Three Free Ways to Stop Spyware
Spyware is and is not against the law. How so? On the one hand, U.S. states and the federal government alike have passed anti-spyware laws—federal law in fact prohibits it. On the other hand, alas, when you sign the user agreements for many software applications, there is some fine print therein that grants agreement that the software company in question can load any program they like or glean any information they like through various software.
Since most users just click the agreement without troubling to read the language, spyware makers can claim plausibly enough that the agreement equals a binding contract of consent. That does not mean you are powerless to stop spyware. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act makes it illegal for any company to violate your personal information security; the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act covers unauthorized software installations. Other than actually taking the time to read the fine print of the user agreements, you have plenty of ways available to remove the spyware and keep it removed, no matter how difficult it may be to enforce anti-spyware laws or prosecute purported violators.
You do not even have to pay for basic protection—two of the most familiar and popular anti-spyware programs on the Internet are free. Nevertheless, how good are these programs really? Possibly the most popular of the two is Spybot Search and Destroy, which has been in cyberspace for over a decade. It was and remains designed to catch and kill numerous spyware/adware files and modules, clean program and Web usage tracks from a computer, and—if you happen to be rather advanced—it lets you fix registry inconsistencies tied to a large number of malware installations.
The plus side includes that Spybot’s newest version, 1.6.2, is an update that includes support for Opera releases and the relatively new Google Chrome Internet browser, and technology reviewers note frequently that the new Spybot has improved support for quick user switching while running the program.
However, Spybot continues to have problems first spotted in the application a few years ago, including what CNET.com calls a tendency to lock up at times—even during the installation process, where the site’s editors said they found a number of errors just loading up the new version for review. In addition, Spybot continues having issues with flagging as spyware programs that have nothing to do with it.
Ad-Aware is one of the oldest anti-spyware/malware programs among the free applications, and it continues to be a solid and, many say, superior Spybot competitor. The newest version, released in October 2009, is considered to have built well upon improvements in version 8, and now includes faster installation, addressing a longtime user complaint that often drove those users away from the program entirely. It also loads up faster when you boot your computer up and performs far faster scans than earlier versions performed.
Perhaps most significant, Ad-Aware has improved its behavioral-detection engine, meaning you will not be seeing non-spyware/malware files flagged as spyware or malware falsely. The new engine, Genotype, uses a one-pass scan and lets a user contribute data anonymously.
As before, however, the free version lacks an anti-virus engine and the capability to scan networked drives is not in the free version. Nor can you use Ad-Aware’s scan scheduler in the freeware version. This may or may not move you to open the checkbook to buy the full version, but for a freeware anti-spyware program that reviewers believe remains very constricted in the free version Ad-Aware seems to remain the best-regarded free anti-spyware program online. Like Spybot, moreover, Ad-Aware is very good at trapping and isolating trojans and at detecting newer and more sophisticated cyber pests.
Another free anti-spyware/adware program is Microsoft’s Windows Defender. It was once considered maybe the best of the breed—CNET thought so in 2007—but the program has flaws enough. It has never been accused of providing false positives on non-malware applications, and it is thought to provide adequate and sometimes above-average protection against most spyware, adware, and browser-hijack pests. However, reviewers often found it lacking for detecting trojans or worms and ineffective almost entirely against emergent new infections despite using heuristics.
Defender was also praised for the depth of its Quick and Full scan options, but reviewers saw a glaring difference between the running time of Quick Scan (three minutes) and Full Scan (a full hour). Defender was also considered a quick and simple installation for users with genuine copies of Windows, but those who had secondhand copies or counterfeits found it difficult if not impossible to load it.
For the most part, however, reviewers have thought Defender very viable on condition that a user has a solid antivirus program or security suite, since the program’s inability to detect newer or more sophisticated worms or viruses make it a difficult pitch as a stand-alone anti-spyware/malware program.
