Went back to their site and double checked what I said. I was correct.. They
are/were related to Giant.. See Below..
How Come Microsoft Updates Sunbelt's CounterSpy With Spyware Definitions?
There is a whole story here, but this is what Microsoft states on its
website: "Anti-spyware solutions require definition updates-signatures of
known spyware and other unwanted software-that are necessary to keep the
solutions up-to-date. Because of a legal agreement between Sunbelt Software
and Giant that preceded the Microsoft acquisition, Microsoft will provide
spyware signature updates to Sunbelt through July 2007." There is a separate
link to a Sunbelt Company Newsletter called Stu's News where you can find
all the background information.
But looks like to me after 2007 you would be better off with MS..
Isn't it just great that to be on the Internet safely you now have to have
running/or using
Microsoft AntiSpyWare
Spybot
SpyWare Blaster
AdAware
Norton Internet Security
Norton Antivirus Scanner
And some decent amount of knowledge of just what is safe to delete when they
find something....
At least I found the following info on PC World Magazine site.
Beta Update: Future Windows AntiSpyware Looks Like a Winner
As we were completing testing for this story, Microsoft released a beta
version of its new Windows AntiSpyware, the product formerly owned by Giant
Software, which Microsoft acquired in December 2004. The beta turned in
excellent results in our tests. Because its signature files were more
up-to-date than those in the rest of the products, we didn't compare it
directly with the others in this roundup; nonetheless, AntiSpyware looks
like it will be a top-notch product when it's ready for shipping.
It was able to detect 91 percent of the adware/spyware in our test suite,
including 96 percent of processes running in memory, 67 percent of home- or
search-page modifications, 100 percent of BHOs and toolbars, 95 percent of
Registry additions, and 100 percent of other items such as menus and buttons
added to programs. The utility scanned our 2.7GB of data in less than 3
minutes. AntiSpyware's real-time monitoring stops infections by preventing
changes to the browser home and search pages, identifying unknown processes
in memory, blocking unauthorized edits to the Hosts file, and preventing
changes to Registry run keys.
To counter browser home- and search-page hijackers, AntiSpyware can
automatically reset the pages to the operating system defaults. You can also
specify custom home and search pages by selecting Advanced Tools, Browser
Hijack Restore. AntiSpyware will alert you to any attempts to change the
designated pages from the custom or default settings. This is a better way
to handle hijackers than the similar scheme of Webroot's Spy Sweeper, which
restores the pages to the settings that were in place when Spy Sweeper was
first installed. Read more on AntiSpyware.
Windows AntiSpyware boasts a clean, intuitive interface that is nearly
identical in features and layout to that of Sunbelt Software's
CounterSpy--an application that also makes use of Giant Software's
spyware-signature technology. Unlike CounterSpy, AntiSpyware automatically
ignores cookies as it scans--a refreshing change for those users who
appreciate the automatic log-ins and site personalization features that
cookies can provide.
