Who's spying on you? 6 anti-spyware apps tested

McAfee AntiSpyware 2005

McAfee's AntiSpyware 2005 application is not technically aimed at the larger corporate market -- it is more for the SOHO field, but we still felt it worthy of inclusion in this round-up. Indeed, this product is of a similar calibre to the Lavasoft AdAware offering, and, as we found out during our research, there are very few enterprise orientated anti-spyware applications currently on the market -- those that support targeted network scanning are rarer still (except those with the ability to scan mapped network drives).

Installation was very straightforward -- it took less than two minutes on an AMD Athlon system. Immediately upon the conclusion of the installation routine, the system updated the spyware definition files. The package ships with the McAfee SecurityCenter component that allows users to centrally monitor any other McAfee security products they might have installed (such as VirusScan, Personal Firewall+, Privacy Service, or Spamkiller). SecurityCenter also has a kind of "news" feed that users can access to learn about recent security threats around the world and, in general, provides more of an education to users about the potential for security issues to arise in IT. This security awareness education can only be a good thing.

Configuration of the AntiSpyware application was the easiest of all the products in this review. Credit must be given to the developers because the level of detail really required in an anti-spyware application should not be overly technical or complex.

Administration is equally as straightforward, helping operators get the job completed quickly, easily, and with the least amount of confusion possible.

While not a true network-grade application this product could still be incorporated into a businesses security arsenal and due to its ease-of-configuration and administration would not overly burden an IT department.

  Spyware
  CA eTrust PestPatrol
  F-Secure
  Lavasoft Ad-Aware
  McAfee AntiSpyware
  Trend Micro OfficeScan
  Websense

 Specifications
 How We Tested
 Sample Scenarios
 Editor's choice
 About RMIT
Product McAfee AntiSpyware 2005
Price AU$49.95
Vendor McAfee
Phone 1800 644 646
Web www.mcafee.com.au
 
Interoperability
Excellent, easy-to-use standalone application.
Futureproofing ½
Not as many additional featurse in this standalone application as there are in Ad-Aware.
ROI ½
Excellent price.
Service ½
12 months appears to be the standard warranty with all these applications which is very good for software applications in general.
Rating

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Talkback 7 comments

  1. Nastyware - a collective descriptive term... Anonymous -- 16/11/04

    Nastyware - a collective descriptive term...

  2. You obviously have not seen the very recent advice from Pest Patrol, which now is no longer supported, but has been replaced (free of charge to current users) with a new Spyware called "Counterspy". I have had it installed for about a week and a Anonymous -- 20/12/04

    You obviously have not seen the very recent advice from Pest Patrol, which now is no longer supported, but has been replaced (free of charge to current users) with a new Spyware called "Counterspy". I have had it installed for about a week and although I was happy with Pest patrol, Counterspy does have a number of improved features
    Ken Hillier

    1. Spyware John Taylor -- 22/12/05

      Tosh and nonsense, CA are announcing a new version of PestPatrol to be released soon and have incorporated the product into the new Integrated Threat Manager which has both a/v and Anti-Spyware. I sit on the CA Advisory Council as a UK memeber so I should know!) You are not by chance an old PestPatrol Reseller who now sells Counterspy are you Ken? Very cheap swipe at CA Ken, very cheap indeed!

  3. eTrust Pest Patrol contains the virus Win32.Bagle.4.Gen@mm. Everytime the program updates it re-download the same virus. Buyer beware on this application. Anonymous -- 26/12/04

    eTrust Pest Patrol contains the virus Win32.Bagle.4.Gen@mm. Everytime the program updates it re-download the same virus. Buyer beware on this application.

    1. Spyware John Taylor -- 22/12/05

      Yes, and what is more the tooth fairy met with Santa yesterday to discuss leaving a tube of Flouride Toothpaste under the pillow of everyone in the World on Saturday Night! Come on, lets not get silly here. You really think the World's 3rd largest Software Company ships a virus in it's products? hmmm

  4. we use officescan 6.5 in our company and even though i've followed all the steps to make sure that the spyware part of officescan is active, we still get spywares! most notable is those spywares like gator.b, gator.c. i'm the network administrat Anonymous -- 28/02/05

    we use officescan 6.5 in our company and even though i've followed all the steps to make sure that the spyware part of officescan is active, we still get spywares! most notable is those spywares like gator.b, gator.c.

    i'm the network administrator and i'm thinking of dumping officescan for a better one.

  5. readability blind bob -- 27/12/05

    black ink on a dark blue background. Good job!

    AND it never tells me my comment was submitted!

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