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Microsoft Releases AntiSpyware Program 580

Posted by michael from the solving-the-problem-it-created,-for-a-price dept.
Nathan Weinberg writes "Microsoft released this morning Microsoft AntiSpyware, the product of last month's acquisition of GIANT. As I write in my report on my site, the program is very powerful, and certainly measures up to and may even beat Spybot and Ad-Aware. However, it's also pretty buggy, and Microsoft might have already sneaked in a pay subscription service."
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Microsoft Releases AntiSpyware Program More

Microsoft Releases AntiSpyware Program

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  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:00AM (#11276044)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Lots of info left out of the summary... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by albn ( 835144 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:03AM (#11276114) Journal
      Well, let's hope this program will be free for all people who are plagued with IE hijaking programs. With patches so slowly coming, this might be a good PR for Microsoft who is taking some hard hits from critics.
    • And Microsft claims that open source software stifles innovation...

      How long would this 'beta version' have taken to be released, if at all, if it were not for Firefox pushing the standards to a higher level?
      • well, your comments notwithstanding, Microsoft BUYS innovation.
      • How long would this 'beta version' have taken to be released, if at all, if it were not for Firefox pushing the standards to a higher level?

        Personally, I think Adaware and SpyBot had more to do with it than Firefox. Not to mention Symantec is now bundling spyware detection into theie security software, and CA just acquire PestPatrol so that they can incorporate it into their software.

        It seems to me that Microsoft's closed source products has created so many exploits for malware to take advantage of, tha

    • Re:Lots of info left out of the summary... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Rolan ( 20257 ) * on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:07AM (#11276173) Homepage Journal
      And lastly, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that Microsoft is making it a subscription service. I was able to download, install, and run the program all without signing up for a subscription of any sort. Maybe that's because the program is still in beta or maybe it's just anti-MS FUD on the subscriber's part... who knows.

      Reading the review would reveal why the submitter said that. The review says it might have a subscription based on the fact that it had 206 days until it expired. My personal opinion is that the expiration is there because it's Beta, but it may very well lead to a subscription service.

      As far as the summary not saying it's a beta... Well, seemed pretty obvious to me. They just bought the company afterall.
      • That is most likely due to beta - alphas and betas of most MS software (and I'm speaking as an MSDN subscriber who can get hold of them) have expiry dates built in - I think the Longhorn tech release I have expires in August or something, and a beta of Windows 2000 expired before W2K was actually released. Can't speak for Office betas, but I feel it would be likely that they too expire.
    • the release is only a beta version, not a final release. That might explain the bugs.

      It's called Microsoft AntiSpyware. The first half of the name explains the bugs pretty well for me.

      Now, what I wanna know: Is clippy involved? "You are trying to clean your machine. Would you like to give us money?"

    • Re:Lots of info left out of the summary... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Sentry21 ( 8183 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:12AM (#11276267) Journal
      And without giving too much away, the GenuineCheck program that it offers for download (if you're not using IE) doesn't really do its job. I mean, I DO have a licensed Windows product key, I just didn't use it for this install. Still, it didn't seem to pick up on that.

      Or maybe the goons are on their way as we speak. Who knows.

    • Re:Lots of info left out of the summary... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by karmaflux ( 148909 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:23AM (#11276430)
      The probably saw this:

      2. TIME-SENSITIVE SOFTWARE. The software will stop running on July 31, 2005. You may not receive any other notice. You will not receive any further updates when the software stops running.

      and figured OMG SUBSCRIPTION!

      Another interesting EULA box is the actual definition of the software's function:

      4. POTENTIALLY UNWANTED SOFTWARE. The software will search your computer for "spyware," "adware" and other potentially unwanted software ("Potentially Unwanted Software"). If it finds Potentially Unwanted Software, the software will ask you if you want to ignore, disable (quarantine) or remove it. The software will only remove or disable Potentially Unwanted Software as you instruct it. Removing or disabling the Potentially Unwanted Software may cause other software on your computer to stop working, and it may cause you to breach a license to use other software on your computer, if the other software installed the Potentially Unwanted Software on your computer as a condition of your use of the other software. You should read the license agreements for other software before authorizing the removal of any Potentially Unwanted Software. By using this software, it is possible that you will also remove or disable software that is not Potentially Unwanted Software. You are solely responsible for selecting which Potentially Unwanted Software the software removes or disables.

