Two Reviews of Microsoft AntiSpyware

jasondubya writes "PC Magazine released their review of Microsoft's Anti-Spyware Beta 1. While they agree with most that it has great potential, it has yet to take over their top spot. In an informal test, it removed about two-thirds of the spyware detected and blocked about fifty percent of the threats they attempted to install. After removal, they ran Webroot's Spy Sweeper 3.0. It was able to detect '900 traces of 48 distinct threats still present, including two keyloggers and three Trojans.' With that, it looks like Microsoft still has work to do before they are on top of the market." Several other readers sent in link to Mossberg's review in the WSJ.

Comments

I like it.

[Sheetrock]

Having had an opportunity to install and test this software, I have to say that it fits into the new security initiative in a way that is good to behold. To solve the spyware problem will require the same mettle as the virus problem, and it is a good first step to make it easy for the average user to deploy and use as well as powerful enough to work against current threats.

I think that Microsoft has traditionally done quite well with buying great software and making it fit in a system (Excel being the best example, Foxpro and Visio close second). It makes me wonder if this might be the next-generation computer business model. Let the little guys innovate and purchase the projects that make sense; kind of like venture capital after-the-fact. Certainly the original makers aren't often remembered -- the guys that first invented optical media or the stereo are less important and became less rich than the greats that currently manufacture them. And few seem aware that chopsticks originated in American mining communities in the 1800s by Chinese immigrants seeking to differentiate their restaurants from more common fare, and currently accounts for 3% of American lumber exports.

Ultimately, integration is far more important than innovation -- there are all sorts of people who come up with new things, but recognizing what is practical and developing it to its fullest extent as part of a system is what makes Microsoft work. And I'm really glad they've picked up an anti-spyware package instead of developing one in-house because they can capitalize on someone else's focus on the spyware problem, to our benefit.

Re:I like it.

[yabos]

And I'm pretty sure, 99% sure, that it was developed for the Mac before Windows was even around.

Re:The WSJ article is very biased.

[randallpowell]

Or bypass the issue of browser hijacking and spyware by using Linux.

if you wan't Firefox support then maybe you should look at an open source solution