Spy Sweeper, the Next Netscape?

GenieGenieGenie writes "AP is running a story about Webroot's Spy Sweeper, specifically about the competition it's facing from Vista's bundled anti-spyware. Webroot's CEO David Moll maintains that 'The taking of a second-best product in this space [i.e. Vista's Defender, f.k.a. AntiSpyware] is akin to locking half the doors in your house,' but others seem to think that if Moll doesn't want his company to become a second Netscape, it would 'ultimately [...] need to offer more than just an anti-spyware package.' The interesting issue here is whether this need for broadening the offer would be the case also for other leading companies subject to similar 'bundled-with' competition."

Comments

Re:Anti-spyware should not be considered a feature

[Mistshadow2k4]

This is true, but is also true that a great deal of spyware installs itself into a user's machine while they're online without their knowledge or consent. That is a flaw in the operating system, that its default settings are to allow others to remotely make changes to your system without your knowledge or consent -- and you can't change this without third-party software and/or a hardware router, which even when combined are not 100% effective. People who know enough to use a firewall and something like Win Patrol have no idea how bad it is out there for a machine running without these; you don't even have to go to any site and spyware is downloading itself straight into your computer immediately.

But is automatic protection and education needed for average users? Hell yeah. I just finished fixing up on a computer in which the neighbor's kid installed something that was absolutely loaded with spyware. What's funny is that the kid is taking a computer class in school! I wonder what they're teaching in that class, how to play WoW? Christ. Anyway, my point in this paragraph is that we obviously can't count even on regular schools to teach the next generation even the slightest thing about computer security, so this problem isn't going away any time soon. We really need to try harder to educate people about spyware.

Lastly, I'd like to add that this is part of why I recommend Xandros to computer newbies. Explaining the difference between root and a regular user account and pointing them towards the Xandros forums is a hell of a lot easier than teaching a novice Windows user how to secure their machines. I've done both more than once. That "Windows is so much easier to use" is a load of BS, I think (whether you regard this as a flame or not). It may seem easier to use, but that's an illusion that lasts only for a short time -- just long enough for the machine to get infected with a boatload of malware because the user simply doesn't know any better and security has always way down on the list for MS.