Today I took a test drive of the spyware removal program called Webroot Spy Sweeper. I downloaded the 14 day free trial and within 2 minutes, the program was up and running.
My initial impression of this program was that it was very similar to other spyware and adware removal programs I have used in the past.
The first difference I noticed was that Spy Sweeper prompted me to download the latest threat definitions. I don’t remember doing this with the other program I normally use.
Once the program was fully updated, I started the scan.
I liked the way it generated a detailed activity log as it is scanning. As it was scanning, it displayed the specific threat it detected. This is a plus. I guess it’s better than waiting until the scan is over before laying it all on me at once.
Here is the text of the activity log once the scan had finished:
You are now protected against 117521 known traces.
To ensure proper removal of spyware, adware and other unwanted items, be sure to close any programs that are open.
Your Sweep Options indicate the following will be swept:
Drives: C:
Also sweeping: Memory, Cookies, Registry
Trojan Horse found: 2nd-thought
Adware found: webrebates
Adware found: ebates money maker
Trojan Horse found: trojan-downloader-curgsi
Adware found: linkmaker
Full Sweep has completed. Elapsed time 00:20:52
Traces Found: 18
I normally scan my computer for Adware every couple of weeks and it is not uncommon to pick up 2 or 3 threats. There appeared to be more detected on this scan. The scan time also seemed to be a little quicker with this program.
The next screen let me look at each threat specifically if I wanted, then removed them for me.
During this review, I could find nothing I didn’t like about this software. There also seems to be a lot more I can do with this program(shields, alerts, news etc).
If I was in the market for a new spyware removal agent, I would seriously consider this one. According to the website, it costs $29.95 and you get a year of updates and support.
If you want more details on it or to download the trial, you can do so here.
This article posted 12 18 05
December 18th, 2005 at 3:23 pm
we use this on our servers. Very useful, and doesn’t affect the running of the (windows 2000) server.
December 19th, 2005 at 8:36 am
I downloaded the trial due to serious infection on my PC. Windows XP even told me i was infected. I rebooted into safe mode ran spysweeper and now my pc is running smooth again! Great product…