Remove spyware from your computer for free
Posted on May 14, 2008 at 5:11 am
Once upon a time, there was a company called GIANT Software. Their flagship product, GIANT Antispyware, was one of the best anti-spyware products at the time. Though they had only been around a short period of time, in the software world, their product had enough market strength to grab the attention of larger software development companies, one of them being Microsoft.
Microsoft purchased the company, and changed the GIANT Antispyware brand into what we know now as Windows Defender. Many applauded the decision by Microsoft to make Windows Defender free to registered users of Windows XP. Later they integrated Windows Defender into Windows Vista. How great a move this was; to have a real-time scanning, free anti-spyware product for Windows users!
Short lived was this applause as people began testing the Defender platform. Most tests, comparing it to other products on the market, rate Defender at somewhere in the neighborhood of 55% - 65% effectiveness at finding and eliminating spyware. Granted, no anti-spyware program is perfect, and finding a free one my prove tricky. Would it not make more sense to find one with a decent eradication rate and have other tools to boot?
After being revamped, Spyware Terminator 2.2 comes out strong in the Anti-Spyware arena. While I will admit, it may not have the highest rate of catching spyware, the other complimentary tools help make up for it. Firstly, the fact that a free anti-spyware program comes with a real-time shield feature is a big plus. Other free programs rely on the user to run manual scans. The real-time part is not the only useful feature though.
When the user opens up the main console to Spyware Terminator, they will notice two things right off the bat. Large, easy to read, menu buttons decorate the upper right hand area. These help the user to navigate between the various area of the program.
Secondly, on the left-hand side, there is a wide column with three separate menu area. These areas deal specifically with the most important aspects of the program: Spyware Scanning, Real-Time Protection, and Updating the program.
If one wants to run a Spyware Scan at that moment, they have but to click on Run Scan. This will prompt Spyware Terminator to run a quick down and dirty scan of the areas of the computer most likely to be infected by Spyware; for example, the Windows directory, Temporary Internet Files, and other locations commonly targeted by malware.
Here we see Spyware Terminator running an active scan routine. Pay particular attention, when using this program, to the Critical Objects section. As Spyware Terminator finds bad items (Tracking Cookies, Spyware, etc.) it will be annotated here. While this is the quick spyware scan that was run, one can choose a more through scan by clicking on the green magnifying glass icon (Spyware Scan) on the large menu bar. Doing so will give a person the option of the Full Spyware scan (looks over the entire hard drive), and the Custom Scan; where the user chooses the specific area they want to be scanned.
If you look at the small rectangle on this screen shot, you will notice two other options marked with a red X. These options become available if you choose to install the integrated Clam Anti-Virus option. At that point, Spyware Terminator and Clam AV become your all-in-one Anti-Spyware / Anti-Virus solution.
Let’s look at some of the other settings and options we can manipulate within Spyware Terminator. We know that a real-time shield can be activated to protect your computer from accidentally running spyware. There is another feature in that menu, which people may find useful.
Within the Real-Time Settings menu, and just below the checkbox to toggle the real-time shield on and off, in an option called HIPS (short for Host Intrusion Prevention System). The alluring feature of HIPS is how it benefits your computer’s security. HIPS takes a “snapshot” of your currently active programs and services, and creates a bouncer’s list. If a program is not on the list when it runs, you have to approve it (think ZoneAlarm, but slightly less annoying).
Perhaps you do not care for the occasional, or more frequent, pop-up message asking for your approval. Maybe you just want Spyware Terminator to be silent and run a daily scan instead. Easily done! Just turn off the setting for the real-time feature, and navigate over to the Settings menu button on the main console.
After clicking on Settings, click on Schedule Settings. Here is where you can tell Spyware Terminator to perform a scheduled scan (or not to), when to run the scan (Daily, or choose a day), what time of day, and to check for program updates before the scan is run. There are no oddball options like on the 13th full moon of each leap year, if gas is cheaper than $2.98, when… well, you get the picture.
However, there is once choice where Spyware Terminator will run if you miss a scheduled scan. For instance, if your computer was shut off at the appointed time, it will prompt you to run the next time you turn on your machine.
Last but not least, the program updates. Within the Settings menu button, and just below the Schedule Settings button, lies the Update Settings button. Clicking on this will give the user the choice of when, and at what interval, they want Spyware Terminator to update itself.
Here you can choose to check for updates at 1, 2, 6, 12, and 24 hours. One also has the option of running it fully automatic, and quiet; notify them of pending updates, or to disable automatic updates. This is also the locale when the user can let the program know if they use a Proxy server or a Direct connection for their Internet connectivity.
There are other options to explore, and various configurations to try with Spyware Terminator. Once one can get past the somewhat silly name of the program, they will be surprised to find a rather sturdy application that does more than simple manual scans for spyware. It ultimately comes across more like a multi-faceted protection suite, that just happens to be free.
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Even better is Spyware Doctor. The latest version (5.5 if I am not wrong) works very effectively.
I like spybot and there are so many available for free…is this better than most others?
Windows Defender is of not much use. I have removed it from my start up in Vista.
DWiner - I have not heard of that one, will check it out.
Nirmal - Windows Defender is horrible. I don’t even know why they made it, it’s never found a SINGLE piece of spyware!
I have used terminator for a while now and like it, but inexperienced users may find it too chatty, and that can be a bit disconcerting if you don’t know whether to label something as safe or not when prompted.
I wrote my own review about a year ago. Outdated now, but still worth a look:
http://canadiantechguy.blogspo.....yware.html
Canadian Tech Guy - I can understand your angle about the chatty factor of Spyware Terminator. I use it myself, and do not mind it, but I can see where it might drive the average user up a wall.
Windows Defender is a running joke at best. On a test machine, I got it to find a few pieces of spyware, and it found VNC too (one of my remote access tools). Of the Spyware it located, it did not find all the traces of items like VirtualBouncer.
Techbliss, your comment went to spam for some reason! Anyway, I think Spybot used to be the top dog, but there are better ones out now. Might want to give it a try.