Rumors a flyin'

[SK]

All,
I have heard that there will be some sort of central admin
tool coming out for Msoft's Anti-Spyware utility once it
comes out of beta. Is this true???

 

[RobbieA]

Those who know cannot say, those who say do not know

Can't let Monitor and Bill have all of the fun!

Where did you hear this?

RobbieA

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Rumors are worth what you pay for them, somethimes.

There will be two versions of Microsoft Antispyware--or something like that,
anyway. The features available in the beta product we are evaluating will
be available without additional cost to licensed Windows users.

There will also be a version which has a cost, suitable for enterprise
deployment. That version will have a management console. No announcements
have been made about when such a version will be available.

 

[SK]

It's called the "Rumor Mill". The reason why I ask is that
I have been doing an extreme amount of testing with
applications that remove spyware (if you name it, I have
problaby tried, installed, and mastered it by now). I want
to make a decision soon and if I know that Msoft will have
something ready in within the next two months I will hold
off on purchasing what I think is the best (hahaha) spyware
removal software out there. The reason why I laugh, is
because I still haven't found what I am looking for because
you still need at least 5 different apps to remove 99.99%
of spyware. We're all probably in the same boat with our
cachet of tools.. hmm let's see if I can name them all...
Spybot, AdAware, Webroot, CounterSpy, HiJackthis,
CWSHredder, SpyBlaster, EMCO's Malware Blaster, Hitman
Pro(AutoMation), PSTool(Sysinternals) Msoft AntiSpyware,
SpywareGuides.com Blocklist Regfile, AIM
hijacks(Jayloden.com), PrevxPro, X-Cleaner, LSPFix Winsock,
and Coming Soon - Symantec v10, McAfee (might be out
already) F-Secure's new version,
Well as you can see the list goes on and on. I too hate
rumors but It stirs the mind and It gets people thinking
about new ideas etc... but at least I can say that I didn't
start it.

 

[RobbieA]

Hi SK:

Well you're preachin' to the choir here....

Is that the omni-present generic rumor mill or the "Bio-
tech Rumor Mill", sorry inside joke...

You left out BHODemon, Ccleaner and Pocket Killbox. But
I'll forgive you if you can give me your best apps for
About:blank and IST.bar, they keep driving some folks
crazy.

Did you see the April PCWorld article on Spyware? They
give a thumbs up to CounterSpy and MSAS.

Thanks, and regards,

RobbieA

 

[Guest]

Hello Robbie,
Yes, I have heard of BHODemon and Pocket Killbox(I actually
donwloaded that two days ago) it works really well. The
best removal tool I have ever used is Hijackthis, this will
remove almost anything execept for one hijack that takes
control of your hosts file, and adds msn.microsoft.com as a
local site. People have been talking about it, but nobody
has found a fix. For the 2 that you mentioned I would try
HiJackthis or EMCO Malware Bouncer you can download it at
www.emco.is I just finished testing CounterSpy and I can
see why PCWorld gave it a thumbs up, cause it is really
good. If I were to buy a spyware solution right now, that
is the one I would go with. Plus, since I am the CSA of a
college, CounterSpy will give us 50% off if we buy directly
from them since we are an educational institute. How can
you go wrong?

-SK

 

[RobbieA]

Hi:

Tks for the Emco site, I'll try that.

You're right..50% off anything good is a buy!

RobbieA

 

[Jim Heather]

One more little thing - it would be great if MSAS can be
installed as an MSI file. That could be easily deployed
through GPO. Not much use to the home user, but maybe
that will be part of the corporate version.

 

[Ron Chamberlin]

Hi Jim,
There's not been a lot of news past acquisition on the Enterprise side. For
now, you're really on your own if you play with MWAS in the Enterprise.

Ron Chamberlin
MS-MVP

 

[Andrew]

Can you say whether the Enterprise version is likely to be
a completely stand-alone product, manageable only through
its own management console, or will it be able to be
controlled through AD policies?

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I don't have any further information than I've posted already. It is clear
there will be a management console, and I'd be surprised, myself, if it were
somehow unique to this program--that would seem to buck the trend--but the
Enterprises I work with tend to have a few dozen machines at most, so I'm
not the best person to prognosticate.