, it will still be able to completely remove all traces of the items. It would likely fail at that point.

I just want to make sure when technical statements are made, that they are indeed actual fact.

 

Hi, Nick

Can you ask your QA to conduct the following procedures and then post his findings:

On WinXP sp2 home, install the following: Comodo firewall(most recent version) with Defense+ disabled, McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.5i, SAS free, WinPatrol (most recent version). Then, uninstall SAS via any method you prefer. After this is done, according to your statement, SAS is completely removed, right ?

No, not according to my experiences. This is why, Just use any registry editor,(I use Registrar Registry Manager Pro v.5.0), to search SuperAntiSpyware. The finding will make your jaws dropped.

Enjoy your experiments. And look forward to your post.

Taker care.

 

We will have to do this after the release of our 4.0 version as that has priority at this moment. Did you verify in your tests that none of the above security suites blocked any part of the installer or uninstaller?

 

Hi, Nick:

Thanks for your interest.

I just uninstall SAS free 3.9 via Add/Remove feature of Windows, and have installed V.4 During this, I search SuperAntiSpyware via Registrar Registry Manager, yes, I do find more than just few registry leftovers.

Nick, leaving some traces does not mean SAS is beyond any norm; any app will just have the same outcome.. SAS in my mind is still the number1 in AS filed. I am using it now and will continue to use it in a foreseeable future.

Looking forward to your V.4 final, and please do that experiment whenever you can.

Take care.

 

In a mainframe system, only system programmers and code related to the Operating System can be altered. Other applications are not allowed to tinker around with O.S. entries and files. I think that is why the microcomputer O.S. is so easily hacked since nearly every fricking thing has its claws embedded into it. But it would be interesting to find out if a spotless install/uninstall action can be or has been achieved.

 

I'd be more likely to point fingers at ZA, I never did like that firewall, and it seems to alway have issues since it's been around.

 

I was a mainframe Systems Programmer in the 1970's and 1980's, and would have taken great exception to have been altered. Still would, in fact.

 

I concur completely. Some will argue ZA runs just fine and i'm sure with some systems it does, but it's a known fact ZA is been consistenly plagued with problems going all the way back before it was transferred to another developer.

I don't know personally what developers use to backtrack their program's installation procedures to make a full uninstaller, but some do leave trace amounts behind. I too take exception to any app that writes into the system on installation but omits a great deal of removal.

I can't say with any certainty about SAS, but the developer is one sharp pencil and i would venture to say that if leftovers by chance were overlooked that were to become of some serious concern to users, they can rest assured it will be reviewed and corrected.

Sounds to me though like another app might just be blocking attempts to remove entries.

 

Did you ever use ZA ? You can choose different strategy. From always ask for internet access to "learning mode" and a feature smart defense advisor can automatically set FW rules, regarding an application behaviour database. Then afterward, sure, you can modify rules if you want... After a few days of PC activity, you can, then, modify strategy to "Always ask for unknow application"... And therefore, you can choose to control dll used by application or application chaining....

Well, I noticed that the feature SmartDefense automatically set rules to never allow access (either on local netw, or internet)... That means informations regarding SAS, in SmartDefense DB, is that SD should block SAS !!! Why ? I don't know why Checkpoint decided to block SAS, never mind ! That is the fact !

2) I know what a FW is supposed to do and how to manage configuration, depending on if it is a business labtop (dedicated to mobility) or a business file or mail server, or simply a multi-user home PC ...

In that case : SAS uninstall program does not perform what it is supposed to do ! And You right, for this particular case (SAS) it is a problem for me and a good new reason to stop using SAS ! And to "not recommend" to all people near me...

False : I pay for windows, for Office, for NOD32 and ZAP... But some freeware and/open source applications are much better than some commercial products !!! Expecially when the application is said freeware but is, in fact, a bundle of advertising messages !!! Well, this is my opinion !




And last but not the least :

According to http://techsupportalert.com/Security Tests/SuperAntiSpyware Pro 3.6.1.htm
Tests are very negative ....
And the following review http://www.techsupportalert.com/issues/issue144.htm#Section_2.1
And I love particularly this sentence : "(...).Apart from protecting your browser's home page, it provided little or no protection against critical areas in the registry and startup folder."
Definetly, I will forget SuperAntispyware !!!!