      When I worked at Dell, they wouldn't let us dick with spyware stuff because of potential legal problems -- that is, the law might side with the malware.

      • Re:Lots of info left out of the summary... (Score:5, Funny)

        by krbvroc1 ( 725200 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @12:02PM (#11277060)
        4. POTENTIALLY UNWANTED SOFTWARE.

        Is Microsoft coining a new term - PUS? My machine is infected with PUS.

        I can see it now...
        The following has been identified as PUS. You may choose to keep it, however Microsoft cannot guarantee stability if you allow it to remain installed. Do you wish to disable the following PUS?:

        Lilo - Identified as PUS
    • And lastly, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that Microsoft is making it a subscription service. I was able to download, install, and run the program all without signing up for a subscription of any sort.

      I wonder if Microsoft were to sell a subscription "spyware removal tool" that they would be caught in the same legal shit that Ralsky is caught in (Infecting computers with spyware, then trying to sell anti-spyware programs that don't really work)

      I mean, granted, Microsoft probably isn't deliberatle
    • Must be beta... it started to uninstall my microsoft office windows media player and IE
    • Well, I'm more interested in MS wanting to "validate" my Windows installation before letting me download the product. Looks like they want to verify you're "legit" before letting you remove spyware (though, as pointed out, you don't HAVE to do this...).

      Especially amusing is the idea MS promotes validation as a user benefit, with no mention that the idea is really a benefit to MS for anti-piracy reasons.

      No thanks, Bill. While my Windows is legit, I see no reason to become another record in your databas

  • Information and Release (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AlexTheBeast ( 809587 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:00AM (#11276056)
    This is just scary:

    1. Release buggy browser
    2. Sell antispyware software
    3. Profit?

    Direct and indirect download links [tech-recipes.com]
    • I know this is a common theme on slashdot, but it is so true. The best I can think of brings me back to the Firestone tire incident a couple of years ago. Firestone tires were having a problem and blowing out causing SUV's to roll over. Imagine what would have happened if instead of making new tires, Firestone gave everyone a tool that would inflate the tire after it exploded. I know this is not the same thing, but how is it a solution to fix a problem you caused instead of fix the root cause. I have bee
    • Our initial impression is that it works as well as Giant software does.... with similiar false positives.

      It's a beast when it runs and will easily suck up all available CPU cycles.

      It asks if you want to report your spyware information back to the mothership as a way to make that the global big-brother database is kept up to date. It asks at least. :)

      You have to have admin rights to run... but you gotta imagine Microsoft pushing this thing in a few months... much like the SP2 roll-out.
    • Spyware is often sneaked in through license agreements people don't read through before clicking OK in the installer.

    • Re:Information and Release (Score:4, Informative)

      by stupidfoo ( 836212 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @12:05PM (#11277114)
      It also seems like a way for MS to try and get rid of some worthwhile non-MS software.

      I ran the scan and it told me that WinPcap was spyware. Is MS trying to kill Ethereal?

  • NAV (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mirko ( 198274 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:01AM (#11276062) Journal
    I just had NAV2005 installed on a friend's infected PC and it did Virus and Spywares at the same time. This and Ad-Aware seems a good solution which I'd trust more than any Microsoft "security" stuff.
    • This month's issue of a Finnish computer magazine tested spyware programs [mikrobitti.fi] and GIANT won it hands down. Their verdict: "clearly the most powerful, feature-rich and easy to use". They say that since the MS acquisition you can no longer obtain a free trial version. Typical.
  • The next version of Windows will have things that only their spyware removal program is able to remove, due to restrictions that the OS places on letting third party programs modify things..

    Of course the spyware will be able to make it through backdoors in things like caluclator and notepad, because God knows they're wired to the central part of the Windows kernel!

