Do you trust SpySweeper, by webroot?

As I see it there are two areas of trust. One is whether the product behaves as advertised. The other is whether the product is deliberately malicious. When it comes to whether products will behave as advertised I don't fully trust any software product. When it comes to whether a product is really malware in disguise I do trust a bunch of products.

I've never heard of WebRoot so I haven't got a definite opinion, but the fact that I haven't heard of it makes me cautious about the quality of the product if not its intended function.

Is that just a bunch of cr-p? I was wondering that as I wrote it. :D

Version but I have used it since it came out. I do not trust most software! When I build a new computer, I install allot of programs and I know at least some of them try to talk to a server.
I run process explorer, zone alarm, a hard ware firewall and a firewall that comes with the ISP service I use. Yes I am paranoid and proud of it.
The Spy sweeper dose a good job but I also use Adaware, CCleaner, window washer and Xsoft.
I run Windows XP and I will run as much as I need to protect my computer. I do not keep any personal information on the computer; I do not use my bank or credit card on line. But I do use Pay PAL, they are now protected, but I don?t trust that ether.
I have ID protection but that only protects you to a point and after that you have to prove you have not spent the money they say you have.

but as this is a laptop, I will tell it when I want it to do the updates, and I stay on top of it.

Sure, if this was a users pc I would have the autoupdate going, but I can handle manual just find.

When I am done for the evening, I always have it run either a scan of some sort, defrag, or some other cleanup.

I think in the morning, this will get uninstalled.

I use to run their spy sweeper, but then it expired and I never renewed it. I like webroots products, I have never had any ill effects from their products except for when them and McAfee banged heads once. I got rid of McAfee and not Webroot's product in that instance.

I do not ever remember them trying to call home though when I turned it off.

Dan

By and large, Spysweeper has performed well. However, we have had some issues with the automatic updates.

Most recently: This past Monday night/Tuesday morning we had an automatic update pushed that seemed to cause sporadic issues. In most cases, a simple reboot cleared the problem. However, in some severe cases (1-2% of our user base), support had to remove Spysweeper entirely, and re-install it to correct the issue.

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

it was the only product that caught 100% of stuff thrown at it in tests.

No one product catches everything in real life tho. I've started using trendmicro.com free online spyware sweeper.

Other products show you the keys they found, t does not, which worried me slightly. Webroot trial time I tried it did not remove the problem spyware but showed you the reg keys to remove, and .dll file names.

I'm slightly worried that, in spite of being pretty well locked down, it found something on my work computer. Now I'll have to change all passwords that are important (my $).

Spysweeper is by far "the BEST" antispyware program out there. You have to understand that it runs in the background, just like your antivirus program. If it wants to connect to internet to update itself, by all means let it do it. You do (?) update your antivirus program regularly, don't you? If you don't, you are living in a dream world. New malware is created every day. Keeping your programs updated is of paramount importance. By the way, I have used everything... spybot, adaware. Spysweeper gets my vote. Stay away from programs advertized on internet unless you know it is a reputable program. Some of those programs are "not" reputable and download malware with their trial versions. Then they "find" those programs in their initial scan before they ask you for money to fix the problems

I do not use Spy Sweeper for precisely this reason.
I picked up a computer from a Nursing Home Nurses Station last week and it had spy sweeper on it. When I started the computer it took more than an hour to get to the point of ability to use the mouse.
After installing AVG Spy used to be called Ewido from Grisoft. FREE download. AVG came up with over 5000 threats revealed, after cleaning this up the computer responded faster. Of course more cleaning and tweaking was required before the job was done, but what the heck was Spy Sweeper doing for the Custome I ASK???? Trust IT, I don't think SO.

I had to choose between Spyware doctor and Sweeper carefully considering pros and cons. Also, I have tested both with a hard-to-remove spyware at one of the customers' desktop. Both of them found the spyware correctly and both were able to remove it. Each of them has the problem. The Spyware doctor "eats" about 50% of CPU utilization in the active monitor mode. The sweeper eats a lot of memory. I bought the Spyware doctor but I use it gently, not in all modes at the same time.

I have been reading some confusion on this message thread. Comments are combining two completely different types, of programs. Let us first, clear up what these programs are and what their purpose is.

Webroot's SpySweeper, Lavasoft's AdAware and Kolla's Spybot Search & Destroy are programs that only look for Spyware and Malware ... not Viruses, Worms or Trojan Horses.

Grisoft's AVG is an anti-virus program, which only look for Viruses, Worms or Trojan Horses ... not Spyware and Malware.

Now, as to the validity of the Webroot company, they survived the '.dot com' 2000 crash and have grown in reputation and solid programs. They have been in existence, since 1997 and are well respected in the computer community.

