Spyware terminator

I decided to Ax SpySweeper after much frustration & try Spyware terminator. I scanned recently with Zone Alarms spyware scanner & got a message that said Spyware terminator did nothing for my computer & endangered my security. I should get rid of the application as fast a possible & ZA proceeded to allow me to do this by deleteing the application. Anyone else ever see this before.?

 

Spyware Terminator is fine

 

I'm stunned
How did Zone Alarm know that from a online scan? Unless it marked ST as bad and say that everytime it finds St.

Not that i vouch for ST, but i do have it in my Scanners arsenal

 

I had virtually the same thing happen when I scanned with Trend Micro Anti-Spyware. It was configured to automatically delete all threats on scan and it deleted Spyware Terminator. I then uninstalled Trend Micro and reinstalled Spyware Terminator.

 

Zone Alarm spyware scanner and TMAS are basically targeting Spyware Terminator?
It would be interesting to know exactly why.

 

The reason folks is that the company behind Spyware Terminator has a bad past. Used to deliver adware/spyware. Not now though.

 

That doesn't wash.
There are other programs that had bad pasts and went legit.Zero Spyware for example.
Generally, there is a reason given for detection.Or a category like "trojan" or "adware".
It would be nice to know if Spyware Terminator is being detected for something found in the program(possible false positive)or behavior.
There has to be a rhyme or reason.Otherwise,every competitor is fair game for detection.
The program's origin shouldn't have anything to do with it.
The program's activity is more relevant.IMO anyway.

 

My thoughts exactly. Why Would they target ST Without reason. They obviously know the parent company does not use ST As a platform to launch spyware. Does anyone know if ST sends back info on their users? Or is ZA so concerned about this competition that they are using this avenue to terminate Spyware Terminator.

 

OK I'll await a different answer. Until then I stand pat.

 

I'm using it on the last 6 months and I'm very happy with its real-time shield

The support is also nice...

 

On the Spyware terminator forums, ZoneAlarm has been discussed in this context at least twice: http://forum.spywareterminator.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=495
http://forum.spywareterminator.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=549

 

Thanks for the links Tarq.

In the first link it appears that the ST detection was "adware".From ZA Pro anyway.

When I ran ST there wasn't any "phoning home" or suspicious activity detected here.

 

ST is excellent, replaced WD as my real time scanner of choice, works nicely behind router and along with Avast or AntiVir as my scanner. I have no other protection except occasional scanning wit Hitman Pro.

 

Check out crawler.com if you think they do not still try to pimp their spyware.

 

Checking out crawler.com. All the info I can find is that they used to be associated with spyware, marketed a toolbar made by IBIS, and have not been involved in the spyware business for many months. Some of this info was derived from http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm#de-listed Spyware terminator delisting information was last updated 9/March/06, and reportedly involved the monitoring of the parent company.
One of the other sources read was in a blog here: http://my.opera.com/Chewyfood/blog/show.dml/141255

So acr1965, can you provide evidence of said pimping, please?

 

Well, I just do not trust these guys, I really don´t know why so many people think it´s a cool product all of a sudden. I mean their detection rates are probably not even better than the other popular AS tools plus I don´t see anything special about the HIPS.

 

i dont trust them eiether.
what stops them from suddenly giving you malware instead of updates?
lodore

 

You may or may not know about trust. But you've just demonstrated you know not so much about AS.

What stops anything?
A well known program that's been around for a while earns a reputation. Count the number of times you see Spybot or AdAware mentioned, it's thousands. They've been around for a long time, have done an excellent job, the parent companies are believed/known to be well motivated.
A bit like an old friend.
So it's really a matter of trust, based on past behaviour and stated intention, that has caused these to become popular.
The number of people that SpywareTerminator is building trust with is increasing daily. I haven't had an infection since I installed it. Have you even tried it out?