  • What - no support for WinME ?!?? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by uid100 ( 540265 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:02AM (#11276083)
    Shocking - they don't seem to support DOS based Windows (9x and ME) even though there are arguably millions of infected consumper PC's. WinME boxes aren't THAT old.

    I do understand not supporting NT4 tho..

  • supported versions of windows: (Score:3, Insightful)

    by 2MuchC0ffeeMan ( 201987 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:03AM (#11276097) Homepage
    Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Professional Edition , Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Service Pack 2, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows XP Home Edition , Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional Edition , Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

    Great, go windows 98!

    I guess all of my relatives will keep using ad-aware and spybot, they refuse to buy a new computer to check their email with.
    • Wow, so much for a fragmented installbase. I wasn't aware that Windows comes in so many flavours these days. And they don't list NT4 or all the DOS based Windowses.

      I must say that releasing a Spyware tool looks to me as they are giving up on their current OS since they tried to fix it time and again with no luck.
      A proper design would not let Spyware in at all.

      They throw this Spyware Software out the door and pray that Longhorn will make it all better. I bet it will. For sure. This time...
      • What does design have to do with it when certain programs install the spyware at the same time? The problem is sneaky software vendors (and not necessarily MS in this case). How is the system supposed to know that the program you are installing is ok, except for these files for Claria that are included in the install. I know there are issues with some sites taking advantage of stupid users with IE and some vulnerabilities, but I really think the much bigger problem is people just installing anything they
  • So i would expect this version to be pretty solid (old companies code), as time goes on and more MS code is introduced, expect quality to go down a bit, well possibly

  • Actually... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rainman_bc ( 735332 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:03AM (#11276107)
    I'd like to see some better real-time scanning... Adaware's ad-watch isn't very for end users. It monitors for system config changes. Not effective when the user doesn't have a clue.

    Spybot S&D immunizes your browser, but spyware can get in other ways too through adware programs. It helps but isn't perfect.

    If Microsoft can get a good, real-time scanning software package going, then it might just be onto something.

    • Re:Actually... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by LiquidCoooled ( 634315 )
      What I fail to understand is why the hell anti virus companies don't allow adware to be included in the definitions, and treated in exactly the same way a virus or trojan would be.

      Even if it was a known about "yes I want to remove adware from my computer" tickbox for disclaimer purposes.

      There is NO way I am ever going to run 2 completely seperate runtime scanners that effectively do an identical job.

  • Doesnt seem to work (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:03AM (#11276112)
    Hmmm I ran this, but I still seem to have windows on my computer.

  • How dare they (Score:2, Funny)

    by vasqzr ( 619165 )

    However, it's also pretty buggy, and Microsoft might have already sneaked in a pay subscription service

    Bastards. How dare they! They're in the software business after all.
    • If someone threatens to break your legs and then offers a pay scheme for protection that's illegal. If Microsoft produces a buggy browser and then offers protection, well that's just business. Sco threatens to sue linux users a product they sold, but offers protection in the form of a license, is that's just business too? Ask anyone convicted of extortion and racketeering "why me?". Your answer will likely be "It's just Business"

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  • Vested Interest (Score:4, Insightful)

    by wraithgar ( 317805 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:06AM (#11276164) Homepage Journal
    Does nobody see this as a potential problem, as Microsoft will now have a vested interest in NOT fixing their O/S so that spyware can't get in?
    • Does nobody see this as a potential problem, as Microsoft will now have a vested interest in NOT fixing their O/S so that spyware can't get in?

      Are you implying that MS would now NOT fix bugs and security holes, and maybe only even report them to those with the most money? I am SHOCKED by such an accusation!

      I am also saddened to think that that really isn't a change from the current status quo.
    • No, I do not see it as a problem, unless they charge for it. There has been no indication that they will charge for it except for the Slashdot FUD.

      Is it a potential problem that open source software business plans are based on services and support - meaning they have a vested interest in keeping their applications difficult to use and fix? I'm not saying it is, but would you?
  • I hope in the final version this is controllable by group policy because it's detecting all of my management apps such as vnc/dameware as spyware.

