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Patrick Chinn
Distributed Network Computing Consultant
pchinn@uoregon.edu
A new contender is challenging LavaSoft's AdAware as the top spyware removal tool.
It's called Spybot, and PepiMK Software launched version 1.0 in June 2002 (the current version of Spybot is 1.2).
Spybot Search & Destroy is available for free, although the author will graciously accept donations to support the product's development. If you want to download Spybot, visit http://security.kolla.de
What's Spyware? Spyware is any software that employs a user's Internet
connection in the background without the user's knowledge or explicit
consent.
Often spyware is used by companies to track an individual's web surfing
habits and send that data back to a central database. Spyware is not necessarily
illegal, but privacy concerns with how that marketing data is used has resulted
in spyware detection and removal tools like AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy.
How Spybot works. Like AdAware, Spybot scans your Windows PC for spyware components and presents a list of its discoveries. The user then has the option to remove some, all, or none of the items found.
Spybot also has an update feature for spyware profiles and help files. The feature is not automatic, like Symantec's LiveUpdate. Instead, the user must click the "Search for Updates" button and then select which updates to download and install. An automatic update feature would be more convenient, but this design still provides some convenience to adding new spyware profiles to Spybot.
Unique to Spybot is its Opt Out feature, found in the Online section. Opt Out contains a list of the most common email advertising lists. If you have opted in to an advertising list in the past and no longer remember how to opt out, double-click on the appropriate entry in Spybot to create an opt-out email message or to visit the opt-out web page on the company's website. (Note: As a general rule, the Computing Center does not recommend that you attempt to unsubscribe.)
Tech support. Technical support for Spybot Search & Destroy is limited to built-in help and PepiMK Software's website. No telephone technical support is available. (This is not unusual for a free product written by one person.) The built-in help is reasonably thorough, and the website offers more information and discussion forums about the product.
Spybot Search & Destroy is available for Windows only. Although Macintosh and Linux computers can also be affected by spyware, most of the insidious spyware components run under Windows only.