About 2 years ago, I purchased Webroot's SpySweeper. My daughter had been using it, for a couple of years and loved it. I was impressed with it's over all performance. But, as one other person stated here, I didn't really want to pay an $19.95 annual subscription, for getting updates definitions.

However, both types of programs have a common thread ... the need to update the database definitions, as soon as they are available. Updating for these types of programs are paramount, in protecting your computer and/or computer systems.

I use Lavasoft's AdAware SE Plus. Why?Simple, it works and works well. Another thing, that I personally like about AdAware, I purchased their "Plus" program, about 5 years ago and they stated at that time, I would never have to pay for any upgrade. Guess what? They have honored that agreement and I like that. A company that stands behind their word, is rare these days.

Lavasoft's AdAware SE Plus, I allow it to automatically update. I have a DSL 6.0 Extreme, so, that is a no-brainer, for me.

I also, use Kolla's Spybot Search & Destroy, because it is FREE. Plus, it "catches" and removes the couple of odd ball spyware/malware, that may be missed by AdAware. Now, with Kolla's Spybot Search & Destroy, I manually update, before I scan. Where as AdAware uses only one location to update from, Spybot uses several and some just run 'slow as molasses'. Even with DSL 6.0.

Then, to finish off my PC 'clean up', I use Webroot's Window Washer 5.5.

I have been using Webroot's Window Washer, since early 1998 and will NOT be without it, ever. I dearly LOVE that program and trust it completely, since, I have control over the whole thing. I don't update the program. It isn't necessary, since it's only purpose is to remove "cookies". I was using their version 6, but, prefer version 5.5.

I really do love this program, you can set it up do all things automatically or you have the options to do it manually, which is my personal preference.

As to my usage of a Firewall, I have a fantastic one that came with my 2Wire DSL Modem. I am completely 'stealth' on Steve Gibson's Shield's Up scanner, at his website. I have used Zone Alarm and will only use the older version 2.6 of Zone Alarm Pro. The newer version plays havoc with Grisoft's AVG. However, I now only use the hardware firewall that comes with my 2Wire Modem.

Just for those who do not know, the term "Spyware" was coined by Steve Gibson. He became concerned in late 1999 or early 2000 about "spy-bots" that were in Real Player, that were installed on his computer without his knowledge or permission. His 'fight' is legendary and started a whole spyware/malware software industry.

A small note, these are my experiences with these programs, on my personal computers and what I use to install on family and friends computers, that I build, tweak and repair. As for corporate systems, it would seem to me, that the most important aspect would be to have programs that are easy to use, reliable and work.

Bottom line, Webroot is a company that I trust and use.

I have had nothing but problems with both spy sweeper and symantic products in general lately they seem to be huge resource hogs dragging whole systems down,and uninstalling them can take a few head fakes and jabs to finish the job.All in all I say stay the hell away from anything that causes that much grief.

I have a utility called Binman, and without fail when it is scanning it will stop and the file displayed is always the same one. It will only do this if SpySweeper is clicked on to start with Windows. Niether AdAware, Spybot nor Spyware Doctor have this effect on the scan of the Binman temp file cleaner although these all start up with Windows.

We used to run the Entrprise edition of SpySweeper. We ran it for 9 months on about 400 machines.

After figuring out (repeatedly!) that SpySweeper was missing even the most basic and generic forms of spyware, and reporting it to Support time and again and being told that it was not deemed as a threat, we pulled it from all of our machines and cancelled the support agreement in a hopeless attempt to save some money.

We were also looking for an antivirus replacement at the time (since McAfee is just not well liked, and had more than a few problems with our machines and network layout).

We decided to swithc to Sophos AV after a lot of testing of different products, mostly becuase of the integrated antispyware component. It was just upgraded to a new version recently and works well. We still have some issues with it, and that is more because of the uniqueness of our environment, but it works well, catches spyware and viruses regularly and otherwise requires little maintenance on my part.

I'm the guy that installed it for the company and is responsible for it by the way.

I bought a copy and it messed up so much I uninstalled it. Then a couple months later read a review and decided to give it another try. But it wouldn't accept my activation code. I emailed tech about it and a couple weeks later they sent me an email describing a fix that didn't work.
I finally just trashed the program and try to steer my customers clear of it when I can.

Have been using for over a year and have no problems. Works fine, but as other people suggested you may need to combine with other spyware removal progs when things get tough

It caused problems with my VPN connection from home. Our Administrator, nor Juniper's people could figure out what was wrong. This went on for a week, then I uninstalled SpySweeper my problem disapeared.

I cannot speak to the enterprise version, but as someone who builds and networks home computers I consider it a valuable part of my defenses and recommend it highly to those people whose computers I work on.