    On a sidenote: Funny how they forgot to change the processname and still shows up as GIANTAntiSpywareMain.exe in task manager
  • Now Microsoft can make money (even if the program is free, they make money or at least dominance) on anti-spyware applications so that they can save money on not improving the flaws and vulnerabilities in their other products that allow for such spyware to exist in the first place.
    You gotta hand it to them - that IS a nice strategy. Not so for the consumers though.

  • Of all the cheek (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Bertie ( 87778 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:10AM (#11276212) Homepage
    It's the old razors-and-razorblades model. Except this time it's like they're selling you a flat tyre, then selling you a puncture repair kit.

  • Whats wrong with this picture. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MrRuslan ( 767128 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:11AM (#11276239)
    Microsoft refuses to patch their browser wich is the cause of most "crapware" at least for all the AOL people and now they relese a sftware product to clean up or try to clean up what is initially their fault. As long as they don't bundle this with the OS it is not anticompetetive. But microsoft itself is. I mean they now bundle a firewall so no one needs to get kerio or zone alarm. If this thing get's bundeled along with the Antivirus the bought someone is gonna sue them again and then the government is going to look the other way because they are gonna say windows can't work with out. I just hope I'm wrong.

  • I've just been told... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wcitechnologies ( 836709 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:14AM (#11276290)
    by Microsoft AntiSpyware that I have spyware called RealVNC on my computer! I notice it says NOTHING about spyware called Microsoft Remote Desktop. I know lots of people out here use VNC, for goodness sakes, its SPYWARE now?! wtf

    • Re:I've just been told... (Score:3, Informative)

      by iBod ( 534920 )
      Stealthily installed RealVNC clients are used as trojans, so it's a fair call, probably.

      Of course, Remote Desktop offers the same level of exposure, but I haven't heard of any exploits that use it (though I'm happy to be informed on this point).
    • I got the same thing on mine. It actually pointed out winPCap, too,but by default these were set to "ignore" for cleaning. So they aren't automatically cleaned off your hard drive. They do have a pretty nice description that goes along with each piece of spyware that it finds, too. After a quick run through, it looks pretty powerful even in its half buggy beta state.
  • Only 6 years after it became a huge problem, MS is doing something about the insecurity of their software: they are releasing a copy of other's company's software which cleans up attacks AFTER they happen.

    I suspect this innovation will be so great it has to be bundled with the OS. Why actually write secure software when you can monopolize a market created around your own insecurity?

  • It's Giant, big whoop (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Solr_Flare ( 844465 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:17AM (#11276338)
    It is just Giant rebranded with a few things missing(which I assume is just because it is in beta). Giant was a very good anti-spyware program so I expect the MS rebrand will be just the same.

    The real question will just be how much effort MS puts into keeping the definitions and program updated as new types of spyware come down the pipeline. As effective as the program is right now, it is how effective it will remain in the ever changing world of spyware that is what really matters.

    No beta will answer that question, only the test of time will. But, this is just Giant rebranded and it is a very solid platform, which is why MS bought it in the first place.

    • Re:It's Giant, big whoop (Score:4, Insightful)

      by GreatDrok ( 684119 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @01:18PM (#11278120) Journal
      The real question will just be how much effort MS puts into keeping the definitions and program updated as new types of spyware come down the pipeline. As effective as the program is right now, it is how effective it will remain in the ever changing world of spyware that is what really matters.

      I expect they will keep it up to date and bundle it with future versions of Windows until all the competitors apart from a few small die hard open source programs are left at which point they will get bored and let it languish for five years or so all the time telling people that if they wait until the release of Windows MassiveCock 2012 Professional they will get the new version.

      I'm sure there is a precedent to this but for the moment I can't quite remember the details.....

  • WinPCap flagged... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by chiagoo ( 846996 )
    You gotta love it - I just ran a scan to test this puppy out and found that Microsoft has decided to flag WinPCap as spyware. Anyone who runs tools like nmap, Ethereal, and other open-source network utilities that have been ported to Windows must be evil!

    They give it a "low" threat rating, and automagically tell the software to "ignore" it (that is, don't remove it), but I'm still offended.

