Webroot Spysweeper 4.5
Setup: Setup was a breeze, like most commercial applications. We chose to test a custom installation to see what kind of options it gives you, and it gives you a good many. They include (in screenshot below) Run Spy Sweeper at Windows Startup, a must for anyone who wants to be protected, Add a shortcut on the Desktop and, one of our personal favorites, Add sweep for spyware to Windows Explorer Menu. This is an interesting feature not shown on many Spyware removal programs (although it is popular with Antivirus programs.) The final one is Windows Messenger Shield (not the IM program, the service.) There was a time where Windows Messenger was used to send ads to your desktop. The rest of the install went easily.
Post-Install If you checked “Run Spy Sweeper” at the end of the installation, it will come up and ask you to update your definitions, after agreeing, it froze for a few seconds, and then recovered, to bring up the home page. It included all the information that you’d expect, you have X Days left on your trial (if it’s a trial) what version of the program and definitions, when you last ran your sweep. Then there’s the interesting fact, that your computer is (currently) protected against 112,030 threat traces.
Then the big alert icon at the bottom jumped out. Clicking on the Review Alert option opened up the Alerts page. It said that it had encountered an error, and for it to send it to Webroot. Clicking send opened Microsoft Outlook. As it hadn’t been used in a while, we didn’t send the report.
Another alert that you might get is the Startup Shield, it tells you when a new program asks to startup with windows, a feature overlooked by some programs.
First Sweep After looking around at all the cool features, we decided to perform our first sweep. It is set to perform an in-depth examination of your computer, so we waited for it to finish. As for resources, it only takes up around 50MB, and varying amounts of CPU power. The Processes are WRSSSDK.exe and SpySweeper.exe. Wrssdk.exe is the scanner, and Spysweeper is the main program.
When it is scanning, you'll be greeted with this screen
It gives you the basic information, everything that's been inspected, what it is scanning now, and how many things it has found. But it also shows what it has found, something that isn't seen in every Spyware program. Just another small, usually unnoticed item that impresses.
Then after that, it gives you an overview of what it has found.
It took 21 minutes, on our test computer, to scan, but it will vary depending on the amount of files you have. (Our machine had over 160,000 files and folders)
Post-Sweep
After the sweep was done. It came up with a list of what it had found, and if quarantining any items was necessary. After selecting everything, the home page came up again. Another nuisance is the Startup Shield's pop-up window, it opens a new SpySweeper window, instead of just a small window asking weather or not this program should be allowed to start up.
Overall Impressions
It’s a great easy to use program, with all the advanced features any geek would like, but simple enough to be used by any normal person. The theme is a bit overbearing, but since it’s not up very often it’s more of a nuisance than a problem. Some of the important features are not turned on by default, like the Tracking Cookie Shield...
The Good: Complete program, includes all features you'd expect, plus a few overlooked extras (the Startup Shield, Messenger Shield...)
The Bad Cost is the big problem, while there are so many good spyware removal applications out there, this one costs $29.95 and could turn away some. Also some of the main features are not turned on by default. The splash screen is enabled by default, which could be a problem for slower systems.
Overall It's a good program, but some freeware spysweeping applications have the same features for free.
Overall: 8.0 out of 10
Webroot Software
