great product + need more features + questions

[dal]

Several questions/comments that I couldn't find answered
elsewhere.

1. Great product - so far as I can tell.

Ran it, did better than the others, with a better gui -
so I can have my users/customers run it themselves. It
did miss one spy, probably some "sanctioned" adware, that
I would want removed. From my casual analysis a big tip
off would be that an IE process is running - when there
shouldn't be one running - so you'd know that something
was missed during the cleanup. Which brings me to:

2. Getting into safe mode

Is there a setting you can change while you are running
XP that will bring the machine into safe mode on the next
reboot? Sometimes I look away and miss the F8 timeframe.
Even better the program could take me there if needed.

3. Reporting XML doesn't work

Saw it reported, but didn't see a response. Eventually it
will work, and I'd like to reqest that it do a screen
capture, or have the ability to attach a screen shot.
That way you can "see" the pop up or whatever.

4. Requesting new features

Sure, this is beta, so it's too late now, but if you can
include an unmoderated (no answers needed) subject area
in this discussion group for new features. That would be
nice.

5. Requesting a clean of scanned spys

I ran the scan during the day, then it ran overnight
automatically, I couldn't ask it to clean what it had
found the day before unless I ran another scan. That's
reasonable from an integrity perspective, but I'd prefer
the option to remove what it found - then do another scan
at my leisure.

6. Purpose of spynet community

Couldn't determine the value/purpose of this... If the
community reports issues to "spynet" via the spys found
AND NOT FIXED during the scan, then the antispy updates
will contain the latest fixes. No need to join the
community, I can only see the need to report things that
aren't "fixed" - then wait for the update antispy module.


Thanks

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Interspersed:
--
FAQ for MS AntiSpy http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.txt

Several questions/comments that I couldn't find answered
elsewhere.

1. Great product - so far as I can tell.

Ran it, did better than the others, with a better gui -
so I can have my users/customers run it themselves. It
did miss one spy, probably some "sanctioned" adware, that
I would want removed. From my casual analysis a big tip
off would be that an IE process is running - when there
shouldn't be one running - so you'd know that something
was missed during the cleanup. Which brings me to:

Criteria for listing are limited:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892340 Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta)
identifies a program as a spyware threat (Listing criteria and Dispute
process)

Simply being ad-sponsored isn't enough, although you and I might weigh that
very highly if the intrinsic worth of the app aside from the ads is
sufficiently low.

2. Getting into safe mode

Is there a setting you can change while you are running
XP that will bring the machine into safe mode on the next
reboot? Sometimes I look away and miss the F8 timeframe.
Even better the program could take me there if needed.

I believe you can use the SAFEBOOT checkbox on the BOOT.INI tab in MSCONFIG
to take you to safe mode on a reboot. I hope this won't be needed as
frequently as the program gets better at cleaning some of the stuff it
presently need safe mode for.

3. Reporting XML doesn't work

Saw it reported, but didn't see a response. Eventually it
will work, and I'd like to reqest that it do a screen
capture, or have the ability to attach a screen shot.
That way you can "see" the pop up or whatever.

It does work, on some machines, some of the time. It's never worked for me
when I actually needed it though!

4. Requesting new features

Sure, this is beta, so it's too late now, but if you can
include an unmoderated (no answers needed) subject area
in this discussion group for new features. That would be
nice.

It sure won't hurt to post them here as separate messages, so they don't get
mixed in with other details. All the feedback is read.

5. Requesting a clean of scanned spys

I ran the scan during the day, then it ran overnight
automatically, I couldn't ask it to clean what it had
found the day before unless I ran another scan. That's
reasonable from an integrity perspective, but I'd prefer
the option to remove what it found - then do another scan
at my leisure.

I haven't tested this fully, but my understanding is that the default action
for an overnight scan is quarantine. You can go into the quarantine
management, check off items, and have them removed without re-scanning.
There may be items whose default is less than quarantine which you might
want removed, though.

6. Purpose of spynet community

Couldn't determine the value/purpose of this... If the
community reports issues to "spynet" via the spys found
AND NOT FIXED during the scan, then the antispy updates
will contain the latest fixes. No need to join the
community, I can only see the need to report things that
aren't "fixed" - then wait for the update antispy module.

The spynet community is one source of the mass of data which adds value to
this product. Suspected spyware reports are one source of this data, as are
the reports made when you decide to clean items. My understanding was that
in the past, this data was available and searchable via the web. Whether or
when that might be true again isn't clear.

Thanks for testing!