    Then again, if WinPCap is on your system and you don't know what it is, I guess it's not a horrible idea to let the
    • WinPCap is also automatically set up and installed by tons of worms and trojans. It's pretty much the main building block of the script kiddies backdoor script.

      Unless you're doing something advanced like nmap or ethereal, you have no reason to be running it, and if it's there it's probably there to spy on/exploit your network.

      OpenVPN uses it still, as does CoLinux, but let's face it, few people in this tool's audience use those.

      XBConnect no longer uses it, IIRC, they have their own packet-capturing engi

  • Just ran it - some first impressions (Score:5, Informative)

    by Zocalo ( 252965 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:19AM (#11276374) Homepage
    I've literally just finished running it on a PC that I keep fairly clean through use of Spybot, Ad-Aware and Firefox instead of IE. It's pretty fast, even in its in-depth scan mode, despite some earlier reports that the GIANT version was slow, so I'm guessing this is where any of Microsoft's major code changes might have been. It probably took about three minutes to run on my AMD 3800+/XP box, so not too shabby compared to Ad-Aware and Spybot.

    As to the resutls, it turfed up three bits of possible Spyware which Ad-Aware and Spybot were missing/ignoring. The first was what it thought was Kazaa, but was infact Kazaa Lite (I've never had the original Kazaa installed). Second was some legacy registry keys left behind by WeatherBug which had piggybacked its way onto my PC with some shareware some time ago - fixed and reported to Spybot/Ad-Aware. Finally, it detected something called SearchSquire, but this turned out to be part of the Immunization feature of Spybot.

    So, aside from the conflicts with Spybot's Immunization feature and the false positive on Kazaa Lite's registry keys, both of which can be fixed by setting the detection to "Always Ignore" it's not a bad little tool at all. Expect of course, for the fact that Microsoft is clearly planning of getting people to pay for this tool according to the webpage and EULA. Hmm. Getting people to pay for cleaning up the mess that you helped create in the first place... Unless this product is *vastly* better than Spybot and Ad-Aware on a thoroughly owned PC, I don't think so, and even then I think not...

    • Ah, so it has an "always ignore" feature?

      That's handy. Now, once this is the default spyware scanner bundled as part of the OS, then the spyware author will just have to update that list when the malware is installed.

      Yeah, I know that that list is probably 'protected'. Just like the rest of the OS I suppose.
    • I agree with you, I've tested it and it's pretty impressive. Its way faster than adware and/or spybot and it has advanzed features like enabling/disabling specific modules (there lots of modules, covering from context menu adds to .ini files or registry settings) and it allows to set exceptions for programs (it don't allows to enter you by hand, the program needs to do the evil action and then the program will warn you, this should stop spyware of adding themselves to the exception lists)

      It don't eats lot

  • Microsoft AntiSpyware, yeah it's called Firefox (Score:5, Informative)

    by kalislashdot ( 229144 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:21AM (#11276404) Homepage
    Funny.... Friends and Family are heavily infested everytime I visit. Install Firefox and Mike's Ad Blocking Host File [everythingisnt.com] and guess what, no more spyware. The best solution is prevention.
  • Spybot [safer-networking.org] and SpywareBlaster [javacoolsoftware.com] are still a better combo. Spybot scans while SpywareBlaster prevents the spyware in the first place. SpywareBlaster will work with IE _and_ Firefox. Will this offering from MS help protect non-IE browsers?

  • Firefox is spyware? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Caharin ( 690600 )
    I ran the software, and it was kind enough to suggest that I "Restore Hijacked Internet Explorer Browser Settings" because these values apparently differ from the recommended.

    Good thing Microsoft is looking out for me and keeping those darn open source spyware programs away from me...
  • Whay did they have to buy a software company to be able to offer software to fix their problems?

    This is just crap, and Joe/Josephine Sixpack will never realize how much crap it is. He/She will just merrily download the fix and go on about their day and applaud Microsoft for fixing a huge problem. When actually they did not, Giant did. No one will be the wiser and Microsoft continues on making crap.

    And then there is the problem that this is just a bandaid and the underlying problems are not fixed just c
  • It worked!

