The best just keeps getting better. Webroot's Spy Sweeper, which shared the spotlight with Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE Plus as our picks for the best antispyware products of 2004, is now the sole champ of the antispyware arena. The latest version, 3.5, with its slight but effective improvements, is easily the best choice for protecting PCs from spyware and for cleaning infected machines.
Scan time is improved in the new version. We ran both versions 3.0 and 3.5 against the same test system, and verified that Spy Sweeper 3.5 is approximately 30 percent faster, in line with Webroot's claims. Accuracy is up as well; the program got perfect scores on all but one of our tests.
Other improvements include the ability to remove both CoolWebSearch and TV Media completely. Older versions of Spy Sweeper required manual removal stages that proved difficult. We found one pest that remains less than fully curable, however. Spy Sweeper was unable to delete a key component of Istbar, although it did block the spyware bar from working. Spy Sweeper wrongly suggests that a user can delete the file; Windows claims Istbar is in use, making deletion via Explorer impossible. You need to kill Istbar either via a command line, by removing dependencies on the file, or with Spybot Search & Destroy. Even the best occasionally needs a little extra help.
Of course, with all its Shields active, Spy Sweeper will prevent Istbar and almost every other pest from getting on your system in the first place. If version 3.0 got on your nerves with frequent requests for user interaction, you'll like 3.5's ability to block browser-hijack attempts without constantly asking for advice.
Many antispyware packages offer users the ability, on a case-by-case basis, to block a program from running. However, users may find this tiresome and end up simply deleting the pesky app. This poses a problem should the deleted program be needed by another app, such as one for file-sharing. As a safeguard against this, Spy Sweeper gives users the option of blocking apps permanently instead.
When looking at traces found during a scan, you can still take advantage of the expandable tree view, complete with summary information about each threat. A previous gripe of ours has been resolved, too: You can now ignore tracking cookies, thereby making it easier to focus on the more immediate threats posed by spyware apps.
We're eager to see the next incremental revision. We'd like to see Spy Sweeper update its abilities to handle Istbar and a couple of other pests that weren't part of our official test batch, and get better at cleaning annoying desktop shortcuts and folders deposited by adware. This product is so close to five stars we can taste it.
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Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in PC Magazine.
