Not worth it

[Jamiet]

This news group has convinced me not to install this software. The spyware is
less of a hassle than this program seems to be.

Jamie T.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Newsgroups largely get posted to by folks who have a problem and are looking
for a solution. Even in a beta where feedback on the product is
specifically solicited--most folks post with a problem.

If you go by support newsgroups, all the supported products are full of
problems and nobody is getting any useful work done.

I've had no serious issues on any of several dozen machines I've loaded this
program on--no install issues, no unreadable UI issues, no messages I can't
read, or freezes or 100% resource usage by the program.

So---I know that it probably works right for most people most of the
time--but I don't doubt the reports of any of the above issues--they are
real--just not the rule.

 

[steve eddy]

it's the same with auto groups, where I spend some time. few if any are
going to make a post that says, "hey folks, my Honda is running great!"
as for MS anti-spyware, I have had a terrific experience with it. not a
problem in the world, except for it occasionally crashing while trying to
search for updates.

with it running and my f-secure antivirus/internet security, I seem to be
clean as the proverbial whistle.

 

[Foo]

I've done six installs and have had a generally favorable experience with
all of them. This beta has caught stuff that others haven't and has deleted
spyware that has resisted repeated software and manual removal. (If someone
launches those miserable TV Media folks into low Sun orbit, that's fine with
me).

However, it's not enough.

Unless the industry (basically, Microsoft) both hardens its software and
takes world wide legal action against some of the bigger and nastier spyware
purveyors, the future of the personal computer / system software paradigm is
pretty much a dead end. There's no future in a product that requires every
user to have advanced system administration skills to operate, and there are
millions of computers out there that are causing their owners grief or
financial loss right now. We've all heard the stories or worse, told them.

M$ Antispyware beta is a good first effort, but just the first step on a
long road.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

You can watch the Security 360 webcast that aired today and learn that some
action in the courts is beginning to happen.

http://www.microsoft.com/seminar/events/series/mikenash.mspx

Among other things, I learned that there have been well in excess of 3
million downloads of this program, which helps put the traffic in these
groups in perspective.

They also mention that consideration was being given to enabling cookie
scanning and removal in a possible future beta build.