SuperAntispyware

Those of you who follow this blog know that I have been recommending SuperAntispyware for quite some time now, since actually, the day one of you told me about it (thanks John!)! It is now an integral part of my security toolkit.

I ran across this article on WindowsSecrets.com, and thought I'd pass it on. I was surprised to see that these techies only found this program now, but at least they did like it.

Free antispyware tool has a bombastic name

I've received many reader recommendations for an antispyware tool I'd never heard of before: SUPERAntiSpyware.

With a name like that, I assumed that the program had to be bogus. But it is, in fact, a legitimate antispyware program, despite the exuberant name.

As with many security programs, there's a version of SUPERAntiSpyware that's free for personal use and a "pro" version (U.S. $29.95) that adds a few functions. As I've said many times before, I'm a big fan of free tools that I can install on the PCs of friends and family for them to use after I leave.

SUPERAntiSpyware claims to run on all versions of Windows since 98, but it requires 256MB of RAM. That's a common amount of system memory for an XP machine but is probably more than you'll find on typical Windows 98–era hardware.

The program uses a traditional full installer and asks to download updates at install time. Immediately after installation, the app recommends that you scan your system for spyware. The program's quick scan took just a couple of minutes when I ran it on the small Windows XP VM that I use for testing.

I've installed a handful of random malware samples into an inactive directory on this test VM. SUPERAntiSpyware identified one of the malware files as well as the usual "spyware" browser cookies. The utility's performance was adequate and the VM remained responsive during the scan. The process required about 80MB of RAM while actively scanning.

I didn't have a real spyware infection to throw at the program, but in my very limited testing, SUPERAntiSpyware performed well. Based on my test results and the number of readers who recommend the program, I'm definitely going to put it into my toolbox. You can download a copy of SUPERAntiSpyware from the vendor's site.

Spybot

As much as I try to put Spybot on the back burner and not use it anymore, I still find it is needed. I was working on a customer's machine and ran Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and SuperAntispyware.  This machine had many problems. After deleting all of the things they found, I ran Spybot, and it found an additional 70 problems, which it then fixed. Some of these 70 were pretty serious, and this exercise just goes to show that different people in diferent countries bring their own experiences to the table and see things differently, to which I say Amen and Thank You!

Spybot is still a valuable and necessary component of my security suite.