 

Because of this maybe? :
hxxp://www.spywareterminator.com/help/promote.aspx


@Tarq57
How can you trust just someone's blog ? The owner of that blog was caught posting under different names false reviews on FileForum Spyware Terminator section, so i can tell you one thing: ST is full of BS, obvious Spyware Terminator has a lot of ''fake fans'' with plenty of time to write false reviews and distribute dirty publicity over the most visited download sites on web like FileForum, Softpedia & Download.com.

 

Of course you can't necessarily trust anyone's blog. But the reading I've done of what the guy has posted hasn't been at odds with my own (admittedly limited) experience or knowledge. I'm aware of at least 2 other user names he's used (I have a couple, too, for different types of site/forum.) But was unaware he was caught using more than one on the same review site. Got a link?
BTW, just in case you were wondering, I'm not one of "those" people. I have a "day" job. But having had to reformat 3 OS's through ignorance has made me somewhat interested in internet security.
I also don't see anything wrong with the vendors promoting their program ref: the address you posted. Can't see anything dodgy about that. It's a relatively new product. They've got a certain amount of "resistance" to overcome. Whether you believe a review to be genuine or not is up to you.

 

Well I guess you missed out the free part in the HIPS and the free on access scanner for spyware.

Of course the HIPS is a joke compared to advanced HIPS like Prosecurity (the current No 1 for its class), but it's pretty good for free.

 

The reason why I think many people like this product is because:

1. It gives free active protection from spyware. You've got to pay for this feature in other products.

2. Free HIPS (though you can get better for free)

3. Free On Demand scanning (you can also get better free on demand)

But Active protection plus hips plus on demand in one free product provides a nice layered approach all in one freebie. And even though it's scanner isn't all that good, scanning is really the least important part. Keeping malware off the system in the first place is what the battle is really about. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound a of cure. With both active protection and HIPS, I think this product is pretty decent (particulalry for a freebie).

 

For one thing, Crawler is still associated with Ibis. Heck they actually have the exact same telephone number listed on each of their contact pages (1-561-989-7400).

Another thing is that I read the Crawler Privacy Policy and compared it to the Websearch (Ibis) Privacy Policy. They are not all that different, especially when you discount the Crawler definition of "personally identifiable information" as :"your name, email address and account password." Potentially anything besides a person's name, email address and account password is not considered personally identifiable information as defined by Crawler.

The Privacy Policy of Crawler is below:

http://www.crawler.com/privacy_policy.aspx?tbid=70001

The Privacy Policy of Websearch (Ibis) is below:

http://www.websearch.com/legal/privacy.aspx

The contact information provided by Crawler is:

CRAWLER, LLC
999 YAMATO RD STE 100
BOCA RATON, FL 33431-4478
===============================
Telephone: 1-561-989-7400
Facsimile: 1-561-989-7401
===============================

The contact information provided by Websearch is:

IBIS, LLC
999 NW 51ST ST
STE 100
BOCA RATON, FL 33431-4478
===============================
Corporate Telephone: 1-561-989-7400
Facsimile: 1-561-989-7401
===============================


FWIW- there is some information that the address of the two businesses is exactly the same and that the address of IBIS (999 NW 51st St) is actually 999 YAMATO RD STE 100, which would be the same as Crawler. Etrust has the IBIS address as follows:

"Mailing Address
IBIS, LLC 999 West Yamato Road, Suite 100 Boca Raton, FL 33431

Phone:
Phone: (561) 989-7400 Fax: (561) 989-7401"

Although that may be an old address which is no longer valid.

Why the two companies would have different physical addresses but the same telephone and fax numbers is beyond me.

 

acr1965,
I've read the above, except for the privacy policies you linked to. IE7 won't display them, even if I change the security settings for the zone; even if I disable my hosts file. So that's where I start to come unstuck a bit. Unable to take a side here without the info. What I can say is that the EULA for Spyware Terminator produced a low threat interest in EULAsyer, and that I've never received spam, ever. Of course that could be 'cause my ISP does a very good job of blocking it.
What items (or lack of) would you consider are in Crawler's privacy policy that convinces you their products are/contain spyware?

 

Its detection could not be great, but have a great IDS that is also very light on resources...