McAfee AntiSpyWare 2005

by McAfee

Product Features

• Essential protection for security-conscious Internet users
• Guards against spyware, adware, and privacy threats
• Detects then safely eliminates malicious applications
• Reduces advertisements that sap system performance
• Advanced auto-protect technology; multiple scanning options

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002BV7S6
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 2, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,387 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Spyware Product!, August 15, 2004

By 

LIFE IS GOOD "Gabe" (San Jose, Ca. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: McAfee AntiSpyWare 2005 (CD-ROM)

I recently picked up McAfee AntiSpyware after I had an ugly bout with some nasty spyware. I've been using the free utilities, Ad-Aware and Spybot: Search and Destroy, for little over a year now and they've worked well. But as Spyware evolves into more uglier and sneakier forms, I've noticed that many of the free utilities I use have had problems permanently erasing spyware. I would get rid of registry keys, then the next time I scan, it would reappear in the scan. Prior to, I've been a real big McAfee fan, being a current proud owner of Viruscan and Firewall. When I heard they had a Spyware program, with a year of free spyware signature updates, i decided to give it a try. Boy was I pleased! Within a couple minutes after the install and auto-updates, I was able to gut out the spyware that Ad-Aware and Spybot weren't able to do sucessfully on their own. I also found stuff that Ad-Aware and Spybot totally missed! Includer a browser hijacking program that was muddling around on my system for who knows how long?! I'm so pleased, I can already predict that with McAfee's solid background in AntiVirus protection, this will be a must have product. Another gold notch in the McCafee series of products!

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Real Time Spyware and Adware Protection, June 22, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: McAfee AntiSpyWare 2005 (CD-ROM)

I own McAfee Internet Security Suite 2004 but I purchased the stand alone version of this McAfee AntiSpyware 2005 program even though basically the same program is bundled as part of the "Privacy Service Program" with McAfee Internet Security Suite 2004 v6.0 . I did not want to use the Privacy Service program at all so I figured this would work best for me. I also decided could also easily use this as a stand alone program in the future along with another company's antivirus program such as Symantec's Norton Antivirus.

This McAfee Antispyware program is very simple to use and it seems to work well. You can open up the program's display properties anytime and monitor its activity and you will see it working as it scans web pages in real time as you browse using Internet Explorer. You can also schedule system wide scans and it has customizable controls so you can enable trusted spyware or adware programs not to be blocked. The biggest drawback is that it does not automatically detect and remove tracking cookies. Its main advantage is realtime scanning and blocking of spyware and adware. Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware (basic) are both free to download and work very well also however those programs do not auto update and they don't do essential real time scanning to stop the spyware before it infects your computer. Spybot does have an immunize feature that helps block a pre-set number of common spyware/adware programs but this list is static while McAfee's program uses dynamic scanning with the latest automatically updated spyware/adware detections.

I would recommend you use all three antispyware programs. Download Spybot and Ad-Aware for free and also install McAfee Antispyware 2005 for real time scanning. In this age of spyware, adware, trojan horses, tracking cookies etc. you can't be too safe. I would also recommend a good firewall like Zone Alarm 4.x or the even more feature rich Zone Alarm Pro 4.x ( Zone Alarm 4 with internet cookie, popup, and privacy controls) . Use a good Antivirus program such as McAfee 2004, Norton 2003, PC-Cillin 2004, or Kaspersky.

One more highly rated antispyware program you might want to look at is Webroot's SpySweeper which has all the realtime scanning features of McAfee along with tracking cookie detection. SpySweeper is a seasoned antispyware program known to have one of the highest spyware/adware/tracking-cookie detection rates among all the anti-spyware programs. Although the McAfee Antispyware 2005 is still relatively new to the antispyware game compared to other programs, I would expect this recently released McAfee software to continue to improve this year as this program auto-updates itself with more advanced features and enhanced spyware detections.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McAfee comes through again!, November 16, 2004

By 

Mario Eisenbacher (Mt. Laurel NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: McAfee AntiSpyWare 2005 (CD-ROM)

As a computer consultant I have been having unknown problems at a customer site running OSAS (Open systems Accounting Software) and Unform 5.0 (custom invoice/forms printing product from SDSI). It was preventing access to its license on the Network through its TCP/IP port. OSAS suggested the problem may be spyware on my customer's workstation running XP with its new firewall (when all the problems started). I removed spyware with Spybot. Unfortunately the problem still existed. So I finally decided to try ANTISPYWARE. It found the spyware (not seen by Spybot), removed it and the problem was CURED! Bravo for McAfee!