    It detected that well known evil spyware called Timbuktu Pro!

    Way to go MS! (clap clap clap) Keep up the great work. You are the wind beneath my wings.

    [MUTTER]Yer the wind outta me ass, matey...[/MUTTER]

  • Two notes... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by justforaday ( 560408 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:38AM (#11276683)
    I just ran it on my work machine (which apparently was zombified and cleaned up before I started working here). Came up with a clean bill of health, so I guess whoever did the cleanup did a pretty good job (FYI, I also run Spybot and AdAware regularly on it). I noticed that the process/executable is still named GIANTAntiSpywareMain.exe. I'm assuming that's something MS plans to change in the future. Also, under the Advanced Tools > System Explorer > Shell Execute Hooks, it lists Microsoft.AntiSpyware.ShellExecuteHook1 as an unknown type. I would really hope they clean that up before final release....

  • Seriously? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by raymo03 ( 737701 )

    Are you people for real? Your UPSET that it found things like VNC and WinPCap?

    I've tested it on several machines at work, and it found spyware that Adaware and Spybot couldn't. It did also mark Dameware Mini Remote (a remote desktop program) as potential spyware, as well as the custom hosts file that I put on all machines. I think all these non-spyware programs were set to "Ignore" by default, but its not too hard to set to "Ignore All" if you know it should be there.

    My point is, if you use VNC/Damewa

  • My results (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jayhawk88 ( 160512 ) <jayhawk88@gmail.com> on Thursday January 06, 2005 @11:53AM (#11276918)
    So I downloaded and installed this on my machine to check it out. Keep in mind that my machine routinely has spyware scans of all kinds run on it, as I test out almost every spyware system imaginable for work.

    - It reported WinPCap as "spyware" (or rather an "enabler", whatever that means), but it did have a default action of "Ignore" associated with it when the scan was done.

    - It disovered c:\program files\support tools\remote.exe as the Cyanure Remote Administration Tool, classified as a Severe threat. This is Microsoft-made tool that comes with their Windows 2000 Support Tools.

    - Some leftover directories of Hotbar that Adaware apparently did not fully clean up from a previous intentional infection.

    This is the first time I've ever seen WinPCap flagged on any kind of spyware scan, kind of find that amusing. Microsoft must hate Ethereal or something. The Remote.exe thing is sort of funny too, but probably not unexpected, though it did not have a problem with the copy of Remote Administrator I have installed on my machine (in server mode no less). It'll be interesting to see how this performs on some intentionally-infected machines, compared to AdAware and Spybot.

  • Donkeys work for Gator? When pigs fly! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by spyrochaete ( 707033 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @12:18PM (#11277301) Homepage Journal
    I've installed it (bypassing the genuine OS scan on the download page) and ran it once. It picked up a lot of stuff that neither Ad-Aware nor Spybot found, which was very impressive. It ran MUCH more quickly than Ad-Aware SE.

    Strangely, it identified "Edonkey2000" (I have eMule) as a potential adware carrier. I've never known an ED2k client to show ads. Thankfully, the default action for eMule was "Ignore" and there was an "Ignore always" option as well.

    Antispyware has the potential to raise the bar for this type of security application. However, I'm a little worried that this beta will turn out to be the best and most functional iteration of the product. The preferential treatment for IE in the options is to be expected, but it could become a troublesome feature if MS pushes their browser too hard.

  • Real Time protection not up to snuff? (Score:3, Informative)

    by mytec ( 686565 ) * on Thursday January 06, 2005 @12:20PM (#11277335) Journal

    I figured I'd test MS AntiSpyware against Lavasofts Ad-watch. I installed 'MSN Toolbar Suite'. That isn't malware but lavasofts program gives me the chance to block the registry modification whereas the MS product pops up a window from the sys tray saying the product doing the registry entry isn't known spyware and didn't let me say yay or nay, instead just disappearing faster than I could read the entire message.

    I like the behavior of Ad-watch much better; leaving me in control and not making assumptions for me. I realize the MSN product was install by choice but could other programs slip through MS assumptions?

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