subject: Get MAX SPYWARE DETECTER at cheap and reasonable price [print this page] Get MAX SPYWARE DETECTER at cheap and reasonable price
Max Secure Software bills its Max Secure Spyware Detector as "the world's fastest spyware scan." Indeed, the app is blazingly fast after the first full scan, because it doesn't rescan unchanged files. But speed is the product's only virtue. It can't remove spyware as well as the best standalone products, and it offers little protection against spyware installation on a clean system.
On my standard clean test system, MSSD's quick scan took under a minute. The first full scan lasted 18 minutes, but subsequent full scans were completed in less than two minutes. Cleanup scans on infested systems took quite a bit longer, as expected, and, in most cases, on completing a quick scan, the program asked permission to run a full scan. Scheduling is limitedyou can schedule a single daily or weekly scan.
After scanning, MSSD reports on what it found, but those reports aren't particularly enlightening. They list every file and Registry trace the app found, but in no particular order. MSSD does report the name of the threat associated with each trace, but you can't sort the list to get all the traces of a threat in one place. Confusingly, it calls these traces "worms ." It displays a color-coded risk level for each trace, but not for the threat overall; in fact, different traces for the same threat may show different risk levels. I much prefer the tree-structured display style used by Spy Sweeper, Spyware Doctor, and many othersyou just see a list of threats, with the option to open them up and view the associated traces. The list of items that have been quarantined is, likewise, not sortable.
I tested MSSD's ability to clean out malicious software from a number of seriously infested test systems. It detected fourteen of sixteen spyware samples and managed to remove all but two of thosea good showing, but not quite up to the best products' standards. It wasn't nearly as effective at removing commercial keyloggers. It successfully removed four of the eight I pitted it against, and tried unsuccessfully to remove two others. Overall its spyware-removal performance was better than that of many antispyware products, but not stellar.
Spyware-protection products often do better at blocking spyware installation on a clean system than at cleaning it up after the malware has already moved in and started rearranging the furniture. That makes sense; when the spyware isn't yet installed, it can't fight back. Alas, MSSD is a big loser in the spyware-blocking arena. Spy Sweeper, Spyware Doctor, NIS 2007, and many others scan files on accessin many cases, simply opening a folder full of malware installers triggers a feeding frenzy of deletion with these apps. They also include multiple other layers of real-time protection. MSSD seems to scan files only after they're running in memory. If it recognizes a malware executable or installer, it will kill the process and delete the executable, but it won't clean up any other files and traces left by the aborted installation. In testing, it completely missed half my spyware samples and five of eight commercial keyloggers. Don't rely on this product to protect a clean system from malicious software.
