Customer Reviews

Spyware Reference & Study Guide

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The write up of this book appears very promising but in fact it is just a mix of different materials that has no real direction or point.

The first part of the book is "in the news" which seems to be reprints of different people online postings about spyware in general. It is complete disjointed and does not really give any detail information. One of the “articles” is “Spyware Primer” by Steve Bass. In the article Steve talks about continuing the discussion on key points within the article next week. I did not find another article by Steve Bass and I seriously doubt Ligatt Publishing is going to send me a new book next week. There are also parts that are underlined that appear to be web links. I think this issue arises since the pages seem to be printed straight from the articles but there is no actual reference/listing of the URL if you wanted to look at the link more in-depth.

Following this are some basic stats, a glossary, and list of spyware makers.

The best part is Chapter 6 "How To Clean Up Spyware". The chapter starts out stating it is a list of specific spyware and full details on how to remove spyware. Here are a few examples. A list of Mendware stating "This is a Trojan" really tells you how to remove it. Or, the listing for xxxtoolbar of "http://www.xxxtoolbar.com" is just inviting the reader to go to the site and get infected.

Chapter 7 seems to be the place where they actually tell you how, sort of, to remove the spyware but since the chapter is labeled "Spyware Danger Levels" I would not look there for the instructions. The chapter also has the phantom links mentioned before where somethings are underlined but there is no URL listed. So it is nice to know X-Cleaner "Aconti" it would be real helpful is they listed the URL for X-Cleaner instead of just underlining X-Cleaner.

The final parts are just straight prints of PowerPoint presentations. These are interesting but not that helpful without the actual lecture to go with it.

As for the CD, the book states that there are certain items on the CD. Most of the items are there. But, two of the items, eBlaster and Spector Pro, are not included. Instead there is a text file telling you to go to the publishers website to purchase a serial number. When the write up and the back of the book state these items are "On The CD" I expect them to be on the CD.

Gregory Evans has plagiarized this book and as such it should not be purchased. Please see the following source:
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This book happens to be the best reference guide on Spyware I've been able to find up to this date. Although the first few chapters failed to provide some of the url's/links associated with the articles, it was still usefull in creating a starting point for further research.
The majority of the book is filled with usefull information and I was able to identify the various types of spyware on my machine and remove them without incident. The powerpoint presentations were easy to follow and when I found that I had additional questions I merely contacted the author, Mr. Evans who was very professional and eager to answer my specific questions.
Overall I give this reference guide 4 stars because of the vast amount of information it provides from news articles to working programs provided on the CD which accompanies the book.

Loved it! Gives lots of references about the different types of spyware and what they are. I found out how to remove spyware and keep it from coming back.

This book is the best book I've found regarding spyware. I was able to determine which spyware programs were infesting my computer and slowing it down. The free software that came with the book helped me remove the spyware, saving me the cost of hiring a tech to do a job that I can do myself after reading this book.