I tried the new Microsoft reincarnation of the Giant software program they purchased, and I have to say I'm impressed.

The interface is great and very polished for a beta release. and the thing really works! I tried it both at home and here at work and it found significant threats that Ad Aware, Spybot, and a Squared all missed.

It also demonstrated that with any program of this type, it is good for the user to be informed. On both of the systems I tried it on, it found instances of BackWeb, which I ignored because versions of this program are used by many legitimate software vendors to provide automatic updating of their programs. Fortunately, the MS program gives you a lot of information about the malware it finds so you can make wise decisions.

It found Xferpro, a Trojan, and PowerReg Scheduler on both machines, and BroadcastURBAN, and Search Squire on my work machine.

All of this was just with the Quick Scan option which took about 3 minutes, instead of the Deep Scan option which checks every file and takes much longer. You have the option to remove, quarantine, or ignore anything found. It will set a restore point, if you wish, prior to scanning.

The program also installs an active monitor (with your permission) to block future infections. If you opt in, it also makes you a part of a world wide network (SpyNet) that automatically updates all members for newly discovered threats. If you are hit with a new threat it is automatically added to the protection of all the other members.

Another feature can record your home page and restore it if it is ever hijacked. There are many other good features for removing cookies and BHA's you can use or not. Your choice.

The beta expires on July 31, 2005, and MS has not decided if it will be offered free after that time or sold. The program only works with W2K ans XP. I have already decided that it will remain in my arsenal free or not.

Shelly

I feel the same..also find it very smooth for a beta

Thank you for posting this review Shelly .

Jane

I too have added it to my munitions. I have read that "Search Squire" is a false positive.

Tom

Is this the same as the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool that shows up for Windows XP critical updates?

>I have already decided that it will remain in my arsenal free or not.

Agreed. Actually, I have heard, but I must admit only thru the rumor mill, that MS is going to keep it free, but even if MS starts to charge, it is yet another excellent layer of protection against the scumbags and the first on my machine that runs in real-time.

Acadia

>Is this the same as the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software
>Removal Tool that shows up for Windows XP critical updates?

NO! That is a completely different animal.

Acadia

>I too have added it to my munitions. I have read that
>"Search Squire" is a false positive.
>
>Tom
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False is right,I installed it on 2 units and it reported it found it.
On the next two I did a search for it before I installed it and it was nowhere to be found.After installation it reported that it was found.
So what do you believe

LilJoe

>I too have added it to my munitions. I have read that
>"Search Squire" is a false positive.

If you're referring to Darren't post, I believe that, because he uses Spyware Blaster, he had a CLSID loaded in his registry which matched a "Search Squire" signature in the Microsoft A.S. database. Normally, if one does not use SpywareBlaster, the presence of that CLSID could indicate possible installed malware.

SpywareBlaster works by loading CLSIDs of known spyware into your registry, and setting the "kill bit" for them so they can't execute {or rather, so the ActiveX cannot install}. In this instance, the Microsoft A.S. tool only found a signature match and did not know it was due to SpywareBlaster and not the actual spyware.

>The beta expires on July 31, 2005, and MS has not decided if
>it will be offered free after that time or sold. The program
>only works with W2K ans XP. I have already decided that it
>will remain in my arsenal free or not.

Same here .. I already had a licensed copy of the GIANT A.S. product {from which the Microsoft Beta comes} on my son's PC, and was already impressed by how thorough and good it is ... a very well-done anti-spyware package. When MS came out with their free beta product based on {or, cloned from} the same technology, I installed the MS A.S. Beta on this my main computer.

I had been running Spy Sweeper {by WebRoot} on this PC as my resident A.S. tool, but it was giving me problems with crashes or errors in IE and various other programs. {The latest version 3.5 of Spy Sweeper was the one giving me problems}. So I decided to install and run the Microsoft Beta product as *resident*, because I had noticed how on my son's Win98SE PC that it used close to zero resources running resident {i.e. with realtime protection enabled} and seemed very unobtrusive. {** See Edit Below **}

Besides, the realtime "agents" that GIANT {or MS Beta} uses provide more extensive realtime coverage {monitoring more "entry points" for spyware} than the Spy Sweeper resident protection offers.

All in all, I have to wholeheartedly agree with you Shelly, this is a real deal, especially considering it is free for Windows users. And a "keeper" for sure.

I have, on my three PCs at home, the following products installed {not all products on every PC}:

1. Spy Sweeper {by WebRoot}
2. SpySubtract {by the makers of AdSubtract}
3. Spyware Doctor {by PCTools}
4. Bazooka AntiSpyware {free}
5. Adaware SE {free, by LavaSoft}
6. SpyBot S&D {free}
7. GIANT AntiSpyware

and of course now the Microsoft Beta A.S. which is based on #7, the GIANT A.S. product. I have to say that IMHO the GIANT product is the best.


** Edit: ** was speaking of system {GDI, USER} and CPU usage being very small. I'm not too concerned about RAM usage.

Thank you for the review Shelly. I think I will go ahead and try it out now as hearing a lot positive comments from valued moderator/members here inspires me

Adirondack Girl