Spywareblaster Query

Could maybe a Javacool or other expert just tell me how this facility can do anything at all when it is not a running process ?
My experience is that every man-made innovation on earth has to be switched on or otherwise activated before it goes bang.

 

While the technical aspects are beyond me too, essentially it works by adding or revising registry entries -- e.g., there's a long list of IE restricted sites added.

Probably the most important protection is against active-x malware, which is handled by what's called kill-bits (don't ask me to define) in the registry, which prevent the malware from operating.

So since SB's protection is "sort-of-resident", in that it works through the registry, the only time it needs to be running is to check for (and if available, download) updates, which will in turn make new changes to the registry. Plus, of course, you'd need to start it if you want to change any preference options.