Posted:
Giant AntiSpyware catches 63%, tests say
Howes's tests were conducted before the Microsoft Corp. in December that it was purchasing Giant Company Software outright. For that reason, the tests use the version of Giant AntiSpyware that was available in October and not the newer Microsoft beta version that's currently available.
Even so, with Giant's application removing 63% of a PC's adware components, and its nearest competitor, Webroot Spy Sweeper, removing less than 50%, it's clear that Microsoft has a potential winner on its hands.
In the following table, which was reviewed by Howes himself before its publication here, the Adware Fixed column represents the percentage of critical components successfully removed, not just detected, by each product (higher percentages are better). The False Positives column shows the number of benign Windows files that were incorrectly reported by a product as adware (lower numbers are better):
| Product | Adware Fixed | False Pos. | |||
| Giant AntiSpyware | 63% | 0 | |||
| Webroot Spy Sweeper | 48% | 0 | |||
| Ad-Aware SE Personal | 47% | 0 | |||
| Pest Patrol | 41% | 10 | |||
| SpywareStormer | 35% | 0 | |||
| Intermute SpySubtract Pro | 34% | 0 | |||
| PC Tools Spyware Doctor | 33% | 0 | |||
| Spybot Search & Destroy | 33% | 0 | |||
| McAfee AntiSpyware | 33% | 9 | |||
| Xblock X-Cleaner Deluxe | 31% | 1 | |||
| XoftSpy | 27% | 3 | |||
| NoAdware | 24% | 0 | |||
| Aluria Spyware Eliminator | 23% | 3 | |||
| OmniQuad AntiSpy | 16% | 1 | |||
| Spyware COP | 15% | 0 | |||
| SpyHunter | 15% | 1 | |||
| SpyKiller 2005 | 15% | 2 |
Howes didn't test the anti-adware programs in the above list against a program called CoolWebSearch (CWS). This little bugger mutates every few days, it seems. CWS actually requires a completely separate anti-adware program, CWShredder, which is constantly evolving along with the nuisance. This is explained in more detail later in this article.
The fact that anti-adware products fail to remove all or even most adware components has been an open secret among security professionals for some time. For this reason, tech writers often say, "You should install two different programs and run both of them for maximum protection."
To test this assertion, I compiled Howes's raw data into a new table showing the removal rate of the best app, Giant AntiSpyware, with every other tested product. According to this analysis, combining Webroot Spy Sweeper with Giant AntiSpyware did the most to remove unwanted components. But the combination of the two apps increased Giant's 63% success rate only 7 percentage points, to 70%:
| Giant AntiSpyware plus... | Total Adware Fixed | ||
| Webroot Spy Sweeper | 70% | ||
| Ad-Aware SE Personal | 69% | ||
| PC Tools Spyware Doctor | 68% | ||
| Pest Patrol | 67% | ||
| Spybot Search & Destroy | 67% | ||
| Spyware Stormer | 67% | ||
| Spyware COP | 66% | ||
| Aluria Spyware Eliminator | 65% | ||
| Intermute SpySubtract Pro | 65% | ||
| NoAdware | 65% | ||
| XsoftSpy | 65% | ||
| McAfee AntiSpyware | 64% | ||
| OmniQuad AntiSpy | 64% | ||
| SpyHunter | 64% | ||
| SpyKiller 2005 | 64% | ||
| Xblock X-Cleaner Deluxe | 64% |
Finally, the computer press often recommends that the two anti-adware products that should be used together are Ad-Aware SE Personal and Spybot Search & Destroy. That preference may have become the conventional wisdom because both of these products have low-end, freeware versions. , , and other publications have recommended this combination as recently as June and August, respectively.
Ad-aware and Spybot may have been a great combo back then. But adware apparently moves much faster than these two companies do. According to Howes's data, the two programs together barely removed half the adware components on an infected PC:
| Ad-Aware SE Personal plus... | Total Adware Fixed | ||
| Spybot Search & Destroy | 54% |
I found no combination of any two anti-adware programs that removed more adware components than Giant AntiSpyware and Webroot Spy Sweeper, based on Howes's data. Removing only 70% of adware, unfortunately, isn't good enough. A much better strategy is to prevent adware from getting into your systems in the first place. I'll cover that next.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Cricket
