Last Updated 1/Sep/2009
Review: Spyware Terminator v 2.5.9.223
Don Bradbury looks at the role of this powerful, customisable, and free anti-spyware program
| Product | Spyware Terminator v 2.5.9.223 |
|---|---|
| Company | Crawler LLC |
| Web | www.spywareterminator.com |
| Price | Free |
| We like | Fast basic scanning; comprehensive array of free anti-malware add-ons |
| We don't like | Some of the on-screen labelling could be more instructive |
| Rating | 8/10 |
| Requirements | Windows XP and Vista (both 32-bit) |
Whatever your current favourite anti-spyware application - and all Windows users need to have one installed, such is the nature of today's malicious computer activity - they all have their plus and minus points. We have used the venerable and generally well regarded Spybot - Search & Destroy for some years, and it does have its good points, notable among which is that it is also free. It has also saved our skin a time or two during that period when we have found our PCs with infections. But it is getting to look and feel rather 'old' now, and notwithstanding its regular database updates, its current version, 1.6.2, reflects this, having barely moved on from release one in terms of presentation over these many years.
If you want to try something more up-to-date, you might consider Crawler LLC's Spyware Terminator (ST) for greater control and comprehensive customisation. Don't be put off by the fact that it sometimes refers to the Web for some of its functions, which can slow it down a tad. Having said that, our erstwhile favourite, Spybot - S&D, is rather slow on its own account, so we won't complain.
Database updates for ST are regular, and they can be sought and installed either automatically or manually. The automatic mode is not intrusive, but some may still prefer to update as and when they think fit. Application updates are similarly on offer either automatically or manually.
Scans are customisable, offering fast, full, or custom options. You can select priorities, as shown in the graphic for the fast scan mode. This will be the normal mode for most, and it's very fast, in fact four times as fast as our standard Spybot scan. It's full scan takes considerably longer though, as it goes off and looks at many more file types which are far less likely to become infected. Still, if all else fails, you may be glad to fall back on a full scan if you fall foul of the bad guys when they have discovered ways to infect files that are more deeply embedded in the system.
Spyware Terminator is essentially just that, an anti-spyware application, but one of its great strengths is that you can easily tack on Anti-Virus (ClamAV), browsing protection (Web Security Guard), and system file protection that stops critical system files from being deleted (System Protect).
If that's so, why not uninstall, or at least deactivate, all your current tried-and-tested security software? Well, one reason is that under suitable conditions you don't have to, and since no security app is 100% guaranteed to protect you from every conceivable nasty, you might want to run, sequentially, more than one security app in the event of infection. For that to be feasible you'd need to ensure that multiple anti-virus programs, for example, were not active simultaneously. They can not only combine to slow your system considerably, when run side by side, but even conflict with one another. No, you'd load one and run it, if that failed to find anything, you'd unload it and then try your alternative.
If you're a fan of AVG's free antivirus program, for example, you might decide to keep it's AV and Web protective modes active while you relied on Spyware Terminator's anti-Spyware module for that specific duty, or reserve it as a double-check backup. Or if you like Lavasoft's also free Ad-Aware perhaps, you might just use it for backup malware checking.
If you do that - and it's not a bad plan - you could avail yourself of the quick 'Fast Scan' mode of Terminator, rather than endure the protracted and less customisable scanning of Spybot S&D, say, or Ad-Aware.
A possible downside of this rationale is that some of Spyware Terminator's terminology may not immediately ring bells for you. While 'Objects Scanned' is adequately descriptive, you might wonder what was meant by 'Objects Identified' in the fast scan's report, for example, or 'Objects Ignored' for that matter. And what precisely would be implied by the report 'Registry Identified', complete with numbered items, under System Details'? Looking them up, or asking Crawler, is always possible, and the ST forums may well be helpful, too, but it otherwise presents that old learning curve problem that, in an emergency, would be the last thing you'd want to delve into. We think Crawler could be a little more accessibly descriptive in their program labeling.
Be that as it may, the last line of the scan report is the one that really matters, i.e. 'Critical Objects'. If it reports zero threats, you're laughing. Or at least you're ready to move on to a scan with a different program, even if it's only Windows Defender, if suspicions remain.
A toolbar runs across the top of the screen, from which ST lets you investigate the System Summary, your scanning setup, Real-Time and Internet Protection settings, together with Tools and Settings reviews.
Real-time protection extends to modules covering start-up, service and driver, web browser add-ons and so on, with user specified action to take whenever malware, or any unknown program, attempts to take command. White and Black lists as well as Blocked Items are in place, and items can be moved between the White and Black Lists as required.
The Host Intrusion Prevention System (HOST) checks every application that is run, either automatically or manually, and any that are not recognised give you a prompt for the action required. A basic mode takes on most of the decision making for you, while a more advanced mode lets you make your own decisions as to what to do - delete or quarantine.
You can fully integrate the ClamAV antivirus module into ST, and a system report lets you specify that it should be integrated or left out of the suite (perhaps because you already have another AV program running). Like ST's anti-spyware module itself, ClamAV is also free, and it offers the virtue of letting you integrate it into the running app via the Real Time shield. Scanning for malware is normally just for spyware, but anti-virus scanning can be incorporated in the scan. The penalty of that, of course, is a slower scan.
The anti-spyware Fast Scan is, however, just that. On a Vista system, ST's Fast Scan for spyware took just 10 minutes, whereas Spybot - Search & Destroy took four times as long to complete. ST does, though, leave out of its database many of the far less likely candidates for being marked as spyware, and that leads to greater speed of scanning. This excellent scanning speed certainly encourages more frequent use, and ST's Fast Scan would now be our first base check for a suspected malware attack. If we still had suspicions, then we'd probably run Spybot as well, just to be sure.
Another summary report lets you check the status of the previously mentioned Real-Time Protection, Startup, and Services and Driver Shields, your Web Browser Shield, and finally the File Extensions Shield, and modify any of them via tick boxes.
The perhaps somewhat gaudy Spyware Terminator Center summarises your current state of play in terms of scanning, real-time protection, and database update. This is a very useful single screen way to check what, if anything, you have forgotten to do or set. The Windows Notification Area also offers a way of checking for updates or making program settings, and you can, if you choose, let the database updates be on display if you prefer to see such normally hidden activity.
In conclusion
While Spyware Terminator offers comprehensive, speedy, and quite through malware scanning as well as real-time protection, and it offers the incorporation of anti-virus and the other worthy add-ons we mentioned, it is, it has to be said, a bit of a handful. When it comes to not only deciphering what's meant by some of it's labeling, deciding if you really want to incorporate the add-ons or stick with your existing line-up of AV and browser protection etc, you have some decisions to take. But for those who decide to throw in their lot with ST, we say it's a commendably comprehensive array of malware protection, and all the better for being totally free.
