Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Technical competence diminished by email problems, cookie reporting deficiencies, sales nags, and extended support hold time, March 18, 2009
This renamed version of Webroot Spy Sweeper with AntiVirus to Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware is an improvement over version 5. In particular, the availability of a "no extra charge" firewall, i.e., the Webroot Desktop Firewall, is an advance that reduces the chances of incompatibility between Webroot's anti-malware, anti-virus, and software firewall. Fortunately, problems with an earlier version of the firewall on my system, where the firewall displayed the message that it had encountered a problem and was shutting itself down seems to have been eliminated in later updates. If a "free" firewall is an important consideration, potential buyers should check with Webroot to confirm continued availability of this product with Weboot Antivirus. A recent discussion with Webroot's on-line support team mentioned that in the future this firewall may only be provided to purchasers of Webroot Internet Security Essentials and not purchasers of the product reviewed here.
An email problem that occurred with earlier releases of Spysweeper has now reappeared with this version, at least on my Vista-64 bit system (those with different systems may have other experience). As of the date of this review, Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware has prevented the download of email if the Webroot email shield is on. The problem is present both with Windows Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird. Turning off the email shield clears the problem, but it means the email shield cannot be used, and thus does not provide email protection.
Spysweeper continues to have other implementation deficiencies. Although it specifies the number of cookies it finds, unless it determines a cookie is a problem, e.g., a tracking cookie, it provides no further information. A clearly better approach would be for Spysweeper to list all cookies it finds with their location and allow users to decide which, if any, cookies to keep. However, Spysweeper has not advanced in this area from their previous versions.
Some additional disappointment with Spysweeper relates to the company's intrusive sales "nags" after purchase. For example, when you select "Check for Updates" manually from the Spysweeper "Home" page, your browser is opened and you are taken to one of the company's web pages (nag screens) -- even if your product is up-to-date. There you'll find the option to "Renew Your Subscription Early and Save $10 for another year of protection", although the price for the software even with this early purchase discount is higher than Amazon's regular price. Spysweeper should certainly consider removing this "feature" in the near future.
When I called technical support, I was placed on hold for approximately 20 minutes. During this time the call was frequently punctuated by recorded messages offering me faster support access for a flat fee starting at $29.95, or $99.95 for help with virus removal. Webroot's bundled technical support team appears understaffed. After a 20 minute wait for the first level of technical support, I was again put on hold, for over an hour, for the next level of support. However, when the appropriate technical support level was reached, the technician was friendly, courteous, and knowledgeable and quickly solved my problem.
During a Spysweeper installation, Spysweeper may not be the only software you will be installing. The default during the Spysweeper installation process is to also install the "Ask Toolbar" in your browser without requiring your specific approval. If you are not alert this will be done automatically. Clearly an "op-in" for a possibly undesired feature would be more appropriate than Webroot's "op-out" requirement. As the Ask toolbar is available for free download from Ask, the current default installation is not a service to Webroot customers. If you do not want the Ask toolbar added to your browser, carefully check your options as you install Spysweeper.
From a user's perspective, the software has not changed greatly. The software interface is essentially identical to earlier versions. Full sweeps are still relatively long, even on a quad core system with four gigabytes of RAM. Of course, it's not clear if the relatively long sweep times are due to thoroughness or to inefficient algorithm designs. Faster sweeps can be achieved using the "quick sweep" option. However, if you're going to check you system for malware, it seems a "full sweep" is most appropriate.
No anti-malware program can detect or shield against all malware. As two example: Rootkits were known about for some time before effective means were developed to detect, eliminate, and shield against them. Also, with every new malware release, systems are vulnerable until the malware is detected. Even then, each software company takes differing times to update and release fixes after learning about the new threat. Thus, its a good idea to use more than one anti-malware program and, if possible, have them update automatically. In terms of prevention/detection, in the years I've been using Spyweeper, I've only found two occasions where malware made it through their shields, a significant achievement.
Conclusion: . Spysweeper's anti-malware capabilities appear quite competent. While it has some minor nuisances, as described above, the serious email problem, at least on my system, and the long support hold times (unless a customer pays an additional fee) need improvement if this product is to deserve a top rating.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good product, October 29, 2009
I have been using the Spysweeper part of this program for many years. I bought this to product to update my antivirus software and have software that had both antivirus and antispyware together. The antispyware sheilds do a very good job of catching spyware before they enter your computer.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reliable spyware remover, October 18, 2009
I have been on 'subscription treadmill' with Spysweeper, which has been highly rated in the past.
Using this with free download of MalwareBytes seems to do a good job of blocking and clearing all the gremlins.
I had a very bad virus a few months ago, and I was resigned to re-format the drive. I had heard of the MalwareByte free program, and decided to try it in desperation. It worked very well, identifying and removing the bug. The free version doesn't appear to be RAM-resident. You call it up on demand, update, and run it. Very frequent updates, means there are many working on bug removal. I don't know if the paid version is any different, but I highly recommend the Malware Bytes program. I will purchase it, since I think those programmers are definitely worth the community's support. (I am NOT associated with this company).
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