I used to be a loyal Norton SystemWorks customer, until that product became an unbearable, steaming pile of horse manure (talk about a resource hog!) that couldn't perform any of its advertised functions, and could only be uninstalled by formatting the hard drive. I similarly banned McAfee products from my computers after they bought the highly reliable SpamKiller, brought it under their umbrella, and forced you to install a load of unnecessary McAfee resource-eating garbage in the background. Both of these companies have given up on the home user, and are just basically stealing people's money.

I have been using Webroot SpySweeper for three years now on my machines and other home user machines that I am responsible for, without a single complaint from any of the machines or the people using them. The machines I've installed this product on vary from a Dell with a 700 MHz Celeron and 512 MB of RAM to a home-built with a Pentium III at 1 GHz and 768 MB of RAM, to a home-built running an overclocked Pentium 4 with multiple raid set ups for video editing--they all run this product without any of the problems I've seen mentioned here. The only time I see a drag on resources is when the program is performing a full system scan, something it does a very in-depth job of.
For you folks who claim it does not allow you to shut down certain processes, one of the features of this program is that it prevents infection by root kits, one of the shields that it runs in the background. It also flags when new programs are trying to make suspect registry changes; while some might see this as "false positives", the program is in fact doing its job! Regarding "phoning home", the program regularly receives updated spyware lists just as antivirus programs receive new antivirus definitions--it does this whether you want to receive updates to the main program or not.

Researching, and reading (on more than one technical site) that no one single anti-spy ware program catches everything, and liking the fact that it does things in real time that the other programs don't, I consider it part of a multi-pronged defense. Because I was trying different things after abandoning SystemWorks, my three computers have three different set ups. Two computers use Computer Associates eTrust Antivirus (this computer has the enterprise version, the other uses the consumer version), and computer number three uses Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite, which includes the consumer version of eTrust Antivirus. The first two computers also run Zone Alarm Pro. All are additionally sitting behind a router that uses a hardware firewall. The other anti-spy ware products that I use are AdAware Pro (this computer) and AdAware SE (the other two computers), along with Spybot Search and Destroy on all three.
While all these programs mostly remove cookies because the real threats have been blocked, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM gives you a choice about what keys are removed, quarantines the removed cookies by dates, gives you the ability to restore them! (This is for you folks who aren't paying attention to what your programs are doing, or learning the features of the programs so that you can put back things that were accidentally removed). Learn how your programs work, and you won't lose things that are VITAL to your operations!

I want to mention one other thing that was barely mentioned in the previous threads--there are several programs being advertised on the Internet which claim to be anti-spy ware programs, and some people are inadvertently being led down a path because the names of these programs use a "play" on spelling or wording to make their name sound like the name of a real and trusted program that actually does some good. These "sound alike" programs quite often install MORE spyware and pop ups on your machine and give a black eye to the programs that they are pretending to be--make sure you haven't installed one of these before trashing the name of a program that actually does some good.

By the way, since installing the Zone Alarm/Webroot Spysweeper/eTrust Antivirus/AdAware/Spybot Search and Destroy line of defenses, my computers are running much faster, and I'm not experiencing the daily problems/crashes/lockups that I had when I was running Norton SystemWorks. For those of you who still run SystemWorks (or any Symantec security product), I pray for you that it does not randomly unregister itself one day as mine did (and as it has for several thousand other customers--just look at their user forums), causing the only system infection I've ever had--after all the other troubles I had experienced with their products, that was the last straw.

Webroot SpySweeper-- I trust it thoroughly, and highly recommended it!

And, not all versions of Spy Sweeper provide for telling it which cookies to ignore.

Furthermore, WB has repeatedly failed to either reply to my missives to them pointing out such problems, or modified their files so as to no longer flag as "dangerous" any of the specific groups of cookies that I've documented for them as being either necessary or benign. Of course, they are not the only provider of security products that has repeatedly ignored my having provided such information.

I too do not trust the softawres, as it itself shown as spy by x-cleaner

In my opinioin the Spybot having lot of problem, I use x cleaner and ewido combination, since then our PCs works fine.

you find Spy Sweepers remedial actions inferior to those of some other products.

Yet, you here state "webroot's [i]Spybot[/i]."

As it seems that you are confusing products, you should understand that Spy Sweeper and Spy Bot are different products. More importantly, while Spy Bot [i]Search and Destroy[/i] is a legitimate product, there are imitators, using the name Spy Bot which are malevolent.

My above comment above was the WebRoot's [i]Spy Sweeper[/i] is [b]not[/b] spy-ware. And now, I must also also assert that the same is true of [i]Spy Bot [b]Search and Destroy.[/b][/i] Any "security" product that says other wise is, at best, mistaken; at worst, it is in attempt to get you to remove legitimate products so as to ease the path for malware!

I usually get a few hits when I sweep my computer daily. Suddenly, a couple of weeks ago Spysweeper stopped finding anything. It simply tells me everything is fine. This seems unusual.

I don't think it is possible that there is nothing there to catch. Has anyone else seen this happening?